explicit707's Blog

Anime Relations: Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic

Why oh why? I have to ask. I am going to keep this particular post short, but I will cover all of the basics after next weeks episode. I just finished the 24th episode and the confirmed filler ending for this series has my panties in a bunch (figure of speech because I don't wear panties, though to each their own).

The first season was truncated but so well done that I ranked Magi at a 10. I loved it. It was close enough to the Manga to make me happy. The Manga is ongoing and amazing! If you haven't read that yet then please do. If you love the classic Arabian Nights stories then this is heavily inspired by them and done very well.

So... Second season wasn't as good as the first. Then I found out that they were ending it at 25 episodes. OK, I can live with that, but why the made up ending? Why change it? They could have ended it as it happened in the Manga and left it open like they always do!

For fans of the Manga I have to warn that the anime starts strong but falls a little short. I bumped it down to an 8 on my list, and it dropped from the number 2 spot on my favorites to the number 5. I'm still waiting for the final episode to make that last decision. There are plenty of other favorites I have that could take it's place with the drop in quality. Had they stayed close to the Manga and kept going with the series, then it would have kept that 10 on my rankings and kept it's number 2 spot on my list. When will they learn?

Sigh, and that ends another rant for today.

On a positive note, the Manga is excellent and is worth reading from week to week. I can't give it enough praise. It is definitely still one of my favorites and I look forward to it and have not yet been disappointed!

Anime Relations: Naruto, Naruto: Shippuuden

I felt the need to rant a little as I watched yet another Naruto Shippuuden filler story.

I had my fears when reading the Manga during this part of the story, because the timing and sequence of events felt a little off in the Manga series itself. Having been a long time reader of the Manga, and having been a long time viewer of both anime series, I find that the story has really lowered in quality in every form as of late.

The manga has become a jumbled mess as far as delivery is concerned, and the anime is so bloated with filler that I no longer look forward to either of them each week (I still go out of my way to watch them though, probably from my obsessive compulsive personality in finishing what I started). The manga keeps backpedaling and doing flashbacks that should have been told months, if not years ago while the anime series keeps creating side stories in the form of flashbacks that really don't need to exist at all. There is a large enough gap between the anime and manga for them to skip filler altogether, so it is very frustrating. I know some fans love the flashbacks and side stories and think they "enhance" the story, but I feel the exact opposite. It's getting to the point that it actually ticks me off a little.

I started documenting all of Naruto's battles in the Manga. I plan to eventually have a spoiler blog entry that highlights his growth and development as a fighter, a leader and a hero. Well, I quickly increased my dislike for the anime filler when I realized just how amazing the development is in the Manga series. There is steady growth in all aspects of his character. The filler stunts his growth and maintains this idiotic persona that fades over time in the source material. He is always "simple-minded" but so was Goku and so is Luffy. It's his accomplishments and hard work that gain the respect of others, and it's this little special something that makes them want to follow him. Something that fluctuates and is barely existent in the anime series because of the stunted growth. Lately the fillers have been to please fans of the supporting characters, but when "supporting" characters get more screen time than the main character then... Houston, we have a problem.

I rated the anime "filler-free" but lately my score has dropped a point because of how much the filler actually disrupts the main story. Not all of it is bad, but if you have never read the Manga while being a fan of the anime then you have no idea how bad it is compared to what it's supposed to be.

It really is the same as watching a great book turned into a crappy movie. You watch it anyways and the complain all night after watching it. I'm getting to that point with this series. I used to love the adaptation, even with the filler. Lately I can't say that I love it. If ever a series needed a reboot, this is one of those series. Bleach was ruined by filler, and Naruto certainly has come close in my opinion.

Ranting aside, the core story is still there and it's an amazing core story. The source material is poorly written for a weekly serialized story, but the end result is a 10. Waiting week to week is a little painful as of late, and not because you're stuck on a great cliffhanger, but because you are fed the material with a bitter spoonful here and there. If 2 or 3 weeks are a flashback that means you have a month of time (and this is not an exaggeration) before the story moves forward even 1 step. Lately the flashbacks have changed details as opposed to shedding light on unanswered questions. They are minor tweaks, but they are just enough to negate facts that have existed in the story for months (if not years in some cases). Things are told so matter-of-factly and then brushed off in 2 frames of dialogue so a "twist" can be inserted at random. Like I said, the end result works, but the way it is written overall is poor for a weekly serialized story.

Now that I have that out of my system, I can move on with my life and wait to see if more filler will be jammed down my throat next week. I hope not, but now I get to watch my other Thursday programming so thanks for reading!

Anime Relations: One Piece, Ao no Exorcist, Hunter x Hunter (2011), Sword Art Online, Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic

I have been more active on MAL lately than I have ever been. I started in 2011 but didn't read reviews, write them, or anything of that sort. I was referred to this sight asking a question on Yahoo. So why now? Well I just finished getting an IT degree at night school, so I now need a hobby since I am not in class. Anime/Manga has been the only hobby I had time for while in school at night while working all day.

I was a victim of my favorites. Yes, I said victim. I loved my favorites so much that I repeatedly watched them over and over again. This went on for a couple of years. I tried watching series/movies from top 10 lists all over the web but I couldn't get into them. I dropped a lot of "favorites" which I will revisit now that I don't have limited time. I wanted a certain level of "enjoyment" seeing as though I had no time for myself.

That brings me back to the title of this entry. "why are my favorite anime my favorite?" When you're fried from long days of work and studying you need to shut down. That's why I chose "adventure" and "shounen" because they provide fun, exciting, and simple entertainment. As you watch the longer series you are given more and more "depth" as they evolve and grow. It's the slow feed of "depth" that made me fall in love with them. The stories grew so large that as I would explain them to other people I began to realize that they were far more complicated than some of the elitists will ever give them credit for.

Now to address the "victim" comment. I became an "anti-elitist" in that I started to hate the comments from the elitists so much that I started to shun their recommendations. They are not always right, and quite frankly, they are dead wrong too often. I think it comes from taking such a cynical/critical view of everything they watch. Entertainment at it's finest isn't "new" and "different" but rather it's relatable in one way or another. It has to "touch" you somehow. It's as simple as that. I don't care if the artwork isn't perfect, and the music isn't something I would put on to listen to. I need something that makes me laugh, cry (yes I know), or feel anything for that matter. It has to touch you emotionally somehow. If at the end of it you feel anything other than boredom (that is obviously the exception) then it was worth watching, even if just once. I found anime/manga that touched me somehow and stuck with it. I didn't need anything else.

In my "about me" section of my profile I explain how I write my reviews, recommendations, etc. etc. I have a note about me restarting my lists as of January of 2013. I finished school in December of 2012 so this is no coincidence. I had a lot of anime on there that I hadn't seen since the 90's. In the mid to late 90's I watched a lot of anime that a teenager would. There were things I had rated a 7 or 8 that I will never watch again. I tried, and I can't finish them. I may make another attempt in the future so I can at least put them on my "dropped" list. That being said, I took a good look at my list and scores and made adjustments. I started reviewing things I had seen in the last 2-4 months. I made a decision to only write reviews on things that I have "completed" and there are things not on my list that I have seen and will probably re-watch to do a proper assessment, but I have some things on my "plan to watch" list that I have seen. Why the rambling? Well it's relevant to what I am about to write.

Let me say that from about 1999 until 2008 I was on an anime break. Naruto was my gateway series back into anime. I even started Shippuden when it was still very "young" meaning it had less than 100 episodes. After watching the series a few times (3 or 4 full runs I think) I questioned why it got so bad towards the time skip. I then went and read the manga and EUREKA! it was amazing compared to the anime. I learned about "filler" from that experience. From there, whenever I tried a new anime I would see if there was a manga for it and try to read that first if I could. This is an important point because this affects my score on everything I watch that is based on a manga series.

Next there was Bleach. A recommendation from all of the fanboys online trolling the naruto spoiler forums. One piece had come up a few times, but Bleach sounded better. The anime started out promising, and there are plenty of good parts of it. Then I struggled through filler. I reluctantly watched all filler the first couple of times I saw the series. The manga was amazing, and that's what kept me watching the anime. Shortly before Bleach was cancelled I took the number of filler episodes and derived a percentage of total episodes released to find that the filler was 42% of the anime series. Ouch. That is why it was cancelled. PERIOD. After my first experience with Bleach (I watched the entire series up to whatever episode it was up to at that time) I was hesitant to take any more recommendations.

I know I made an elitist comment earlier and I am not counting naruto or bleach in those elitist comments. Mostly non-shonoun recommendations come from the elitists I am referring to. Bleach and Naruto were not referred to me by elitists, but by fan boys. (I felt it was important to add this point)

And then there was One Piece... I felt there was no rush watching this series. The artwork was difficult to get used to at first, and it was quite simply a funny adventure story. There were plenty of mini-arcs where the crew got together. Then their first few mini adventures on the Grand Line led to the first major arc in Arabasta. After Arabasta you get the Sky Island Arc, and I was a little disappointed in how slow it was in the anime series. Lo and behold the Water 7 arc that immediately leads to the Enies Lobby arc changed how I felt about One Piece completely. I had never been addicted to any kind of television series, movie series or anime like One Piece. It became my basis of comparison for everything else I watched after that. Again, I want to point out that I am in the realm of simple adventure anime that slowly grows into something bigger. One Piece is the king of that. The manga is amazing and the anime is a "good" adaptation. My addiction with the manga drives my love of the anime, plain and simple. One Piece holds the throne on my anime list and I don't see that changing any time soon. The simple delivery filled with overall complexities combined with masterful delivery week to week is difficult to beat. If I ever find something that dethrones it (assuming the quality remains consistent to the end) then I will dance in the street with joy (not literally).

All others below One Piece on my list of 5 favorites have done exactly what One Piece has. They have slowly developed into a grander story while being fun and simple adventure/action stories. I compare everything's quality to the delivery of One Piece in these genres. The exception is SAO which earned it's place for a completely different reason. I play and have played several MMORPGs and SAO really hits the nail on the head in it's delivery. It's not for everyone, but it is for me. AO No Exorcist (aka Blue Exorcist) falls into the adventure/action category but it earns it's place for the shear repeat value it has. I can watch that anime over and over again despite it having a completely "filler" ending. Every time I watch it I enjoy it. That's all I want from an anime series. Hunter X Hunter (2011) was a difficult one to put as 4th on my list because it is nearly at One Piece caliber, but I chose my top 5 based on how likely I am to watch them due to my level of enjoyment for the series. Each and every one of my top 5 have been repeatedly watched in my spare time.

If you've read this far then you may be asking "what happened to Naruto" ??? It's a simple answer and that is that I love the story so much that I am agitated at where it has gone. I love the Manga and I am so mad at what they have done with a couple of the characters. The anime isn't as far (obviously) and it's filled with almost as much filler as Bleach, but I rate it "filler-free" on my list so do not mistake it's rating. If the story recovers as it appears to be attempting to do, then it will retain it's score that I gave it. If it ends in a way that I cannot except having dedicated so much time to the story, then do expect my score to drop a couple of points on shippuuden. The Manga retains it's 10 score because I have hope. It is a foolish reason to score something as a masterpiece, I know, but I cannot fluctuate my score on something that is released weekly without giving it an opportunity to redeem itself.

I hope I have explained my reasoning behind my top 5 anime on my list, again, it's not based on their scores, but it is based on my enjoyment of them. If it's on my top 5 list then do assume that I highly recommend it. Please do not assume that it's 100% from a critical viewpoint. I could pick apart each one and say some pretty negative comments, but if I were to write a good and bad list then the good would heavily outweigh the bad.

Thank you for reading.

Anime Relations: Highschool of the Dead

It has been a long running debate over the years. Which is better, American Comics or Japanese Manga/Korean Manhwa? The answer is a simple one, yet this issue still sparks so much debate.

It comes down to taste.

I have been on a manga search lately to fill the time while waiting for my favorites, and I started to look at some of the American comic and graphic novel stories as well. I recently watched the television series "The Walking Dead" and so took a look at the graphic novel. It really is a masterpiece worth praise and it is a fantastic story. I likened it to "High School of the Dead" as I re-read that series and it started to turn the rusty gears in my head. Both stories were very similar but released in different decades and in different countries. They both covered the same emotional and psychological struggles of humanity, but in slightly different ways. Overall, I have to say they are equals as far as story goes. Where they differ is style of artwork and culture.

This is one comparison, however this doesn't compare the whole to the other. American comics/graphic novels are fewer in number, and really they are not as diverse. I am comparing a mature series that really falls in line with the quality of story you see in a lot of manga/manwha, but they are not all comparable. It really is like comparing apples to oranges here. If I were to compare anything else that still sits on my list of favorites, then I would throw Watchmen into the mix. It was a ground breaking graphic novel that helped changed things, it really did, but I want to leave graphic novels like these out of the equation. I want to talk apples and oranges.

I was a huge comic fan some years ago. I found that to be a fan of a comic hero (say like... Spiderman) you had to pick a universe. Yes, I said universe. I have friends that can tell you everything about each superhero character and the story line from every release EVER. That's fantastic and I give them credit for being so devoted. My personal preference is to find a story that starts at point a, and then it takes me for a ride and ends at point z. Our typical comic hero in America has so many different story lines that are not connected in any way. You can watch a characters story from a to z, then you have a1 to z1, then a2 to z2, and so on. For someone like myself, that's just not something I want to follow. Alternate universes and story lines I feel are really for super fans that are devoted to a franchise. Why do we have the same heroes re-hashed for decades and constantly reboot them over and over again? For those that want that, then more power to you. This doesn't make what's out there "bad" by any means. There are a lot of pluses buried in those stories, and I will not attack the material that works. I simply think that the box has too many holes, and no matter what elegant wrapping paper you put on it, it's still easy to poke more holes in it. I like a solid story, and it seems we don't get those in our rehashed comic world.

Now for manga/manhwa. There is so much material out there, and there is a lot of wonderful AND horrible work that is released constantly. What attracts me to this format is that there is so much out there and it's not mostly rehashed, recycled, regurgitated over and over again. There are a lot more different stories that simply go from point a to point z. Other than poor delivery in a lot of cases, the biggest problem is that you can only have so many themes and story lines before it all feels recycled in some fashion or other. Thankfully, the styles tend to root their stories with historical references. They borrow from the classics which I feel attracts attention to more of the classic stories (examples are journey to the west and treasure island if you read the more popular shonoun then you know which ones I am taking example from) so the younger generation doesn't leave them behind. You can argue quality, time tables, culture, or whatever you want all day long. The bottom line is that you have more to choose from and varying target audiences, not just children and teens. It is no wonder why this format has gotten it's global popularity. I do want to reiterate that there is a lot of BAD manga/manhwa on the market. I also feel that the good stuff stands out above all else, hence it's popularity.

I want to point fingers next. Manga fans that say American Comics are lacking in story. You really need to look at the mature graphic novel selection. You will then get your depth, and in some cases your "fan service" so to speak. American comic fans, you need to realize that there are other countries out there that live differently than we do. We love our super heroes and they are cool, but they are also ridiculous in a lot of ways. We are so censored in America that we see a boob shot on manga page and immediately dismiss the work. I originally did the same thing, and I feel like an idiot for ever thinking that way. If you watch television in another country and compare to our entertainment then you will notice that we are sexual prudes but we are violent idiots. A lot of the Manga I have read presents violence in ways that highlights honor, doing the right thing, helping others. Yes Superman saves people and it's to be this upstanding humanitarian, but it really is completely different than what I am talking about here. Both have their merits, and both deserve their shiny gold stars for the qualities that are there.

I rant today because of a forum run I did where I read years of other people ranting. I read a lot of good points on both sides of the arguement. I say this, neither is better, neither is bad, and it all comes down to what you are looking for. If you want to read something that will stay with you and touch you emotionally then I say American graphic novels and Japanese manga/korean manhwa. If you want flashy artwork and a lot of cool action then there is some manga/manhwa but you may want to take a look at an American superhero.

There is no right answer, just personal taste.

Thank you for reading!