Sword Art Online

Review

There are slight spoilers so read at your own RISK!!!!

As you can suspect with anything that has to do with a virtual reality things are not going to go smoothly and the virtual reality will soon turn into a virtual reality of hell. The premise and plot of the story for the most part is simple and nothing to surprising in general, but as the story unfolds the story became deeper and intricate. The main male lead Kirito and the main female lead Asuna were great leads and went through a lot of character development over the course of the anime. Sword Art Online for the most part kept me hooked, but there where some parts/spots where the episodes were slow story-wise and felt like filler episodes. The first story arc of Sword Art Online was fantastic, but I can't say the same for the Fairy/Second story arc of Sword Art Online. I strongly didn't like how Asuna's role was majorly reduced during this arc when she played a pivotal role in the first story arc, and I also didn't like the side story plot of Kirito's cousin having romantic feelings for him. That whole aspect was just kind of off putting to me.

Verdict

Sword Art Online is a great anime and an anime that you should watch when you have some down time or nothing else to watch in general as it is a great anime to invest your time in.

Score: 8.7

  

2012 Year Reflection

2012 Reflection

This year in general just was not a good year at all. This year just felt like an empty canvass for most of the time in comparison to 2011. In 2011 multiple exciting events occurred while 2012 was a stale year overall. Let's face it odd years tend to be better than even years. 2012 sucked so let's hope that 2013 will be a better eventful year than 2012. 

Top 7 Anime Openings

Top Anime Openings 2012

1. Sakamichi no Apollon - Sakamichi no Melody

2. Hiiro no Kakera Season 2 - Takanaru

3. Magi the Labyrinth of Magic - V.I.P

4. Fate/Stay Night Zero - To the Beginning

5. Zetsuen no Tempest - Spirit Inspiration

6. Tasogare Otome x Amnesia - Choir Jail

7. Sword Art Online - Crossing Field

Top 7 Anime Endings

Top Anime Endings 2012

1. Wareta Ringo - Shinsekai Yori

2. Anamnesis - Another

3. Fairy Tail - Glitter

4. Natsuyuki Rendezvous - Anata ni Deawonakereba

5. Naruto Shippuuden - Cascade

6. Bleach - Mask

7. Psycho-Pass - Namae no nai Kaibutsu

Male/Female Character of the Year

Male Character 

Jude Mathis from Tales of Xillia and Tales of Xillia 2 showed immense character growth and matured during a very tight situation he didn't let his young age slow him down and he maturely handled his hardships. 

Female Character

Ada Wong from Resident Evil 6 was the ace in the hole of the entire game. She managed to in some way help or save some of the other characters in the game while on her quest to clear her name and face her doppelganger.

Top 5 K-pop Songs of 2012

Top K-pop Songs

1. SHINee Sherlock

2. Gyuri Daydream/Nicole Lost Tie

3. Super Junior Sexy Free and Single/ Ailee My Love

4. K.will Please Don't/ Juniel Bad Man Tie

5. Secret Poison/ BoA Only One

There were just so many good songs that came out in the world of K-pop and I can't possibly list them all, so the songs that I have chosen above are songs that I have listed to quite frequently.

Top 5 Animes of 2012

Top Animes of 2012

1. Winter 2012 - Rinne no Lagrange

2. Spring 2012 - Sakamichi no Apollon

3. Summer 2012 - Sword Art Online

4. Fall 2012 - Zetsuen no Tempest

5. My personal choice - Another

Note: That these 5 animes are just animes in general that I thought were the best and I picked one anime from each of the 4 seasons of animes and the numbers beside them don't hold any significance I just went in order from the seasons.

Top 5 Games of the Year

Games of the Year

1. Resident Evil 6

Even with all of the hate and dislikes that the RE Series is headed in this game was excellent in many respects the characters, story arcs, and plot seamlessly blended together well and I became very immersed in the story and wanted to know what happened next.

2. Mass Effect 3

Mass Effect 3 what a way to end a trilogy of games that you've invested so many hours into. It has been a long and fun journey that we have taken with Commander Shepard and I don't think it could have ended in any better way.

3. Tales of Xillia 2

This game is the only game on my list that was just released in Japan only, but I loved Tales of Xillia and it's universe and it's sequel was equally fun too. I hope that Tales of Xillia 2 will be released in the U.S. as well. 

4. Assassin's Creed III/ Lollipop Chainsaw Tie

AC3 even though it had a slow start story-wise and there were too many bugs that you can't even count with just your fingers it was still overall a great and enjoyable game. As for Lollipop Chainsaw it was a fun new quirky IP and an overall entertaining game.

5. Final Fantasy XIII-2

I'm torn over this game half of me doesn't think it deserves to be on this list while the other part of me does. It was a good game and I like the soundtrack over FFXIII's, but FFXIII is still the better game of the two and the troll ending of this game didn't help it much either but I love the FF Series too much it not put it on this list.

Year End Series

In the upcoming days I will be starting my end of the year series. Where I'll post the best and the worst animes,couples/ships, games etc, and give an overall reflection of the 2012 year.

Christmas Holidays

Christmas is almost here so spread around holiday cheer.

Hana Yori Dango Ore No Hanashi Wo Shiyouka

I was just randomly browsing through mangahere.com's newly added manga chapter list when I came across this one-shot spin-off continuation of one of my all time favorite shoujo mangas Hana Yori Dango. This particular one-shot focused heavily on Rui Hanazawa and his lingering feelings for Makino Tsukushi. The one-shot was short but spectacular and had a beautiful conclusion.

Psychic Detective Yakumo

Review

After I completed watching this anime I felt empty inside, unsatisfied and unfilled. This anime overall was kinda MEH to me, but had an interesting premise and story plot. The main character Yakumo Saitou for the most part was interesting character, and the power that his red eye has adds to his dynamic as an interesting  character. Haruka his troublesome partner on the other hand was an alright character for the most part but didn't really add anything to the mix.

Verdict

This anime was mediocre to me at best. During some parts it was really interesting and gripping while at other times parts fell short and were utterly uninteresting.

Score: 7.0

Hanasaku Iroha

Review

Summary: Hanasaku Iroha centers around Ohana Matsumae, a 16-year-old teenager living in Tokyo, who is left in the care of her estranged grandmother, following her mother's elopement with her boyfriend. Ohana arrives at her grandmother's country estate to realize she is the owner of a Taishō period hot spring inn called Kissuisō. She begins working at Kissuisō, at her grandmother's request, but finds herself at odds with many employees and customers at the inn. Initially feeling discouraged, she decides to use her circumstances as an opportunity to change herself for the better and to make amends with her deteriorating relationship with the Kissuisō's staff for a more prominent future.

This anime was great and fun to watch in general. The main character Ohana was a great lead and it was fun to watch her growth from the beginning of the anime to the end of the anime. Every character who worked at the inn had various personalities and they were not bland characters in the least. The story and animation was well executed and this anime really does shine.

Romance

KoichixOhana

This was one of the driving romances in the anime and what can I say? These two are cute together and they are the pure essence of teen romance.

TohruxOhana

These two are also cute together and I loved their interactions with each other, but as much as I liked them together I hate to admit their relationship had more of an elder brother and younger sister vibe and we have Minko who already had eyes for Tohru romantically. Tohru and Ohana is kinda of my OTP of this show, but I don't have anything against Koichi.

Verdict

This anime is a definite watch as it is refreshing coming of age story with hints of romance, comedy and drama. Also, it doesn't hurt that the animation is absolutely gorgeous. 

Score: 9.0

Vampire Knight Chapter 88

Thoughts

This chapter of VK gave me so many FEELS and not in a good way. This is just my opinion but I want to say as of chapter 87 that Zeki is canon at this point. I think that the Yume ship is beyond the point of no return as Kaname has buried himself in a huge hole that he cannot get out of with the path that he is currently taking. The chapter was overall good and emotional, but I really did not like the end of the chapter with Yuuki seemingly erasing Zero's memories of her existence. I was just like no Yuuki don't blow a hole in my ship, but as a dedicated reader of the Vampire Knight series I will just have to see where the story will go from here and what lies at the end of this tragic tale. Vampire Knight will be starting from the next chapter coming out in January it's final story arc. 

Arcana Famiglia

Review

Here we go again another otome game that was adapted into an anime tv series. This will be quick and short to put it simply it's just hard to make an otome game anime adaption per-se that has a fully developed or developing  plot and story development, but I will say that Arcana Famiglia was way better than Hiiro no Kakera hands down. Also, there were actual back stories for the male suitors in this anime and they were not just eye-candy. So, I was happy on that aspect and another shocker was that the plot even though it was basic and one-dimensional at times actually went somewhere even though there were some cop-outs during and mostly towards the end of the anime series plot-wise.

Verdict

Obviously, this type of genre of anime isn't everyone's cup of tea being a reverse-harem and all, but it was a fairly good attempt of one with an actual story and some plot development, and if you have some free-time on your hands may want to check it out.

Score: 7.8