Fullmetal alchemist 25 and 24

Ok, there were mainly two things about episode 24 that made me unsettled. Firstly, how freaky Glutony's true form is, and secondly Envy's freaking manipulative nature which explores people's weaknesses. Oh how I hate him.... Seriously enough, it was a fairly good episode, with some of the highlights being Roy trying to save the day only to realise his flames were useless and start running away, and Roy being shrugged off by everyone, being repetedly told he's useless. Ed, Lin and Envy all got swallowed up by Glutony, unfortunately.

Episode 25 was richer in character development from Mei. It surprised me that this episode had an even freakier bit than the previous one. The revelation of Envy's real form was really well-done. The escalating dark music, and the art then was really top-notch and it fit very well. That said, I'm a bit surprised that the studio producing the anime rendered Envy's true monstruous self as a 3D model resembling 2D, and his scenes included both that model and actual 2D sequences. Not complaining though, it was awesome.
I seriously wasn't expecting that all of the generals in central were already aware of Wrath's plans and the fact that he's already an hommonculus. Not just that, he had already planned ahead, and separated Roy's entire squad, sending them all to different military outposts, and Liza to Central as his assistant.
Both episodes were good, but I much prefered episode 25.

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"Otakus are basically islamic extremists that traded
religion by an unhealthy passion of anime and manga. Well, otakus don't blow up towers, so they're a bit different."

Kateikyoushi Hitman Reborn episode 152

Ok, so I didn't make a post about episodes 150 and 151 because it's been a mad week.
I'll talk about it now anyway. Contrasting with episode 149's hardcore battling, 150 and 151 were mostly calm episodes. Not much action, specially because the real action was psychological. The episodes mostly dealt with Tsuna and everyone's feelings towards loosing against Reborn, and gave us some insight on their states of mind. They had respectively a feel of "lost battle" and "calm before the storm". Finally, we learnt of Verde's plan of obtaining the Vongola Rings to power his newly developed box weapons is revealed and the other Arcobaleno judge him as a traitor, coupled with some ass-kicking in episode 151

So, moving up to episode 152. The Arcobaleno dispatch the last of Verde's minions, but he's got more in store for them. He manages to capture them using a substance similar to the non-trennisete radiation. It ends up being just Tsuna and company versus his perfected box weapon prototypes. Normally, they would be fine, but let's just suppose that Verde sucked most of ours friends' dying will flame out of them? Yeah, that's tough.
Tsuna then realises he must carry out his resolution by himself and rekindles his flame by deciding to protect all of his friends. All of the guardians also get back their power, and they manage to stop the radiation incapacitating the Arcobaleno. All's fine? Not quite, because Verde makes the pods they were strapped to self-destruct.

Of course, there's no way charactres will be killed during a filler arc, so they're ok, managing to escape with one of Viper's illusions. The episode finally ends with the combined forces of the guardians and the arcobaleno crushing Verde's box weapons and himself. Only to discover that it was actually a robot of him(?!)
Argh! Why does this always happen when the antagonist is a scientific genius? Cough, anyways... I enjoyed the episode. If they wanted it to be dramatic, they could've done better, but oh well, you can't have everything. The episode was really about Tsuna rediscovering his resolution, and what it means to him. That aspect was definitely achieved.

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"Otakus are basically islamic extremists that traded
religion by an unhealthy passion of anime and manga. Well, otakus don't blow up towers, so they're a bit different."

Character(s) of the week: Willy and Spriggs

Specialist Willy of the UNSC is a trigger-happy soldier stationed in Zambai Outpost Alpha with a knack for blowing things up and defying the laws of physics, and one of the protagonists of the Halo 3 machinima Spriggs. He's worth mentioning here because he an amazingly funny character and specially characterized by his hatred of one specific individual in his squad. You may have noticed that this weekly post is supposed to be about one specific character, and I have two characters mentioned on the tiltle.

That's because, you can't speak of Willy without speaking of the character with whom he maintains the most awkward, hate-focused, uncomprehendable relationship of the show. I'm of course, talking about...

...Spriggs! The mute vehicle expert, owner of Specialist rank in the UNSC military, and the most misterious character of the cast. Like I said before, his relationship with Willy is most likely the wierdest, funnier relatinship in show. Mainly because it revolves around a single thing: Willy's hate of Spriggs. Willy hates, despises, and loathes Spriggs for some yet unidentified reason. No one really knows why Willy hates Spriggs, only that he's done so for as long as anyone can remember. Willy is prone to come up with wacky schemes to kill Spriggs usually involving high explosives, giant spinning blades of doom, odd violation of the laws of gravity, and several tons of delivery packages, oftenly making us wonder where he gets all that stuff, and just to fail and be run over by Spriggs' ATV in end. Anyone who watches the series will soon realize that as long as we can see Willy failing miserably at killing Spriggs (again) while #$@*ing everything up, it doesn't matter.

They are one of the funnier duos in entertainment since great classics such as Tom and Jerry. As a matter a fact, their relationship is very akin to famous cartoon duo many might remember from their childhood. The Roadrunner and the Coyote. Along the episodes, Willy's schemes get wackier, Spriggs' kill score increases, and the ammount of explosions and injuries on screen gets very, very big. It all accounts for an amazing time watching their wild antics. Words, however, aren't nearly enough to describe the awesomeness that they are. So why speak when you can just watch?

If you liked what you saw, follow the series on youtube(http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=E7ED63EF2BA8FB9A)

Or download the episodes from their site www.spriggshalo3.com

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"BEEP BEEP

-SPRIGGS! COME BACK HERE AND DIE!" by Willy and Spriggs

Fullmetal Alchemist 23

The new Fullmetal Alchemist series, subtitled Brotherhood, is now ongoing. This series is a faithfull adaptation of the manga, and I haven't found much, if any, distinction between both works. FMA has been on a roll lately, and I am really liking the episodes until now. Leaving that aside, the episode starts with Lin's escape, and Glutonny and King Bradley follow behind, leaving Lin and Lan Fan in a pinch. They are saved because of a well thought trap by Lan Fan who discards her wounded arm in order to allow them both to escape.

I'll admit I did not like Lin when he was introduced. In fact, I really desliked him for some apparent reason I cannot recall. Lately however, I've been thinking that maybe I was exagerating a bit, and I should reconsider my position about him. This episode definitly made my opinion of him take a 90 degree turn. He gallantly protected Lan Fan in both the past episode and in this one, all while showing his true skills as a fighter. And he captured Glutonny. And to think all he needed was a grenade and a iron wire...

The hurray of this episode goes to Mei for ruining the dramatic atmosphere between Scar, Ed and Al, and leaving everyone disoriented by performing alchemy from distance and running away with Scar.
She forgot her little panda in the mess though... care to guess who found it? Al did. And got lectured by Edward on always picking up lonely animals. Finally, Ed, Roy and company learn of King Bradley's true identity as an homonculus by Lin.
This episode was very good. It had a combination of action-filled to heavy emotional scenes, incluiding when Winry realises her feelings for Ed. Despite that, I'm more looking forward to the next one where the gang finally confronts Glutonny's true form.

Edit: I said it was episode 29, my bad, it was episode 23



"Otakus are basically islamic extremists that traded
religion by an unhealthy passion of anime and manga. Well, otakus don't blow up towers, so they're a bit different."

Kaichou wa Maid-sama chapter 41

Kaichou Wa Maid-sama! is currently one of the most funny shoujo mangas ongoing, with a promissing and dynamic characters and plot.

Our protagonist, Ayuzawa Misaki, hates guys. The high school where she goes to recently became co-ed, with girls only consisting a minory of the population and the school's rules being constantly broken by the boys. She then takes matters into her own hands, and becomes the school's first female student council president. She reprimands the boys and tries to make the school better for girls becoming known as the "demon president". She seems to have no weaknesses or anything that can be used against her. There's just the fact that she works at a maid café!

Things start going badly for her when three delinquent boys of her school discover her part-time job and plan to blackmail her. Fortunetly, she is saved by the school's heart-breaker, Usui Takumi. While she believes he'll also just blackmail her, he keeps quiet about her secret and instead becomes a regular costumer at the café, and starts to be constantly called "perverted alien stalker" by Misaki. The manga then follows the development of their unique relationship, as Usui rescues and helps Misaki with her problems on occasion and she becomes less hateful of him and men in general. Misaki eventually realizes her feelings for him and they start dating.

The series has a vast cast of characters, ranging from the insecure student council vice president Yukimura, to the "Three idiots", also Misaki's greatest fans at the café despite trying to blackmail her before.
Before commenting on the chapter itself, there is one piece of information that I would like to share.






A tv anime for Kaichou wa Maid-sama has been decided! Finally we get to see Misaki and Usui's antics in movement! I hope they keep the Drama CD's voice actors. Well, they could change Usui's, but I'll be happy with those same voice actors. On to the chapter.

Misaki-chan is in a rush, now isn't she? I wonder why....

A date with Usui, of course. What's more surprising that her being late is how cutely dressed she is.

Moe!!! And it's a KO for Ayuzawa Misaki, instantly beating Usui Takumi's mind senseless with her cute appearance and atitudes. Well, leaving the Misaki-blushing sequence aside, they are going on a date for her birthday because she agreeded letting him be with her the whole day because she did not give him anything for his birthday. And here we are.

And his present for her is a camera, which he will use to record her expressions along the day and then give it to her. Of course, Misaki opposes saying that it's too pricey of a gift and provoking Usui into saying he'll throw it away if she doesn't accept it, for he bought it "only for her". Followed by more blushing.

Happy Misaki, eating Misaki, soffucated Misaki, surprised Misaki, unconfortable Misaki... Usui seems to be enjoying this. =)



Something had to come along and spoil their fun. -_-

What the hell is the foxy vice-president from Miyabigaoka academy doing here? He's scheming something.... leaving him for now, the rest of the date goes fairly well, we see Usui give the puppy look at Misaki again (it never fails), and both of them playing around like the superhumans they are. But, she isn't very happy she the only one who's pictures are being taken. So guess what Usui does.






Bad move, Misaki-chan. Forceful Usui and embarassed Misaki make the best picture. They're so cute like that. :3




And to finish the day wonderfully, birthday cake (made by himself) in Usui's apartment and...




Happy 17th birthday, Ayuzawa Misaki!



A final birthday picture for her. Usui is very sweet to her, despite his teasing exterior. Of course, not everything is roses.


It bugs the hell out of me that the only thing we know about these two's evil (yes, it's evil, they are evil and I can feel it's evil) plotting is that it's going to be bad for our heroine.



My overall thoughts: This chapter was great! It was pure romance, and some very funny parts aswell. They were much more open to each other than in the previous chapters, and the art is still as good as ever. I can only hope whatever the president and vice-president of Miyabigaoka student council are planning does not affect Misaki and Usui's relationship... especially considering we saw Usui with them a few chapters ago.

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"Otakus are basically islamic extremists that traded
religion by an unhealthy passion of anime and manga. Well, otakus don't blow up towers, so they're a bit different."

Character of the week: Joker

The Joker. The Clown Prince of Crime. The single craziest, most cunning and pure evil criminal of Gotham City. And possibly the individual with the most sadistic and homicidal sense of humor that ever existed. (Besides possibly Richard, but that's another story)


Anyone that has read Batman knows of Joker to some degree. As known to many, he is the arch-nemesis of the Dark Knight and his ultimate enemy. His status as his most well-known oponent and obstacle comes from the Joker's complete obssession with the Caped Crusader, developed along the years as a vital part of the character. In turn, Batman too became partially obsessed with the capture and containment of Joker over his numerous appearances. In his first appearance in Batman #1 he was a straightforward homicidal maniac with the appearance of a joker card. In that same issue, he taunts the Gotham police department by declaring he will kill 3 of the city's most prominent citizens, which he achives with the installing of his signature and modus operandi, the killing of people with a venom that leaves a grin in their faces. The story is retold in the graphic novel The man who laughs in a different fashion, and not involving Robin.



During the golden age of Batman, he would constantly get caught by Batman and Robin, only to escape again and wreack more avoc. In his following appearances in the continuity of the Batman silver age, he lost many of his defining characteristics and was reduced to a goofy villain that was more of a nuisance than a public danger. Much of the character's essence was lost then, but was recovered in 1973 by Dennis O'Neil and Neal Adams, who gave back the character all of its murderous attitude and psychopath behavior in Batman issue #251. This together with the issues A death in the family and The killing joke redefined the character to become the modern Joker we know today.



Why I consider the Joker the Batman's greatest enemy and anthesis, is simply because he is the one who has inflincted the most suffering, pain and more deeply affected Batman psychologically amongst all of his foes. He repetedly attempts to coarce the bat into killing, and tries to make him go insane. His devious plans never gave Batman a chance to rest, and he has in occasions, attacked his friends just in order to provoke him, shooting Barbara Gordon, then Batgirl, and paralyzing her from the wait down and beating comissioner Gordon in The killing joke, and killing the second Robin in A death in the family.


The Joker's origins are a very debated aspect of his character, and while there are multiple versions, the persisting detail is that he went insane after falling in a chemicals vat and gaining his clown-like appearance. He has appeared in almost every media related to Batman, from Batman: The animated series to The Dark Knight.



Waht reawakened my fascination with the Joker, was precisely his appearance in Batman: Arkham Asylum for PS3 and XBOX 360, where he is wonderfully represented.

As for closing remarks, i'd like to add that what is most intricate about the character is that no one knows wheather the Joker is truly insane or not. His constant maddening plans only make sense to him, and he does not want anyone to understand why. Many explanations are given for his behavior, from a mental disorder to psychological torture he might have endured. He has hidden his true face well, while never letting anyone even suspect what lurks in his mind. From my point of view, the Joker is a troubled soul who finds confort in absolute mayhem. Maybe he originally had another objective but lost sight of it with time, maybe not, but now all he cares for is satisfying his crazy desires and "amuse" himself. Maybe we'll never know why he is like he is, but that's part of him.

What do you think of him?

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"Otakus are basically islamic extremists that traded
religion by an unhealthy passion of anime and manga. Well, otakus don't blow up towers, so they're a bit different."

Hello world! Well, hello web in this case...

Humm, my first entry and I already feel like I'm getting bored. Go away short attention span, shoo, shoo!

Well, where was I? Ah, yes. Why am I here. Anyways... as i'm sure it's quite visible in the front page of my blog, I'm a bit of an odd person and I like anime. Among other things. I recently noticed the number of people that seem to have blogs for basically anything. Heck, I'm even the reader of another anime blog. And so I thought: Why not make one of my own? And here I am.

I'm going to cover many different anime in this blog over the time i expect it will last, share my opinion on them, and hope to know yours as well. But it's not just anime I'll be blogging. No sir, I'll also be writing entries about comics, movies, and games I'll go trough. I lacked a way to show my appreciation for anime and other forms of entertainment before creating this blog.

I hope to make this a fun blog for people to read and share opinions with me. =)
So, for starters, my opinion on two recent anime episodes i saw recently.

Pandora Hearts 22

Pandora Hearts is a very nice fantasy anime. Now the two aspects of this series that I appreciate the most are all the unique and special characters and the plot and its influences.
Pandora Hearts has many influences from Trough the Looking Glass and Alice in Wonderland. Not going to bother you with actual plot details, but it's interesting and seems well built. The characters all have their objectives, features and their unique quirks that make people either love or hate them. Though I only hate about 2 of them.

On the episode itself... Rejoice, for there is yet another flashback! Ok, we learn a rather shocking truth this episode. Not as shocking for those that had been putting the pieces together, but nonetheless, shocking. Alice and the wicked and senseless Will of the Abyss are supposely twins. I had been wondering something like this for quite some time, so it doesn't make me stupified. I was too busy harvesting my anger for Vincent to be stupified. And there are other questions that i'd like to see answered soon, but seems we wil have to wait to learn what did the Will of the Abyss ask Break to do, and how her and Alice are connected to Glen Baskerville.

As a side-note, the character exploration of Break in this episode and the last was done well, giving us a better insight of what goesn on in his mind, and how he became who he is now.

Kateikyoushi Hitman Reborn! 149

What can I say about KHR? It's funny, action packed and i love it! The series started on a much more comedic standing, but the plot naturally progressed and evolved using the existing setting to a very good action/drama/humor anime. It's impossible to hate any of the protagonists, though getting annoyed with them is a completly different thing. The characters are all unique, some silly, some sadist, some loyal, and some just straight crazy. In resume, a funny and very enjoyable cast is part of the best the series has to offer.

The villains are great, and the abilities and strenght of the characters get more awesome every new arc.

Talking about the current arc, it's the Arcobaleno Trial we've all been waiting for, Reborn's trial. To top things off it's a battle royal against all of the guardians. I couldn't take my eyes off screen after the part where Reborn beat our favorite always loved sadistic prefect, Hibari, with a single shot. Unfortunatly for our heroes, things go from bad to worse after that. the other guardians follow wight behind Hibari, falling one by one. With Tsuna ridden with self doubt if he can actually fight with the man (baby) with whom he has a bond that's even deeper than just student and teacher and reaches a level of trust and friendship, things are not looking good. Facing reality Tsuna eventually fights and outmanuvers Reborn. All that was left to win the trial was for Tsuna to land the final attack... which was stopped by Tsuna's own feelings that restrain him from hurting Reborn, despite recognizing that the fate of the world hanged in the balance. The episode ends with a bang, with Reborn finishing the fight with a single shot and coldly stating that Tsuna is not fit to be boss.

What I thought of this episode? It was very good. The hardcore fighting action was almost top-notch, with Reborn not even giving any of the guardians time to employ all of their techniques. To complement with Reborn's feelings in fighting against Tsuna, the episode shows his revolt, anger and the miryad of thoughts that crossed his mind when he was transformed into an arcobaleno and what it meant to him as a person. Despite me not being a big fan of fillers, I'm really enjoying this one, and the way it dwelves deeper into the Arcobaleno mistery.

That's all I have to say for today. Overall, i saw one one good episode, and one great episode. So, yeah, I'm actually quite happy right now. ^^

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"Otakus are basically islamic extremists that traded religion for an unhealthy passion of anime and manga. Well, otakus don't blow up towers, so they're a bit different."