abiranz's Blog

It's been a long while since I ate some, indeed. Just say I'm quite tired of doing my assignments that I decided to read some BL manga in which I'm exposed to numerous donuts' appearance. Great.

Now my stomach is growling and my mouth is watering.

Anime Relations: Sakamichi no Apollon

Sakamichi no Apollon (Kids on the Slope), one of the anime aired this spring, is the adaptation of the manga by the same name created by Kodama Yuuki serialized in 'Monthly Flowers' magazine. The story depicts about a boy named Nishima Kaoru, who because of his father occupation, often moved from one place to another. Being quite intellectual and pretty rich in the addition of his status as a transfer student, he had always been seen as an outcast and all Kaoru could do was bearing it until the next time he moved. He was expecting the same thing in the place he's moving to now, and started to detest everything about it. He hated it that the school was up on the hill, he loathed the Kyuushu-ben everyone talked in, he despised the fact that he couldn't help being an outcast. It disgusted him and he only had one place to go to seek for solace: the school's rooftop.



But apparently his life in this school would be different. There was this girl who resembled an angel to him - the class rep Mukae Ritsuko, whose smiles could actually make the nauseous feeling he was having all the time disappear. There was also this brute guy named Kawabuchi Sentarou, known as the school's bully, who happened to take a liking to him out of sudden. One thing that Kaoru didn't expect was that his transferring this time would lead him to the magic of jazz through a person who shared the same passion of music but practically a different genre than what he used to hear and play.

I have to admit, Sentarou's drumming on the trailer was the one that brought me to the anime. That time I was actually enticed (well, drum always entices me somehow, tho I dislike hearing it up close) so I put up a really high hope in this series. My hope came true, it turned out to be really brilliant (so far)!



Sakamichi no Apollon was all about swing, rhythm, letting your soul be free and swaying your hips while tapping your feet. It's all about friendships, spiced with a bit of love issues here and there. You can see how the easily anxious Kaoru became more and more at ease with his life and his relationships with humans. You can see the all-round-bad boy Sentarou, so cheery and brave yet hiding some mystery audiences yet to know about, made his way to influence said Kaoru not only into jazz, but also into enjoying his life more. These boys are intertwined together in one and many aspects, despite the lack of admittance especially on Kaoru's side.

I love that this anime is trying to introduce jazz to a broader listener. So far I can see a lot of good comments about the theme it took, how they enjoyed the musics they played and everything else - it actually made me happy and even after the first episode, I was grinning like crazy to see a lot of people enjoying Art Blakey. I mean, I got quite a lot of saying in my real life that only people with old taste enjoys jazz. With this anime, that saying might turn out only a mere saying; lots of people actually listens to the music and enjoys it.



Another thing I love from this anime is that it really shows its greatest asset off -the jazz theme. They didn't play low with the animation and the sound, especially on the jam part. You'll get all the right fingering for the sounds it emits. Also, the typical noitaminA kind of arts and ambience made it even better. This kind of animation kinda reminds me of Nodame Cantabile, in which the concert animation also amazed me so much.

This anime is by far my most favorite this season, and I am highly recommend it. For those of you who think about this anime being a josei anime so that it might be quite womanly, think it over; this anime is by no means only enjoyable to girls and women. Even if you're a manly man, you might like it very much. Try them first and see it yourself if this is your cup of tea or not. :)

*sidenote*
Btw, I am practically having a girl-crush on Ritsuko. Look at her smile and rosy cheeks! Even her accent added up her cuteness.


....

Oh my god.

*warning* this may or may not contain some spoiler.

Okay, so, I have this urge on reviewing some BL manga, as perhaps it is generally known (at least to my friends) that I read BL manga very actively these past few years but I have never gave out my thoughts about what I read in a review. But with that urge came one question; what to review on? Thankfully Aimee and Krys helped me to choose on what to review: Koisuru Boukun.


Koisuru Boukun, one of my favorite BL manga (along with numerous other titles), is the sequel of Challengers yet can be read as a story of its own (different main characters). The manga was finished around the end of last year, but Takanaga Hinako-sensei did say that there would be a sequel for this one (does that mean the sequel of Challenger's sequel?) or perhaps a mere Bangaihen. With that news to grasp upon, I will wait here like a good fangirl I am and wish for the best to come SOON (please).

Okay, on to the story. The manga tells about the story of Morinaga Tetsuhiro, an Agriculture student of Nagoya University, and Tatsumi Souichi, a tyrannical+homophobic senpai of him who sadly happened to be the one he set his heart for. The relationship of this two was quite unique, I must say, and actually was quite hopeless. Tatsumi, who hated gays by heart, was quite taken aback when Morinaga confessed to him back in Challengers. Some things happened, and then everything calmed down somehow; Tatsumi started to act like nothing happened, which somehow made Morinaga frustrated -- thus the starts of Koisuru Boukun. So, the story about a homophobic and a total gay? You can't really guess what will happen so that it will end a happy ending for both of them; how to change Tatsumi's heart? Quite an impossible task for Morinaga, it seemed.




The beginning of Koisuru Boukun was pretty much controversial, and perhaps a couple chapters of the series will be the point where the reader will choose whether it's too much for them or it deserves another couple of chapters to judge. Luckily, I am one of those who didn't actually think too much about how to cope with the things that turned out the way it did, so I kept going on, and totally fell for the series hard. Really, really hard.

The rest of the story tells us readers about how little by little Morinaga entered Tatsumi's heart, despite all things happened, while Tatsumi, being a typical tsundere he was, tried to deny the growing existence of Morinaga, in his daily life, in his mind and later, in his heart. You could guess how the end will be (or couldn't), but you won't know how to reach that end, and that's what made you want to read it more and more as the chapters passed by.

(Oh, fyi, the reason of why Tatsumi was a homophobic was told in Challengers.)

Okay, Characters. The nature and development of both Morinaga and Tatsumi was easily followed. Tatsumi clearly will see Morinaga in a different way by the progress of the manga, while Morinaga... One thing to be sure, Morinaga is quite a loser in fighting over his desire. Here you'll see kind of a 'hidden' manzai duo in every attempt Morinaga tried - Tatsumi being the tsukkomi and Morinaga, of course, the boke (or perhaps it's just a mere violence? I don't know). Sometimes it made me think that Morinaga is a masochist. Morinaga is a masochist, indeed.

As for supporting characters, they actually have their own role, and can be easily loved too. I am very fond of Tatsumi's little sister, Kanako-chan, by the way.

Next, Art. I don't fuss about arts so much so this will be short. I think the art was very good. Takanaga-sensei has her own style that you will recognize right away, and in a good way. You can see how she drew each person different than the others. She also develop the right nuance for each moment; you can feel it when it's a sad scene or a happy one (or, more importantly, a hot one). So overall, it's pretty enjoyable to read.

The last one.. *drumrolls* ..is the ecchi parts.



Sssh calm down, Souichi-kun. *ahem* Yes, you read that right, and I won't turn back on this one. This manga is a yaoi-type BL, thus made it requires ecchi scenes here and there. I must say, they were really hot. Sure, you'll see very much tsundere-acts of Tatsumi here during the scenes, but that's actually what made it 'colorful'. Here you will notice how Tatsumi's long hair and quite slender body would be the death of you. Okay, not the death, but pretty much the source of the nosebleed you'll get. Or drolls. Or those TMI things I shouldn't say.

Please blame my seme blood for talking more about Tatsumi. But that doesn't mean Morinaga was less hotter. In fact, his body is to kill for. The way he handled Tatsumi is like a pro (well, he is), and he was able to bring the most out of Tatsumi.

..I need to reread this series soon.

'Kay, that's my review. Any discussion about this series will very much be encouraged. :) Here's something to close it up.

Anime Relations: Rainbow: Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin

I know this is kind of an outdated anime.. Well okay not really, as it was aired just two years ago. As to why I do a review of this anime now, it's simple; I just knew Rainbow (the manga) had an anime! Such a shame, indeed, as the manga is one of my favorite one.

Adapted from a manga of the same name (well, quite), Rainbow depicted the life after World War 2 (year 1955) of seven shounen who met at the prison due to various crime they did. Some with chivalrous reasons but turned out being judged as crime, while others, just being your usual delinquents out of the depression time in Japan. Six of them met the seventh, "An-chan" (aniki, big brother), who, despite his almost equally young age, later will teach them the meaning of life and how to live through the humiliations of being 'criminals'. The story will continue even after their time in prison and tells about how they live life grasping over every aspect of humanity they learnt from An-chan.

...Those are what I got from the manga, in general saying.

I've only watched one episode so far, not enough for a review, I know. But being quite a tight-necked person I am on anime, first episode did most of the impression. I am really glad to see the manga was very well adapted; great animation, perfectly drawn nuance, and I have the impression that the storytelling will be awesome like its manga. Had my internet connection is in a good term with me right now, I'll go marathon this anime.

But what I'm sure now is that I'm gonna enjoy my time with this one. Well, okay, hopefully.

I am actually quite torn between using MAL blog features or just have the usual blog hosting out there, but decided to use this one. I plan this to be my thought journal of anime/manga I've watched/read.

Yoroshiku.