Gasaraki: Of White Noise, Details, and Japan

Hey there peeps. Wolvenciel here with YET another super delayed review. I really should be more consistent at this point. I enjoy doing this, don't get me wrong. I was busy with life for a bit and stuff. So lets get to it!

That's my first ever censorship work. Lol.

The Hell is This Gasaraki

Right. Uh. To be completely honest with you, I have no idea. Gasaraki focuses on a sort of dystopian Japan and the early developments of Tactical Armor or TA for short. The story focuses mostly on the SSDF which are involved in the testing of the prototype TAs and how the TA itself came to be. Its really a bit more convoluted than that but this is the simplest summary I could give.

These are two such Gowas.

You know what. Fine. This show is also about an ancient Japanese Family known as the Gowa trying to resurrect an old deity-like being using a Noh dance of some sort. But you won't get any of this shit. At all. Because they don't friggin explain it to you.

Blame the stupid idiots who made the plot for this show.


Confusing Storyline

I watched this series from the beginning to the end and what I can say about the story is that it tries too hard to be profound at its writing that it didn't make sense 60% of the time. A lot of the information given does not make sense and the show throws you all these weird unfamiliar terms with little to no explanation for them whatsoever.

They said this in episode 20. And they were right.

An example I could give is for the early episodes. They were super slow and full of dialogue that never made any sense to me. Maybe I'm too much of a dumb ass to notice what they we're talking about.

THEN THERE'S THE DANCES AND THE YO~ YO~ YO~ SOUND THEY MAKE WHILE DANCING ITS MAKING ME FALL ASLEEP SO BORING GOD DAMN IT.

One of the random things that was never explained.

It felt like someone decided to make an anime about mecha and decided to just throw in some random Japanese stuff in between.


Where it Does Feel "Real"

Ignoring the random incorrigible parts of the anime, there were actually some pretty decent stuff shown in it. One such thing is the weight of actually operating an early version of bipedal machinery.
The SSDF members had to be subjected to rigorous training and even chemicals during the time they pilot the machines due to the strain that it gave. It had limited uptime due to that fact as well.

I'll be posting mecha details from here on out. Look at the chips due to machine gun fire on the TA.

The anime also presented its viewers with some national economy war between two large countries and how one could beat the other in said war. It was quite heavy and I didn't understand all of it but the show made it feel like the situation could actually happen in real life.

SAND. GETS IN THE JOINTS. LOGIC.

I believe that's what the show aimed to produce. Realism. To feel that its actually possible for stuff in the anime to actually happen.


Bla Bla How About The Mechs?


Now the Tactical Armors. Damn. I only ever see this kind of detail in movie mechs. Not even kidding WHAT THE ACTUAL F*** Sunrise you exhausted all you budgets on the goddamn details that you asked a senile old man to write your story is that it?

Look at that. What the hell.

Uhum. So yeah. The details on the TAs were superb. Right down to their cables and their mechanical parts and their joints. This part felt most grounded to me. They made the TA balanced. It has its strengths and weaknesses. It wasn't like this super powered prototype mech that was able to operate in all conditions and beat the crap out of every single thing that moves on the battlefield with a beam saber. It had limited ammo. It has a limited operating time. You need a command vehicle nearby to guide the pilot inside.

More damage effects.

And don't get me started on the damage effects. Phew.

Not as detailed as the TAs

There is one letdown to this however. You watch the first few episodes of this anime and you'll think "Oh there's gonna be some forbidden demon that's gonna wreck everything and the main character will pilot it". As soon as I saw the details on the demon mechs I knew they'd suck. So yeah. Don't get your hopes up.

Shouldn't even exist. Makes the anime feel less grounded if anything.

Thank God Its Over

I might sound whiny when I say this but yeah this show might not be for everyone. Its not for me. Gasaraki feels like it could have been a whole lot better if it was given a whole lot of context and explanation. But as of now, the only thing it has going for it is the sense of realism that it gives and its awesome mech details.

Hey look at that the Straits of Malacca. *smirks*

Don't watch this unless you have ample of free time or you just like mecha designs. Even then I'd recommend watching the fighting parts. Don't watch the whole thing.

Wolvenciel, Signing Off.

Yuri!!! on Ice: Debunking The Yaoi

Wolvenciel used revive! Hey there peeps. A bit too long of a  hiatus but here I am yet again. Not too sure if anybody missed me, but if you are, here I am.

Its been two years since Yuri on Ice was out and I got kind of annoyed at how people say its too much of yaoi and too little of the sport itself. So I'm here to see for myself how true it is for the show.

Yes I only review old dead anime, people.

What's The Show About

Yuri on Ice is a story about a man in his twenties who absolutely loved figure-skating and yet is stuck in a rut as he keeps on failing due to nervous breakdowns. The show expands on how he struggles to get back up in the figure-skating world with the help of a former (the dude went on break because of him) world champion while rediscovering himself along the way.

The World Champion is a handsome savage to boot

My Verdict

Now I'm doing this a bit different this time because its better for me just to get it out with before you guys waste more time reading into the review. I watched the show from start to finish and I can assure you, the most gay moment that exist in this anime is a man hugging another man to congratulate him.

I have no idea why someone would throw a plushy out in the rink

I have no idea how low a threshold someone must have to even think that kind of stuff is remotely yaoi. Its not. Sure you can see bits of fan service in the form of a naked Viktor and maybe an overly dramatic shot of the handsome men in the anime but that's about it. No smooching or whatever nonsense to alert yourself with.

This part is a bit yaoi though. But now you know.

The relationship between Yuri and Viktor is that of an athlete and his coach/good friend. I think the show really did well in showing how someone being there for you changes your whole psychological perception towards stuff and presenting how bad your minds can actually affect your performance out in the field.

Its not something I've extensively seen in a sports anime. Psychological struggles. Sure its prevalent in a lot of them but its mostly just for the training arc or reasons for losing a match or whatever. It never was a major theme in sports anime to begin with.

Visually Mediocre

Now enough of the serious stuff lets move on to the fun part. The graphics. Now a lot of people bashed this show for being unworthy of the number one place in ranking when it was out. I'll see if I can lay it out in the visual sense.

First of all, I think that the show cuts a lot on the minute details of side characters because comparing their expressions to the main characters, its very underwhelming. But again, this is minor stuff I guess.

The show likes to throw in chibi characters in, so that's fun.

The meat of the anime, the skating is also a bit peculiar. You know how sport anime likes to pump up their effects by zooming in on the players and adding effects to actions and all that? For the most part of Yuri on Ice it doesn't exactly do that. The way the skating is portrayed is as if they wanted the audience to actually see all the routines one by one in a spectator's view. You can literally break down how the characters carry out their routines pretty easily due to this viewpoint.

That looks a lot like Karna's (Fate Apocypha) shirt. Lol.

Its only at the end of the anime that they start doing the whole close-ups and effects as the athletes did their routines and even then, its not too much to write home about.

*If you're interested, do watch minute 16-18 of episode 5. That's an ideal way to show how the skaters carry out routines and still making it graphically appealing*

Astounding Musical Scores

Though the overall visuals of the anime itself average, the musical scores are anything but. I know that musical sense is in itself preferential but just hear me out. Each and every skater had their own musical scores for their routines and each and every one of them really represent those routines astoundingly.

And lets be real here. One of the songs was used during the 2018 Winter Olympics. If the whole world thought it was amazing, it wouldn't be wrong for me to say that it actually is. This also points out to the fact that the show made it very realistic. If you're ice-skating, you could actually carry out the exact same routines using the exact same musical numbers that the characters in the anime use.

To me, that is a very good approach to a sports anime. Down to earth and easily visualized. No superpower amped up bullcrap they pull out of their ass as the story progresses kind of stuff. Pure reality. No imagination required. Just maybe some ice and also basic ice-skating knowledge at least.

We don't want anybody getting hurt now.


Further Viewer Immersion

To seal the deal, the show even went as far as to give a full rundown of the figure-skating sport itself. Now I don't know about you but I don't know squat about figure-skating. I only ever gone ice-skating once.

One such example of explanation. Short, simple and informative.

It was really informative and it gives you a concrete idea on how things work in the anime. Sure they only show you bits of the whole thing but you feel as if its real (it actually is you can look up all the information online they're pretty accurate) because they even explained which circuits they would compete in and how thing progresses for the athletes from start to finish.

They even managed to make it fun to watch. Trust me, chibi characters doing cutesy explanations of something makes you pay attention to them. Because you just can't look away.

It even portrayed how young athletes are. Social media addicts.

My Verdict: Again

So yeah. I don't think Yuri on Ice is a bad anime nor is it a yaoi one. There is definitely room to improve and I bet you if and when they get a second season they sure as hell should get to improving the quality of their work.

The show has a unique angle to it in the sense that you feel as if you're actually watching a figure-skating show and not a flashy battle anime using figure-skating as the theme instead. By no means am I saying most sports anime nowadays are full of shit, but they ARE full of shit. Most. Not all.

Do watch the anime and tell me how you feel. Come on. I roasted your favorite sports anime. Roast me.

This is Wolvenciel and I'll try not to take another 4 month break. Signing off.

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It's finally over.

Thank you so much for reading!

I wonder what my next project would be?

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My name is...

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I believe I can fly~

Sorry for the long wait, but the story will be finished soon.

Stay tune!

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Fwooosh

Btooom

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Princess carry reversal edition, but in high speed.

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Once again, it is important to wear your safety helmet, especially after a Mineral Girl you just found managed to cut a random falling boulders into half.

Light Novel: Mondaiji tachi ga Isekai kara Kuru Sou desu yo?

Volume 1 cover illustration featuring Kuro Usagi

Title: Mondaiji tachi ga Isekai kara Kuru Sou desu yo?
Author: Tatsunoko Taro
Illustrator: Amano Yuu
Genre: Adventure, Action, Comedy, Games
Status: Completed

*this review will contain some spoiler*

Little Garden of gods and demons

Hello, it has been a really long time since I've posted any review or impression on Light Novels. It is now 2018 and it is approaching February, I have no excuse for not posting anything. Really.

Well, let's just forget about that and welcome the first Light Novel review for 2018. The novel that I've chosen is the Mondaiji series. It is weird that I haven't reviewed this novel since it is one of my favourites. Okay, here we go.

The story of Mondaiji took place in the fictional world of Little Garden where various gods and demons of various mythology reside. Our 3 protagonists Sakamaki Izayoi, Kudou Asuka and Kasukabe You was invited into Little Garden by Mondaiji series' poster girl, Kuro Usagi.

From left: Kudou Asuka, Kuro Usagi, Sakamaki Izayoi and Kasukabe You

The world of Little Garden is divided into 7 area called gates with 1 digit area houses the strongest communities - a group of individuals sharing same flag, will elaborate more - and 7 digit area houses the weakest communities. These area are into circles with 7th gate being the outermost and 1st gate being the innermost. 1 digit to 3 digit area are known as the area where the strongest being resides like deities of various mythology like Indra and Buddha. Besides that, the Little Garden is also divided into 4 cardinal directions, East floor, South floor, North floor and West floor. Each of this floor have their own floor master such as Shiroyasha being the Eastern floor master.

Illustration on gates from Mondaiji series wiki

Besides that, there are various communities living in Little Garden. You can regard them as individuals living together under the same flag. Even demon lords have their own community and flag. Community is an important aspect in Little Garden and its flag is all the more important than that. Without a flag, basically you don't have an identity. This is what befell the community that our protagonists have been invited into, No Name. No Name have lost their flag, name, lands and core members due to the attack of demon lords 3 years prior to the start of the story.

Gift Game: Trial of Gods and Demons

I almost forgot to mention the most important aspect of the story which is the gift games. Gift games in little garden played an important role as it also contribute to the income of the communities aside from doing trade. The game will consist of hosts and players. Host is the one who holds the gift game or competition while players are the challenger of the gift game. In special circumstances, there will be a judge and usually Kuro Usagi will assume this role as she is a Moon Rabbit, a special with Judge Master authority that can prevent any participants from breaking the rule. Geass Roll will be issued in every gift game hosted in Little Garden specifying the host, players and winning condition of both parties. The players will have to fulfill the participating requirement before they can enter the gift game and hosts will have to reward the winner of the gift with anything that have been agreed on geass roll, from money to Gifts.

Gift, another important aspect in the story, can be regard as special ability or skill or item depending on its characteristic. Gifts like Genome Tree can be regarded as a special ability and gifts like Deen, red sacred iron golem can be consider as a special item. Gifts can manifest either based on legends like Dun Scaith that is possessed by Scathach or it can be forged like Amalthea which was revived by being forged from diamond iron ore, cornucopia and fleece.

Gift cards that can store gifts from Mondaiiji anime series

The role of gift game as mentioned above does not play an important point in main plot of the novel except in short stories and interlude novel volumes. Gift games are also used to move the plot especially in battle against demon lords and villains.

Alright, this part gonna be especially spoilery in explaining the battle plots.

In almost every battle with demon lords, it will start with the appearance of black Geass Roll. This is Geass Roll explaining the demon lord's gift game content, its riddles, winning condition etc. Demon lords can force the participation of players into their game due to their Host Master authority. Do note that some other strong character or community also have Host Master authority. However, they do not abuse this authority as demon lords do by tweaking the game content to their advantage. This is what causes some character to receive demon lord branding and being hunted by divine beings for annihilation. The way to defeat the demon lord is by clearing their game and deal damage to them. Gift games can be cleared by using knowledge or strength.

About The Story

As mentioned above, this story is about the lives of Sakamaki Izayoi, Kudou Asuka and Kasukabe You in Little Garden as well as their adventure to help No Name to gain back their name and flag. Aside from that, do note that at each prologue and interlude of the novel, there will be flashbacks of some of the character. For me, the most interesting flashback is Izayoi's since he is the most mysterious of the 3 problem child due to his gift, Code Unknown. This gift makes him to be among one of the strongest in the Little Garden but not the most powerful.

Izayoi using Code Unknown

At the end of the story, Indra remarked that Izayoi's strength is only at 4 digit level even when his Code Unknown power is included. Aside from that, Code Unknown is not really a gift. Rather, it is something called as Another Cosmology, an ability possessed by gods or god's avatar in Little Garden.

The story proceeds as they gradually getting closer to the demon lord that had caused ruin to the No Name and at the same time, due to the contribution of the 3 new No Name member, the community manage to gain many great achievements and become much more known due to their claim to challenge demon lords. I don't think I need to reveal too much spoiler about this since it would not be interesting.

Anyway, aside from the overpowered battle scene, the story also contain various sci-fi theory crammed into it due to the nature of Little Garden that exists in the intersection of various timeline and parallel worlds. This is especially important to understand the latter half of the story. Besides that, you would also enjoy the story for its gift game puzzles that make use of various historical events and mythology due to the nature of demon lords that face our protagonists.

Conclusion

I'll just put my final impression on the ending of the story here. For me, this novel end with a very interesting premise. Izayoi manage to defeat one of the oldest demon lord, Azi Dakaha that overpower him in the beginning of the battle with the help and sacrifice of various characters. After that, No Name also manage to reclaim their flag that has been used to unseal Azi Dakaha. That's 1/2 objective done. This plot coincide precisely with Canaria's will for Izayoi. She said that in Little Garden, he would save many people, he would face defeat and he would face many things that he would not be able to face in his original world.

The other thing that I like when the author makes the final battle of the novel is against Azi Dakaha is that he is very suitable to be the final boss as the Absolute Evil and he is also the first one to give Izayoi the sense of defeat. It feels like the final battle is also the virgin battle for our protagonist where they decide to improve themselves and become stronger.

I don't really have anything else to write though as it would be too spoilery if I continuing writing more about this series since I have finished reading all of the Mondaiji novels that I get from a torrent website. So I would just say, if you are interested about the story or wanting a more in-depth understanding of the story after watching the anime, go and read up the novels. It's there somewhere beyond the sound of a cat. Oh by the way, the story have a sequel, it's called Last Embryo.

Our protagonists, Kudou Asuka, Sakamaki Izayoi, Kasukabe You and Kuro Usagi against the 3 headed dragon, Azi Dakaha

Although it is really late, I pray that you have a very good year ahead and may good fortune be with you in whatever you are doing this year. I shall leave Azi Dakaha's challenge here at the end, take it as a challenge from whatever hardship that may come to you and be victorious over it.

Give your all, it's been hundreds of years, hero!

Exhaust all your strength!

Muster your resourcefulness!

Show me your reckless courage-become a glorious sword that will pierce my heart!

Rise!

Over my dead body is where Justice lies

-Azi Dakaha, Demon Lord of Absolute Evil- 

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Not all thing would go so smoothly it seems. A hopeful meeting would sometime lead to an unexpected trouble ahead. 

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It's the big reveal of our main heroine: Quartz!

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Are you....?

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Shining!

OTAKU CLUB 2017 ANIME AWARDS!

Original art by Hews

It is time, for yet another Otaku Club Anime Awards. If you guys haven't noticed it already, we did a major change in which we exclude the game awards, simply because the lack of time and manpower to actually play and critically review all available games released each year. As a result however, we got more time to emphasize the topic we are significantly fond of; anime! We take a look back at each of the seasonal anime this year had to offer, had fun watching them but also evaluating them in the process. The winners are indeed, based on our own personal selection, and as such may be subjected to much bias. But alas, there is a degree of confidence in our preference up to a point, and we do hope you guys would enjoy them nevertheless.

Without further ado,

Let us see who made it to the list!

ANIME AWARDS:

Best male character: Deku (Boku no Hero Academia 2)

Best female character: Tanya von Degurechaff (Youjo Senki)

Most funny anime: Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! 2

Most touching anime: Konohana Kitan

Most ecchi anime: Sin Nanatsu no Taizai

Marksman of the year: Kino (Kino no Tabi -the Beautiful World- the Animated Series)

Warrior/ Swordsman of the year: Chise (Princess Principal)

Mage of the year: Zero (Zero kara Hajimeru Mahou no Sho)

Boobies of the year: Quetzalcoatl (Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon)

Chuuni of the year: Yoshiko Tsushima (Love Live! Sunshine!! 2)

Best school life anime: Just Because!

Angel/Devil of the year: Satanichia Kurumizawa McDowell (Gabriel Dropout)

Villain of the year: Altair (Re:Creators)

Yandere of the year: Akane Hiyama (Renai Boukun)

Tsundere of the year: Aki Adagaki (Masamune-kun no Revenge)

Yuri/ Yaoi of the year: Netsuzou Trap -NTR-

Idol group of the year: Aquors (Love Live! Sunshine!! 2)

Dense protagonist award: Junichi Hashiba (Hajimete no Gal)

'Christmas Cake' of the year: Moriko Morioka (Net-juu no Susume)

Couple of the year: Akane Mizuno x Kotarou Azumi (Tsuki ga Kirei)

Monster girl of the year: Sakie Satou (Demi-chan wa Kataritai)

Best loli of the year: Kanna (Kobayashi-san Chi no Maidragon)

Best trap of the year: Astolfo (Fate/Apocrypha)

Special elderly award: Ichirou Inuyashiki (Inuyashiki)

Best Shounen anime: Boku no Hero Academia S2

Best Shoujo anime: Koi to Uso

Best drama anime: 3-gatsu no Lion 2

Best slice of life anime: Sakura Quest

Best romance anime: Tsuki ga Kirei

Best harem anime: Busou Shoujo Machiavellianism

Best cooking anime: Shokugeki no Souma: San no Sara

Best horror anime: Jigoku Shoujo Yoi no Togi

Best atmospheric anime: Shoujo Shuumatsu Ryokou

Best Mecha Anime: Knight's & Magic

Best action anime: Shingeki no Kyojin 2

Best Isekai anime: Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni

Best Meta anime: Anime-Gataris

Best adventure anime: Made in Abyss

Best 3D CG animated anime: Houseki no Kuni

Best Sakuga moment: Karna vs Sieg (Fate/Apocrypha eps 22)

Best OST: Boku no Hero Academia 2

Best short anime: Aho-Girl

Sleeper hit of the year: Kemono Friends

Best anime movie: Sword Art Online Movie: Ordinal Scale

Anime of the Year: Made in Abyss

Congratulations to all the winners! Once again, the winners selected are not set to stone, as this is mostly based on our own personal choices. We do however, had tons of fun watching the myriad of anime aired this year, each with their own unique viewing experience.

2017 is a thing of the past, but one that's worth remembering. Comes 2018, and we already have a line up of amazing anime to be watched.

We wish a happy new year to everyone out there!!!!

2018: they year of the doggo

By Otaku, for everyone!

*all pictures/ image used belonged to their respected artists/ owner.