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Giovanni’s Island is an emotionally gripping film that depicts life in Japan near the end of world war 2 known as the Soviet-Japanese War. The film unfolds around our main character Junpei/Giovanni, who is a young boy living in one of the Islands in Japan, whose father is the commander of the firefighting force in the village (he’s basically the head honcho of the village). The soviets are invading their hometown and our adventure begins from here. Before I progress, I have to say I really loved this movie, but this film is very one-sided, it makes you feel empathetic toward the Japanese, and it ... brushes of and ignores what the Japanese did before this period. I get that the film was made in Japan, so naturally there is pride when making a film about one’s own country, but I felt some recognition of history at the beginning of the film would have been appropriate. Though they do make one subtle reference to how they treated the Koreans in this time in one scene.

Soundtrack/Score:
A beautiful soundtrack, I would give it an 8/10, the instrumentals were very appropriate and really set every mood in the film. The real beauty in this soundtrack was the vocal choir done by the children in this movie, involving both Russian children and Japanese children. The song Ginga Tetsudou no Yoru (Hoshi-meguri no Uta) is one of these choir type songs played in the film. I was very impressed that they used children to sing in this film rather than adults, there is an innocence and purity in the voice of children that really just made you heart melt during these scenes.
Animation: This section is a bit tricky, I am sure some people who felt like the animation designs for the characters could have been better, I too felt the same in the beginning of the film. However, as the movie progressed I realized that these characters, mainly children were made to be real, they were simple, but real. The characters didn’t have perfect figures, or perfect eyes, sure that stuff looks great in most anime, but that type of design wouldn’t fit in well with the harsh realities of this time. Moreover kids are imperfect, well everyone is, but it’s much more obvious in children and I felt the animation reflected that well (it’s a very delicate time in life where your struggling to find an identity and a place within your family). The backgrounds were always top notch and were visually satisfying, some scenes remind me of Makoto Shinkai’s work.

Characters:
Our main man Junpei is our star here, but really the whole event/movie is about children and what they experienced and felt during this time. Not only was the focus on Japanese children, but also Soviet children who were stationed in residential Japanese areas with their parents who were invading Japan. 2 other important child characters I feel I should mention in this film are Junpei’s younger brother Kanta and a soviet girl (about the same age as Junpei) whom Junpei interacts with. Giovanni is very confused about how he should feel toward the Soviet (she is the enemy, but she is just a child too, could she be “evil” like the adults?), and it’s very interesting how things play out between these two characters. The 2nd third of the movie is more focused on the relationship between these two characters. Our final arc of the film is really about Junpei and his brother and really about Junpei’s sense of family. This final arc is very intense and invokes so many emotions in you, grab some tissues if you cry easily, I didn’t cause I’m heartless moron, but yeah.

Other:
The film supposedly makes make references to a book called “Night on the Galactic Railroad” written by Kenji Miyazawa, the book itself is referenced in the film many times. You may like to read this book if you have access to a copy, to have a deeper understanding of the film, though by no means is required. Overall the film had very strong plot, pretty good characters, and a great soundtrack, I would definitely recommend it to anyone. Some themes or ideas that circulate this film are loss, confliction with change, confusion towards society, family, regret, the power and dynamics of a family unit, and the longing to be back home.

The show is told from a different characters perspective each episode, though in some episodes it seems more ambiguous than others. The characters conflicts/problems converge with each other, and it really is quite cool how the manga writer was able to carefully execute the story so the flow of the story isn't just flashbacks when presented from a new characters view of the plot.
-Sound: I really like the soundtrack for this anime, very appropriate and distinctive. It really sets it self apart in this aspect.
-Animation: The animation is pretty darn good, nothing else much to say about it.
Plot: The story itself is fine, ... but I find it can be a bit dry for some. Usually I can marathon anime quite easily, but I just couldn't do it for this one. I could do at max 3 episodes a day for this show, there are times when the show feels just a bit dull. Anyways to avoid spoilers I won't give too deep of a summary.
Voice Actors; The Japanese voice actors did an extremely good job in this series, I didn't watch the dub, so I am not sure if it was good or not.
-Characters: The show consists of a bunch of characters who are all very different, unfortunately we don't get to know too much about many of the characters, though hints are given. Maybe more will be explained in the second season...

Summary. A boy named Mikado moves to the city of Ikebukuro to attend highschool, where he meets his childhood friend Masaomi. Masaomi warns Mikado of the city of Ikebukuro, considering the city is filled with violence and conflict. There are various gangs, and there is a mysterious headless motorcycle rider that roams throughout the city (The headless rider is hands down the coolest character of this series, and strangely I find the character very attractive). The two boys meet a girl at school, and the story continues on how the three characters have very secretive pasts that get them inter-tangled in problems surrounding major conflicts residing in Ikebukuro. There are a hand full of other characters who all get quite a lot of screen time. The first half of the series is quite different from the 2nd half, the second half is really where you start to understand the plot.

Overall I can really feel the quality in this anime, but the story just was slightly dull for me. I might have enjoyed it much more if the story flowed with how the first half of the show was going.

Tokyo Ravens is an anime with quite an unsatisfactory ending, but overall the anime itself was fun and entertaining, switching between serious episodes and your slice of life, laid back episodes in between. I really kind of wish this show would have taken out the serious parts and just tried to be a comedy/romance anime (they just couldn't properly flesh the plot out).

- Nothing was special or memorable about this anime's music/soundtrack.
-Visually the anime looks like your average anime with some heavy CGI use to portray characters called "Familiars" ( Not a bad thing though, I liked the use of CGI in this ... show, especially when "Hokuto" the dragon appears.
- Similar Anime: Guilty Crown, Fate/Stay Night, and maybe Soul Eater.
- Our main character is of course your average generic main male character, I would have personally liked to see this series focus on the female lead, Natsume, much more. I think she is a fairly interesting character, who has a lot of paths that can be explored story wise. Similarly there quite a few other interesting characters, that have cool concepts and seemingly interesting back stories. Unfortunately they don't get enough of the spotlight... I demand to know more about them.
-P.S, when you get to episode 22-24, Howl from Howls moving Castle makes a cameo ;), well no he doesn't, but you'll see what I mean.

Despite the flaws of this show, its pretty entertaining and definitely worth a watch if you like romance, comedy, and Magic. I really want a sequel to this anime, the way they ended it just leaves my heart betrayed. If there is one thing you will get in this show it is magical sutra spells, sutras everywhere!!!!

Best way to describe this anime is that its Eureka Seven with a splash of Tokyo Ghoul. If you liked Eureka Seven, you would probably like Deadman Wonderland too, just not as much. Both animes have a confused main character who have a mysterious girl by there side who give them hope in hard times. Also the guy who wrote the manga version of Eureka Seven, wrote the manga for Deadman Wonderland, so he probably bounced a few ideas from eureka Seven into Deadman Wonderland.The anime is quite gory, but the gore is neccesary for setting the tone of the environment the characters are in.
Plot: ... Ganta the main character, has been framed for slaughtering all his classmates, when in reality it was a mysterious character called the redman.The redman spared Ganta, and gave him a power that lets him control his blood into a weapon form.Ganta gets put into a privately run prison where, there are normal culrpits and others like him. In order to survive in this prison you need candy ( otherwise you die by posion already given to you), which is obtained by winning battles and other gory things. The story progresses from here with Ganta meeting Shiro ( a mysterious girl) and his interactions with other prison inmates....
Music: Music/OST is fantastic, especially track 5 DW28A, it really gets me pumped when its playing during the anime.
Overall this anime is quite good, it does have quite a few flaws, but despite those I really enjoyed it. Would I watch if a secound season were made? Definentely.

Guilty Crown is one of those animes you want to see succeed, because of its cool animation and awesome music, but the story telling just falls flat. The positives of this show is definentely its music/ soundtrack ( hell ya Egoist ). I would highly recommend you download/buy the OST for this anime. Animation wise its quite nice, nothing groundbreaking or different, but it is appealing. The story itself is my main problem with this show, the events that occur in this anime are quite cliche and they do nothing to deviate away from the norm. I found myself enjoying the first half of the ... show quite alot, but once the secound half started, I just wanted it to get it over with. Also the characters are quite dull, with the main character being so cliche, that its quite hard not to confuse him with other main characters from other animes. Overall I would recommend you watch this show, in the end you will be quite dissapointed, but I think the music and some of the concepts behind the anime are quite cool. Would I watch if a sequel would be made? Yes.

Casshern Sins is a very unique anime. Like many users said this anime is usually a hit or miss for people. The story is very easy to follow with beautiful openings/endings/insert songs. The animation style is defined and pale which really set the perfect atmosphere for the anime. Their are a few minutes of fight scenes in each episode which are really different from your typical anime, but different in a good way. Dialogue is very crucial to this anime as it does not really have much action or adventure. The first few episodes are more like short stories which are absolutely beautiful, then ... around halfway the main plot starts to unravel and the story continues on from their. I particularly enjoyed the first half of the show more, but the secound half is still very good. This anime is quite serious with very little to no humour. Both the sub and dub are good, with neither version being more advantageous or better. The story can be summed up as a character named Casshern who has no memory of his past being hated by the rest of the world (mainly comprised of robots), for having apparently killing Luna ( the goddess of life essentially) which is causing "the ruin"( basically robots rusting and dying, so they no longer have eternal life, with the exception of Casshern). Casshern progresses throughout the story uncovering parts of his past aswell as learning various lessons about life by observing the joys and sorrows of characters, caused by "the ruin". A very memorable anime that changes you.... in a good way :)