Shadows House is airing on Animax Asia

I actually never heard of this anime before but I am so glad I stumbled upon it when it was first aired on TV. Shadows House is an anime adaptation of Japanese manga series of the same name written and illustrated by duo So-ma-to. The animated series is produced by CloverWorks.

The anime is about Living Dolls who are the servants of the denizens of Shadow House who all live in a grand mansion. Each Shadow person would have his or her own Living Doll not only to serve them but also represent them as the Shadow person is not visibly recognizable by face. The story focused on a new Living Doll named Emilico and her mistress, Kate. Together they uncover the dark secrets behind the mystery of the mansion and its inhabitants. I wish I could tell you more but as of the 4th episode that I've watched, not much has been revealed yet. Besides, I think it is best for you to enjoy the story yourself without any spoilers.

So far, I have enjoyed the story and the animation is nice visually too. I like the characters that have been introduced thus far with both Emilico and Kate are my favourites. That kind of make sense since the anime explored much of these two characters anyway in the first 4 episodes. I'm looking forward to get to know more about the rest of the characters especially Lou, she seems rather mysterious and interesting. I am also very much in love with the closing theme track "Nai Nai" by ReoNa. It's an awesome song.

The anime is licensed to Funimation outside of Asia. For Asian viewers, if you have Animax Asia, you can watch it there. It is airing every Monday and Tuesday at 8 pm (2 episodes airing on each day). It started airing on September 20th so 4 episodes have been aired so far. I'm sure they would have repeat airing afterwards but it's not too late for you to catch up with the series now if you haven't already.

For more info, you can check out Animax Asia website.

My Top 10 Movies for 2019 ~ No. 5 - No. 1

We're back with my list of 2019 top 10 films. We have covered the first half of the list in Part 1, and now let's cover the other half of the list. These are the movies at number 5 to 1.

No. 5 - The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part

Image source: Wikipedia

I love this film! The story is highly entertaining, funny and the songs are super addictive. It's just a perfect movie to watch together with family or friends. The film is still as quirky as the first one, in fact I'm surprised that the film still feels fresh despite already knowing the twist that happened in the end of the first film. Hats off to the creative team for that. Another thing that is super creative is the end credits scene. It's crazy to say that but it's true! The film itself is self-aware but the end credits scene takes it to another level. It's very amusing and humorous to watch. Even though I like it a lot, sadly the film didn't fare too well at the box office, only grossing around $190 million worldwide. That's very low compared to the first film.

No. 4 - Knives Out

Image source: Knives Out official site

It's a fantastic ensemble movie; Daniel Craig, Ana de Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, Chris Evans, Michael Shannon, Don Johnson, Toni Collette and many more starred in this amazing mystery whodunit movie. I particularly like the atmosphere of the movie; it feels cozy but at the same time you can feel the tension between the characters (well, they do fight a lot but it's entertaining to watch). The movie was a success for the studio and they are planning a sequel with the enigmatic private investigator Benoit Blanc (played marvellously by Daniel Craig) investigating another mystery. I really hope they can turn this into a popular franchise because I can see a great potential in it.

My 2017 Top 10 Films ~ No. 10 - No. 1

This is another post for archive purposes. Here are my 2017 top 10 films.

10 - Happy Death Day

I had such a fun time watching this at the cinema. Although the time loop concept for the film had been done several times before in movies, Happy Death Day still managed to make it fresh and exciting.


9 - Logan

A superhero movie with deep and emotional story told in a very sophisticated way. I don't think there's any better way to say goodbye to an iconic character.

Danganronpa: The Animation ~ full season review

Welcome to my full season review of the anime series, Danganronpa: The Animation. I did a 4-episode impression for the anime before, so if you're interested to know what was my initial reaction to the anime series, you can click here for my post for that.

Danganronpa: The Animation is the anime adaptation of the visual novel game, Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc. It's the first game in the franchise and it became so popular that it spawned more video games, manga adaptations, novels and of course an anime series. There might be a few spoilers scattered in this post regarding the plot so if you plan on watching the anime, you may want to skip and read something else. There won't be any big spoilers though so you might not need to worry much.

So what's the anime about? It's about a young boy named Makoto Naegi, along with 14 other students, who were trapped in the building of Hope's Peak Academy, an elite academy which only accepts talented students. All the doors and windows were closed and locked, the facilities were run with an enclosed self-sustainable system, security cameras were everywhere watching them, and they were monitored by a mysterious someone who controlled a stuffed teddy bear named Monokuma who also acted as their school's principal. All students who were trapped were to live in the facility forever and if they want to get out from there, all they have to do is to kill another student BUT they cannot be caught doing it. A trial will be held when someone is killed and if the killer is caught, then he/she will be punished, or should I say executed. If the killer got away with the murder and someone else was blamed for his/her action, then the killer will be released from the facility and the other students who will be executed instead. It's a weird (but definitely fascinating!) premise.

Danganronpa: The Animation ~ The first 4 episodes impression

Danganronpa is a video game franchise which currently consists of 3 main titles (with one upcoming title) and had also spawned manga series, novels and of course, anime adaptation, in which I will review now based off the first four episodes that I had watched. Danganronpa: The Animation had been aired in Japan beginning of July in 2013 but it had just premiered on Animax Asia last Monday on 16th November 2015. It's kind of sad to see that it only got released on the channel more than 2 years later but I guess it's better late than never.

I've never heard about this series before and I was just lucky to have seen TV ads for it a few days before its premiere. So what is it about? It's about several people trapped in a building and the only way for them to get out is to kill someone but they have to make sure they don't get caught doing it. Sounds dark, creepy and interesting, right? The ads just showed this simple premise but that definitely caught my attention straight away.

The anime starts off with the main protagonist (Makoto Naegi), a regular, normal, "extremely lucky" student walking into Hope's Peak Academy, an elite academy that only accepts the best of the best of students. But once he step his foot into the academy territory, he passed out and next thing he knew, he was trapped in the academy's building along with 14 other "accepted" students of the academy. As they assembled at the assembly hall, they were introduced to an evil-talking-stuffed bear named Monokuma and were told that they were to stay in the academy forever and if they want to get out from there, they have to kill someone but they cannot let themselves get caught by the others for doing it...and so the story begins.

What to watch? ~ 2015 movies: July

So far for 2015, three Hollywood movies had reached USD$1 billion at the box office (Furious 7, Avengers: Age of Ultron and Jurassic World), and we're only halfway through the year! And there's more blockbuster movies coming out soon. There are a few movies that caught my interest for July but which movies do you think would make it big at the box-office? Or maybe make a big impression with film critics a la Mad Max: Fury Road and Inside Out?

Below are the movies that I'm most interested with for July 2015. Let's start!


1) Terminator: Genisys

Similar to the Jurassic World, I believe Terminator: Genisys has a strong brand that could lure old and new fans of the franchise to the cinemas. However, seeing how the last 2 movies of this franchise were not as highly praised as the first two movies, it could also spell trouble for this new sequel box-office performance. We'll see where this movie would take the franchise; rise to the top of the pack or burn to the ground. I'm rooting for this movie to be successful though because from what I see from the trailers, it looks like a really fun movie, and the story takes it into a totally different direction than just simply following the timeline established from previous movies. So hopefully the movie will be good. Directed by Alan Taylor (the director of Thor: The Dark World) and starring Emilia Clarke, Jai Courtney, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Clarke, Lee Byung-hun and J. K. Simmons, Terminator: Genisys had been released in cinemas on July 1, 2015 in the US and July 2, 2015 in Malaysia.


2) Attack on Titan Part 1: Crimson Bow and Arrow

Usually my list contains only Hollywood movies because that's the easiest movies for me to track online, but this time I got two Asian movies that caught my interest in my list (I should have checked my local websites movie schedule more often then). First up is the anime film adaptation of the popular manga/anime TV series Attack on Titan. There seemed to be two parts to this movie, and the first part is called Attack on Titan Part 1: Crimson Bow and Arrow which was adapted from episode 1 until 13 of the anime TV series. I had only read several chapters of the manga and have never watch the TV series before but from what I've read, I know that the story is unique and very entertaining so I'm very much looking forward to this movie. Already released in Japan in November of 2014, Attack on Titan Part 1: Crimson Bow and Arrow was released in Malaysia on July 2, 2015.


3) The Gallows

To be honest, story-wise I suspect that this film would just be a regular found footage horror movie that has been produced quite a lot recently but the trailer for this movie was so cleverly cut and accompanied by an awesome rendition of Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit that it piqued my interest. Come to think of it, I somewhat remember a movie with "Gallows" in the title been released in Malaysia some few months back? Can't really remember for sure but if that was this movie, then I had missed my chance to watch it. But the US audience would still have that chance as The Gallows would be released in cinemas on July 10, 2015. The film starred Reese Mishler, Cassidy Gifford, Ryan Shoos, Pfeifer Brown and Alexis Schneider. If you're wondering that awesome rendition I was talking about, check out the cover by Think Up Anger feat. Malia J on YouTube (thanks to the comments section of the trailer in YouTube - I wouldn't know who did the cover version if you ask me). Awesome stuff!

Parasyte -the maxim- ~ midseason review (episode 1 - 12)

Parasyte -the maxim- anime series which is currently airing on Animax Asia (ASTRO Malaysia channel 715) is based on the manga series Parasyte by mangaka Hitoshi Iwaaki. The plot is basically about a male high school student named Shinichi Izumi who had been 'infected' by a parasitic being that had ate and replaced his right arm. This review is for episode 1 until 12 (the series is ongoing), and there might be some spoilers here and there. If you haven't watch it and plan to do so and don't want anything spoil for you, you might want to skip this one out.

Let me start this review by saying that this anime series is awesome! It truly is! The manga it was based from was published in magazine from 1988 until 1995. I was wondering why did it took so long for them to make an anime series out of it? It has a nice plot with very interesting twists, certainly it would become a great series. Maybe it was not as popular back then? But that couldn't be the case since the manga had won several awards, so it must have quite a following. Nevertheless, the series seems to be in full swing now, it not only have an anime series, a two-part live-action movies had also being developed with the first part had been released in Japan's cinemas in November 2014, with the second part scheduled to be released in April 2015.

I've mentioned that the anime series had a nice plot. Well, to be more precise, it actually has a great plot (at least up until episode 12). I expected it to have a basic story surrounding the main character fighting other parasyte-infected beings. While that is definitely true, it is actually more than that as the plot has a much deeper story revolving around the main character (Shinichi Izumi) emotional journey as he become involved with the parasytes. I love how the story portrays his relationship with his parents as he struggles to keep his secret from them, also his relationship with his friends as he become more distant and cold towards them as his power evolved inside of him. It's very interesting to explore that side the character as it made the story more personal and not just another typical anime with one-on-one fight between characters.

BTOOOM! (anime) ~ Episode 1 - Episode 3 review

A new anime series, BTOOOM!, had started airing on Animax Asia (Astro Malaysia, Channel 715) last Wednesday, 5th March 2014. The anime series is based on the Japanese manga by Jun'ya Inoue and had already aired in Japan from October till December 2012. As you can see from the anime original run in Japan, it was aired a bit late here but it's better late than never, so I don't really mind the time gap. As for my personal exposure to the series, I heard about it before but had never read the manga or watch the anime. So this is my first time watching the series, and so far the first 3 episodes were amazing. This review would not have spoilers so for those who have yet to watch the show have nothing to worry about.

The first episode introduced us to Ryota Sakamoto, the main protagonist who were forced to play in a real life version of a game called BTOOOM! where players have to eliminate each other by using explosives known as BIMs in order to survive. Ryota is actually one of the world's top players in the online version of BTOOOM! but somehow he was nominated to be in the deadly match of the real life version of BTOOOM! by someone. Shocked and confused as he cannot remember how he got on the island where the game was held, he unwillingly participated in the game using his knowledge and skills from the online version. And as he bumped into one of the other player, he would have to make a decision that would determine his survival on the island.

The second episode introduced us to another main character, Himiko. This is my favourite episode out of all 3 episodes that I reviewed here because of the tragic incident that befallen Himiko that led to her nomination to be in this deadly game. Back at her hometown, she was a regular high school student who occasionally hang out with her friends and also one of the player of the online game BTOOOM!. However, due to one unfortunate event, she ended up on the island and met three other guys who decided to team up with her. Soon, she would have to decide whether teaming up with these three guys would come to her benefit or would result in her death. I love how cleverly the episode played out in which they showed the same scene at the end of this episode with the one at the end of the first episode, but because of the revelation of how Himiko ended up in the game, both scenes were viewed differently by audiences despite being the same scene. This showed how deep the story can go and also proved that this anime series is definitely not for kids.

Studio Ghibli anime films ~ Films I had watched

I think most of the anime fans had heard the news about Hayao Miyazaki retiring from making any more films. So it means that the recently released The Wind Rises would be his last film. For those who didn't know, Hayao Miyazaki is one of the founder of Studio Ghibli, a respected animation studio from Japan that had produced many great anime films such as Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Ponyo and My Neighbor Totoro.

Although I love the works of the studio, I must admit that I didn't watch every one of them, in fact I had only watched 5 films. But that is enough to convince me that the studio is one of the great animation studio in the world because of their high quality anime films. In a way to honour the announcement of Hayao Miyazaki's retirement, let me introduce you (at least to those who are not familiar with the works from the studio) to the five films produced by Studio Ghibli that I had watched. Enjoy!

1) The Cat Returns

Out of the five films, I have to say that this is my least favourite film from the studio. Nevertheless, I found the story to be quite charming. The Cat Returns tell a story about a girl named Haru who were taken to the Cat Kingdom to marry a cat prince after she saved him from being hit by a moving vehicle. The characters in the movie, especially the cats, are very cute and although I feel the story could have been longer, it still offers an exciting journey into a fantasy world ruled by cats.

2) The Borrower Arrietty

Released in Japan in 2010 to much positive reviews, The Borrower Arrietty tells a story about a group of tiny people living under the floor of a house and live their lives by borrowing items from humans. Based on children's books called The Borrowers by an English author Mary Norton, the film was praised for its animation and music. I love the animation too and the different view of the world seeing from the point of views of Arrietty. You can check out more of my comments about the film in my review here.

3) Princess Mononoke

This would be the 1st film from the studio that I had watched, and it was such an amazing film. Princess Mononoke is an epic fantasy adventure film released back in 1997 and regarded as one of the film from Studio Ghibli that garnered worlwide attention. It was such a rich, fantastical and at the same time, serious film that made me realised at that time that animation was not just for children. The film is about the struggle between the spirit of the forest and the humans of a town who had been consuming the resources of the forest. Loved by critics, the film had also made into various top movie list.

Hell Girl: Three Vessels ~ review

Animax Asia had just recently finished airing the third season of Hell Girl anime series called Hell Girl: Three Vessels (known in Japan as Jigoku Shōjo Mitsuganae). The anime is about a girl named Enma Ai and her assistants who run a supernatural system that allows people to send other people to Hell through Hell Correspondence website. As with previous two seasons, this season also see each episode follows different people who are having difficult time with other people that eventually lead them to use the Hell Correspondence website. This season also introduces a new main character named Yuzuki Mikage who has a strong connection with Enma Ai due to being possessed by her.

Before I start reviewing the anime series, let me start by saying that this season had long been overdue. I remember the channel aired season 1 and season 2 years ago, and only now they decided to air the third season. I'm not sure what are the problems they are having that made it delayed but I am glad that they decided to air it anyway eventhough it had originally aired in Japan back in 2008 (that's almost 5 years apart). As one of the anime series fan, Hell Girl: Three Vessels is certainly on my watch list.

Let's start with the plot. Basically this season also follows what the past two seasons had established where each episode is like a short story featuring characters that are involved with the Hell Correspondence website. So usually you would have the predator who would usually ended up being sent to Hell, and the victim who is the person who use the Hell Correspondence website (it can be the other way around where the victim is the one sent to Hell). Although I did missed a few episodes, but those that I've watched definitely have good stories. The stories are deep and give you something to think about, and that's what I like about the anime series where it raised discussions among the viewers. Although I didn't quite like some of the punishment scenes (where the characters were tortured before being sent to Hell) that have comedic elements in it as I think it was a bit unfitting for the serious tone of the dilemma that the characters faced, overall the story of each episode are really well done. My favourite episode is the second-to-last episode of the season (episode 25) that featured the backstory of the new main character, Yuzuki Mikage. It was a sad and emotional episode that answers a lot of questions that had been raised about the character's involvement with Enma Ai.

The Borrower Arrietty ~ review

 

I am a fan of Studio Ghibli animations after I watched Princess Mononoke when I was young, but of course at that time, I was not aware of the studio that made the film. Then years later I watched Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle, which I feel are great animations for children and adults alike, and cemented my love and support for the Japanese studio. Although I didn't watch all the movies from them, but based from the few titles that I had watched, I could conclude that they really know how to make a high-quality animation movies.

The Borrower Arrietty (or The Secret World of Arrietty / Kari-gurashi no Arietti) is a 2010 Studio Ghibli's anime fantasy film directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi. It is based (I think loosely based) on the children books, The Borrowers, by Mary Norton. The film grossed more than USD100 million worldwide and received critical acclaimed from critics. The film is about one of the tiny people living under the floorboards of a house, Arrietty, and her friendship with a normal human boy, Sho.

Personally I think the plot is very entertaining, especially when it comes to the dynamic relationship between the young Borrower, Arrietty, and the human boy, Sho. They lived close to each other but they are worlds apart, and yet they have quite similar problems; Sho's life is restricted with his heart disease while Arrietty's life is confined due to her physical appearance. It's heart-warming to see how they rely and help each other despite their limitations. But the plot is very slow-paced which I would suggest for people not to watch this late at night, in which case you might dozed-off, which is unfortunate if you do because The Borrower Arrietty is a very good film. Although the plot is good, I feel that a lot more can be added (like more conflicts between the two protagonists' world) to make the plot richer and more engaging. Nevertheless, the story is still good as I think the studio purposely made this anime less on the action and more on the emotional journey of Arrietty and Sho.

The two characters who took centre stage in this anime are, of course, Arrietty and Sho, while the others are more on supporting roles, but I have to say that they are all well-designed not just in visuals but also in their personalities. They are all very likeable, eventhough some of the roles are not as stand-out as I would like them to be like Arrietty's father Pod and the lone, bow-wielding Borrower Spiller. The animals featured in the anime like Sho's cat Niya and the crow who flew into Sho's window are also likeable (and funny!). It is great to see that even a small character can have an impact on audience, which shows that every character is important no matter how small the role is.

The visual design for this movie is just amazing. The landscape and characters (like I mention before), are all well-designed and beautifully crafted. You can really see that every detail is taken care off, especially when the movie show scenes of the surrounding forest with the tall grasses, flowers, trees and insects. I also love the play of angles in one of the scene, where Arrietty join her father in the kitchen to find some stuffs that the family need, and the camera zoom in to show the kitchen's view from Arrietty's perspective. The scene together with the sound effects really made an impact on me and showed how different the world is from the view of a small being like Arrietty and her family.

Speaking of sound effects, the music for this animation suits with the theme of nature that prominently featured in the film with its dreamy and soothing sound. And even the sound effects without the music like the sound of rain and insects in the forest are a pleasant to listen to. As for the voice casts, since the version I watched was the Japanese version, the voice acting is quite good and sounded natural as any anime would with Japanese language. Mirai Shida, who voiced Arrietty, was a stand-out though and my favourite voice actor for this film. Other casts include Ryunosuke Kamiki as Sho, Tomokazu Miura (Pod, Arrietty's father), Shinobu Otake (Homily, Arrietty's mother), Keiko Takeshita (Sadako Maki, Sho's great aunt) and Kirin Kiki (Haru, the house caretaker).

As a conclusion, I really feel like The Borrower Arrietty is another great anime movie from Studio Ghibli. Although some parts of the story are a little bit slow, the overall plot is very entertaining with loveable characters, great visuals and beautiful music. A must see for fans of animations from Studio Ghibli, while for newcomers, I would suggest that you rent other films from the studio first like Princess Mononoke or Spirited Away before you watch this to really appreciate the kind of story-telling The Borrower Arrietty has to offer.

Images from Wikipedia and Yahoo! Movies.

K (anime) ~ Episode 1 and Episode 2 review

Okay, so I had watched episode 1 and 2 of the new anime, K, that had started airing on Animax Asia only last week, and here what I think about it.

In my opinion, episode 1 started really strong with viewers already thrown into interesting fight scenes early on. But story-wise, it is still very confusing what the commotion was all about. But that's normal, I guess, for episode 1 of an anime, or any TV series. Some cool characters were introduced, like Mikoto Suō and Anna Kushina, but my favourite has to be the main character of the show, Yashiro Isana. I didn't know he would be the main character since the promo for the anime seems to show that he would just be a supporting character. But I'm glad that he is, because Yashiro is such an interesting and mysterious character.

The visual for the anime is rather unique, mostly because of the colour that the studio use for the anime. It didn't use normal colouring instead it seems to only utilise a few major colour like blue and red to make up most of the scenes. But personally, it didn't distract me while I'm watching, in fact I think it helps K to stand out from the other anime series. The camera techniques and angles are good and quite high-standard too, like when the camera follows a character while he was on a skateboard or when the camera zoom in  through a glass marble when a character was looking through it. These techniques help K looks "expensive".

Episode 2 focused on another interesting character known as Kurō Yatogami, as he located Yashiro at his school after he initially managed to be captured by him. This episode also featured more humour and shows that K is not all action and serious. I was excited although a bit surprised at first when they included a lot of jokes in this episode, as I think the tone seemed quite different that what was previously set by episode 1. Nevertheless, I'm happy with it, and I think this will be the tone (a mixture of action and humour) that will be set throughout the series.

I still don't understand the whole concept of the world that K was set in. Viewers did see some powers that a few of these characters had in these 2 episodes but nothing were explained regarding it. Homura clan seems to be like a group of organized thugs that are well-known and feared by the townsfolk while Scepter 4 looks like the "police force" of the city. And something about Ashinaka High School, the school that Yashiro attended, that seemed special and somewhat mysterious. I mean, it's located entirely on an island and is isolated from the city. Would the school be explored more in future episodes?

So that's what I think about the anime K, based on the first 2 episodes. Did you watch the anime? If you do, what do you think about it? And if you don't, you can watch it on Animax Asia every Friday at 1:35 am for Animax Same Day Telecast program, or watch the encore telecast at 6:30 pm. K will also has its repeat on Saturday at 11:30 pm with the previous week's episode aired before that.

Images from K official website.

New Animax Same Day Telecast Event ~ K

Animax Asia will be having its Same Day Telecast Event for the new anime, K. The new anime will première on 5th October 2012 at 1.35 am and will have its encore telecast at 6.30 pm.

I've never heard anything about this anime before and my search on the web also ended up nowhere as the main website is in Japanese (and I don't know Japanese!). But judging from Animax's previous anime series for their Same Week / Same Day Telecast program, this new anime should be good too. I guess the only way to find out is to watch the show and judge it yourself.

Don't forget to mark your calender.

Image from K official website.

Hunter X Hunter (2011 anime) ~ Hunter Exam story arc review

The first story arc of Hunter X Hunter anime (the 2011 remake) had just finished its run on Animax Asia. It revolves around the Hunter Exam that our four protaganists; Gon, Kurapika, Leorio and Killua, enter in order to become professional Hunters and to get the Hunter license that can open to so many doors and opportunities. Each of them had their own purposes in entering the tough and cruel exam; Gon wants to meet his Hunter dad; Kurapika wants to get his revenge on the famous criminal group, Phantom Troupe, who had murdered his entire Kurta Clan; Leorio wants money to further study and become a doctor to give free treatment to his patients; while Killua just wants to get away from his assassins family.

The Hunter Exam that they entered consists of 5 phases. For the first phase, the candidates just had to follow the examiner through a long run to get to the second phase site. Sounds easy but this phase will test the candidates stamina, and they also had to run past a swamp that filled with ferocious creatures. The second phase involves cooking, but the ingredients that the candidates need to cook are the wild boars, which can be deadly to catch, and the eggs of the spider eagles, which in order to get the eggs the candidates had to jump through a gorge.

In the third phase of the exam, the candidates were left on a high tower known as the Trick Tower and need to find a way to escape from it in 72 hours. In the tower, they were faced with prisoners who were hired as the examiners of the exam. For the fourth phase, each candidates were given a target (one of the other candidates) and were left in an island for several days. While there, they need to fight each other for their badges and collect points to proceed to the next round.

The fifth and final phase of the Hunter Exam involves a one-on-one combat between the remaining nine candidates. One win will guarantee the winner the hunter license while the loser will have another chance by fighting others, but not all candidates have the equal amount of chances. Plus, out of nine candidates, only one will fail and eight others will get the hunter license, if no one is killed of course. If a contestant kill another during the combat, then that contestant will automatically get disqualified and the remaining contestants will officially passed the exam. Tricky.

Now let's talk about the quality of the anime. I did missed several episodes (like phase two of the Hunter Exam) but personally, I think the anime looks really good and well made with great voice acting. I love the voice acting of the four protagonists especially Gon and Kurapika. But some of the best ones are from the antagonists; Hisoka and Gittarackur @ Illumi. The episodes were neatly separated between each other and does not interfere with the flow of the story. But some of the scenes in the anime were a bit downplayed compared to the original manga probably to reduce the violence. The one that I thought were obvious was when Killua killed the serial killer prisoner in the Trick Tower during phase three of the Hunter Exam.

The story is, of course, great. I love to see the different personalities of the characters and how they interact with each other or respond to certain events. Our main heroes; Gon with his cheerful attributes and determination, quick-thinking Kurapika with his calm demeanor, Leorio with his clumsiness and funny comments and Killua with his cool act; have that strong presence that made me always rooting for them. But what I love to see the most is the friendship that bond as the characters gone through the tough exam. It was really inspiring.

Another great part of the anime is the background music in which it brings the adventurous mood of the story. The opening and ending theme are great too. The opening theme "Departure!" is sung by Masatoshi Ono while the ending theme is by the Japanese band Fear, and Loathing in Las Vegas called "Just Awake".

I highly recommend this anime to everyone, whether you're a fan of anime or not. It has great plot, great characters and great music. What more could you asked for? If you haven't watch the anime yet, you can still catch it on Animax Asia (Astro Malaysia Channel 715) from Monday to Friday at 7.30 pm with repeats at 10.30 pm.

Images from Animax Asia.

New season of Hunter X Hunter on Animax Asia

A new season of the anime Hunter X Hunter will premiere on Animax Asia (Astro Malaysia on Channel 715) on Tuesday, 24 April 2012 at 7.30 pm. It will air every Monday to Friday at 7.30 pm so you will get a healthy dose of your favourite hunters every week.

For those of you who don't know, the anime series is an adaptation of the popular manga series by Yoshihiro Togashi. It is about four main characters; Gon, Killua, Kurapika and Leorio, who enters the extremely hard Hunter Examination to become a professional Hunter. The story in the manga had long since been developed into several arcs, even the anime series had progressed well beyond the Hunter Examination story arc, but since this new season of Hunter X Hunter is some sort of a reboot, hence all of the new fans can leave a sigh of relief as the story in the anime will start again from the beginning.

You can visit the Animax Asia website to learn more about the new season of Hunter X Hunter.

Image from Animax Asia.

Last Exile: Fam, the Silver Wing ~ great anime series!

First I have to admit I didn't watched Last Exile, the anime series by Gonzo that begins it all. But it is safe to say that you do not need any knowleadge about Last Exile to watch the sequel, Last Exile: Fam, the Silver Wing which is currently running on Animax Asia.

Fam, the Silver Wing is about our protagonist, Fam Fan Fan, a talented sky pirate, and her navigator, Giselle Collette, trying to help a runaway princess, Millia II Velch Cutrettola Turan to restore her kingdom that had been conquered by the Ades Federation. It's a bit complicated to describe what really happen on the series as of now since I had missed several episodes already. But for those of you who still haven't watch the series, I think it's not too late for you to start to watch it now. Don't worry about not understanding the plot, you will gradually understand and appreciate the story. Even if you still got confuse along the way, well, internet is the best place to start to so some research.

I was blown away by the high-quality of the anime when I first watch it, it was beautiful and mesmerizing, not to forget extremely in detail especially when it comes to the airships. You can see the hardwork the studio had put on their product. The voice-acting was also good and suits the characters really well.

Speaking of characters, Fam, the Silver Wing is packed with interesting characters. First you have the main duo, Fam Fan Fan and Giselle, then you have the hard-headed princess Millia of Turan. Sara Augusta, on the other hand, is the reigning empress of Ades Federation. I'm not sure of her age, but she seems like she was only 8 or 9 years old. Served by her side is the antagonistic Premier of the Ades Federation, Luscinia Hafez, a cruel military head who will do anything to achieve his goal. Some other interesting characters are Tatiana Wisla, Alister Agrew and Dio Eraclea who were all originated from the first series, Last Exile.

You can watch Last Exile: Fam, the Silver Wing on Animax Asia (Malaysia on Astro Channel 715) every Saturday on 8 pm with last week's episode airing on 7.30 pm so you can watch it back-to-back. Happy viewing!

Link: Animax Asia

K-On! ~ Cute high school girls + Good music

Season 2 of K-On!! had just recently end its run on Animax Asia and I'm pretty sad about it. It's one of the best anime I'm watching on the channel right now and to watch its final episode was kind of sad and painful. The anime is about 5 high school girls (Yui, Ritsu, Mio, Tsumugi and a junior Azusa) with their school life and their love & passion for music. It's a light anime with no heavy themes, just about their friendship and similar passion for music. They were the members of the school's light music club and with only 5 members (yup, they were the only members of the club) they tried to keep the club alive.

The characters of the anime are really lovable with their crazy and kawai (that's cute in Japanese) personality. You just can't help but fall in love with them. The plot for each episode are really quite simple, usually about them practising their music (or lack of it which drives Azusa crazy), performing at the school carnival, going to the beach, or preparing for photo shoots for their school's magazine. Their music are pretty good too with a lot of J-pop flavour in it. Personally, I love the opening and ending themes for the anime. They are really good.

The series was originally a manga written and illustrated by Kakifly before being made into anime. The 1st and 2nd season of the anime are actually from the 1st series of the manga. The 2nd manga series will continue on their story in college. I can't wait to see them more in the 3rd season of the anime. I'm really going to miss them!!!

Image courtesy of Lightchan.

Alchemy + maid cafe. Awesome anime on Animax!

Here are two anime series that I currently followed on Animax Asia (Channel 715, Astro Malaysia).

Source: click here

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

So far, 52 episodes had been broadcast. So if you just about to tune in to the show, your kind of late, but it's better late than never right. It tells the story of two bothers, Edward and Alphonse Elric, who lives in a world where alchemy triumph over science, and their journey to claim back their missing bodies (Edward's left leg and Alphonse's whole body) after attempting (and failing) to bring back their deceased mother to life by performing a forbidden alchemy transmutation.

Sound a bit complicated but trust me, it's a very good anime series. There was a same anime series called Fullmetal Alchemist (without the word Brotherhood) by the same animation studio that made this one, called Bones, but Brotherhood is more faithful to the manga storyline compared to the former that went a completely different path starting from its mid-season.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is a part of the same-week telecast program by Animax Asia that features anime that will be aired in its channel in the same week that it debut in Japan. It airs every Friday on 8.30 p.m. with the last week episode aired on 8 p.m.. It is one of my favourite anime series of all time and judging by the great story and high-quality anime production, you wouldn't be surprised why.

Source: click here

Maid Sama!

A romantic comedy anime based on a popular shōjo manga series of the same name. The anime is about Misaki Ayuzawa, the first female Student Council President at Seika High, who secretly works part-time at a maid cafe to support her poor family. Being a very fierce and dictator-like president, especially towards the boys, she cannot let her part-time job being known to the others due to her image in school. However, things got out of hand when one of the most popular boys in school, Takumi Usui, found out her secret. Lucky for Misaki, Takumi is a cool guy and he keeps her secret. And their friendship grew as Takumi find an interest in her after seeing her working in the maid cafe and often give her advice in handling the unruly boys at school.

I rarely watch anime based on shojo manga, not that I hate them but I rarely exposed to them. But Maid Sama! has the kind of vibe that I like. I think I mostly like it because of the humor element in it. It's really funny! I tickles me when I see Misaki turning into jelly-like thing in the maid cafe dressing room, or when she becomes panic when she heard other boys saying the word 'maid' in their conversation, or even when she just walking around after school for inspection with her big, loud footsteps. The show is really relaxing, and I like it.

Maid Sama! is also a part of the same-week telecast program by Animax Asia. So far, 3 episodes had been broadcast. You can watch it every Sunday on 8.30 p.m.

What's happening in December 2009?

Mmm...a lot of things happening around me in December 2009.

1. Britney Spears' birthday on December 2, 2009.
- It's today! Okay, as a fan, I just have to make a shoutout...Happy Birthday Britney!

2. My friends' wedding
- Two of my friends are getting married in this month. Well, I can only go to one event since the other one is too far away. Still planning on what to wear, I don't have much suitable clothes for weddings.

(image from Bleach 7)

3. Bleach premiere on Animax Asia
- Finally...Bleach anime will premiere on Animax Asia (Channel 715 on Astro Malaysia) on Dec. 18, 2009. I can't wait! I really hope they enable bi-lingual audio since I like watching it in Japanese. But of course they need to provide subtitles as well since I cannot understand Japanese. :-P

4. My niece birthday
- I MUST NOT forget this. My niece is turning 2 this 23rd December. Now...what should I give her? I cannot decide!

(image from Wikipedia)

5. Avatar coming out on Dec. 16, 2009
- I had promised myself that I will go to see this movie. I must! I feel like I will be missing something totally amazing if I miss it. Sometimes I will feel very excited about a movie but when the movie comes out, the excitement died away and I will have no interest to watch that particular movie anymore. So hopefully this time I will not disappoint myself. And I'm also hoping that Avatar is as good as it looks in the trailer.


Mmm...so far, that's all I can think of.

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood on Animax!

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood had premiered on Animax Asia last Friday, 10 April 2009, at 8.30 pm (Astro Malaysia, Channel 715). So tonight would be the 2nd episode of the new series. If you missed it, don't worry, Animax would have a repeat broadcast. Unfortunately, I don't know the time, so you better watch Animax to know the time schedule. I tried to find it on the Animax website but failed. I guess they never list it. Or maybe I just suck at finding information. :-P

Also note that Animax would also have a monthly recap marathon of past episodes on the last Saturday and Sunday of each month. So I don't think you have to worry anything if you miss a few episodes.

I hope Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood would do well because I really, really love the previous season, so I hope this season would be great too.