Opening songs
OP 1- Pre-Parade (Rie Kugimiya, Yui Horie, Eri Kitamura)
OP 2- Silky heart (Yui Horie)

Ending songs
ED 1- Vanilla salt (Yui Horie)
ED 2- Orange (Rie Kugimiya, Yui Horie, Eri Kitamura)

Genre: Comedy, Romance, Drama

Episodes:25



We are coming upon a new year and I think I should review "Toradora!" before it turns 5 next year...so here it is (yes this anime is going to be 5 years old). We all know the generics of high school romance animes but lets go back to one of the few that were actually GOOD. I heard "Clannad" was awesome and had a good deal of it spoilt for me and my brother compared it "Toradora!" and claimed that "Toradora!" was second to "Clannad" in terms of the high school romance genre. Romance, confessions and love dovey behaviors galore, "Toradora!" is a great example of high school love and combines it with a great intense plot with tons of drama, tension and character interaction.



I-i-its not l-lik-ke I..I.. b-bought an extra o-one for you or anything.....!


So, for an old anime, I actually do love all the songs used for the opening and ending themes. The first opening is "Pre-Parade" by all the seiyuus of the 3 main heroines. Its freakishly addictive, and all that auto tune voicing actually works for the song especially during the parts where they sing incredibly fast and you don't even know what the hell they are saying XD. "Vanilla Salt" by Yui Horie is the first ending and it was already an instant classic 4 years ago. It's a catchy ending with a solid tune.


"Silky Heart" is the 2nd opening of the anime and immediately it sounds epic to me, too epic for a high school romance anime. Needless to say its a wonderful song and is one of my favorites from Yui Horie herself. The 2nd ending is "Orange" by all our seiyuus once again. Its not as epic as "Pre-Parade", but sounds good in its own way. Not just another average "J-pop" song.



Rating:8.5/10


Even if it was an older anime, it does a fantastic job showing the development of feelings between 2 characters and blossoms into one hell of a drama fest. As a love story it does extremely well and even though the early few episodes made it seem like another regular "Romance/Comedy" anime without much "Romance" in it at all, it really pays the viewers to stick to it to about the 70% mark where things start to get a little bit more serious. It presents a great deal of character interaction, be it whether they laugh or have fun together, then intrigues us when they quarrel or get into fights with each other fighting over the one they love. Its truly a different experience that little other "Romance/Comedy" animes succeed in trying to do.



Worry not Taiga! I'd vote you for president any day if you're real!

Ryuuji is a bad ass delinquent. Everybody is scared of him because of his bad ass hair, scary face and gangster attitude, but actually, he's your regular nice guy that just wants the world to be clean. He is misunderstood by every person on campus, except for his best friend Kitamura and his crush, Minori. On the first day of his high school life, he bumps into Taiga, known as another powerful delinquent, and she punches him straight in the face. After putting a love letter into Ryuuji's bag, she comes after him during the same night to kill him and take it back, only to be preached to by Ryuuji and they became partners in crime. Ryuuji would help Taiga get hooked up to Kitamura, whom she likes, and Taiga would help Ryuuji get closer to Minori, whom he likes.


"Toradora!" is a prime example of an excellent "Romance/Comedy" anime. THIS is how you do it. It focuses on a legitimate love story and not some heavily dumped fan-service roller coaster ride (not that I hate those). If you're into stuff like "Clannad", "Toradora!" is a must watch.


Peace.

Friday 28 December 2012

Top 10 Anime of 2012:The fool's picks

Meh I don't want to elaborate because I have already reviewed all of these except "Kyoukai Senjou Horizon 2" and "Jormungand". Take note that these are all animes that were in 2012 one way or another, and this is solely based on my opinion and reviews.




Opening songs
OP 1- KINGS (Angela)

Ending songs
ED 1- Tsumetai Hiya, Hitori (Mikako Komatsu)

Genre: Action, Comedy, Drama, Science Fiction, Mystery

Episodes:13



No matter how stupid it sounds, "K" is actually a gem of an anime. Its another anime that I finished  after it ended yesterday. It has a really cool world, background and an awesome concept overall. "K" is incredibly unique, its almost impossible to imagine such a setting, but "K" does it perfectly. Its packed with intense moments all around, and a good deal of mystery and intrigue as well. It has great action, but these moments are a little lacking at times and these are some pointers they can take when they start with the 2nd season (it has already been confirmed). Overall though for giving us something cool and different, "K" is a pretty great anime in my opinion.



Unfortunately though K is made up of mostly guys :P.


It has really been awhile since my last Angela song. The opening song is "KINGS" by Angela, and believe me when I say they haven't lost their touch despite not hearing from them in awhile. It is a strong tune and its safe to say Angela fans will love it, since this is one of their better songs. The ending is another ballad type track called "Tsumetai Hiya, Hitori" by Mikako Komatsu, the seiyuu of Neko. I don't dig slow songs, but since it IS the seiyuu of Neko I guess it deserves some credit nyan XD.



Rating:8.0/10



There is quite a lot of "K" hate going around for some reason (or just some people really do not find this anime nice at all), but I stand by as one who likes the anime. It has a brilliant episode 1 but slows down for quite a few episodes before sparking back up at around episode 5 or 6. It then slows down again and becomes tremendously awesome for the last 3-4 episodes. In a way, its like a roller coaster where it has tons of ups and downs. The downs themselves aren't too bad where they just degrade into average mystery solving while the ups are nothing less than bad ass fights and awesome moments.



Yes...stare into the loli's eyes. Don't let the scary guys behind intimidate you...

Isana Yashiro is your average derpy high school kid once again, but a very unlucky one at that. In the modern day japan in this anime, the country is being ruled by 7 colored kings and their respective clans, and unfortunately for Shiro, a man that looks exactly like him kills a member of the howling flame clan, and now the entire howling flame clan PLUS the blue clan known as scepter 4 is after his ass. However, Shiro has no recollection about killing this man, and so many people are after him, and one of them is known as Yatogami Kuroh, the black dog. Kuroh gives Shiro a chance to prove his innocence, and now Shiro is being tailed by him and his cat Neko, as he tries to clear his name to save his life.


"K" is great. It may not be as amazing as everybody thought, but it is still very much above average and better than the tons of incredibly mainstream animes out there. Think of it as a "DRRR" but less realistic, because it works that way. A brilliantly made world along with some likable characters make this a show that works very well in the anime industry. Now if only they can follow up season 2 just as well...or even better.


Peace.

Tuesday 25 December 2012

SAO is awesome (Sword Art Online review)


Opening songs
OP 1- Crossing field (Lisa)
OP 2- Innocence (Aoi Eir)

Ending songs
ED 1- Yume Sekai (Haruka Tomatsu)
ED 2- Overfly (Haruna Luna)

Genre: Action, Drama, Fantasy, Romance, Science Fiction

Episodes:25



Merry Christmas to all you viewers by the way (no matter how little of you guys there are).


I'm quite sure many of you know what "SAO" is right now. It has taken the anime industry by storm, and almost instantly, it has harnessed an insane amount of fans from all around the world. Its what people would call a "revolutionary" anime. I thought it was over hyped, and I was looking forward to watching it once it aired over. The moment the series ended on December 22 I downloaded the final episode and watched the entire series from start the finish...it only took me 2 days to finish all 25 episodes.


You know what that means, that just means it was f**king awesome. You see all the genres listed in the tag above? Yes, it has all of those. It's a little bit of everything, and it all combines together to form one epic package of love, sadness, anger and excitement. If this is mainstream, then f**k it, I love mainstream. I was absolutely addicted to the entire series and after finishing it today, here I am with this post, to share the love.




Ah yes, everyone knows Asuna is sexy. But.....

If you want an epic anime, you need epic songs, and Lisa is here to bring the awesomeness with her voice. "Crossing field" is an amazing song as the first opening to the anime, and well to me it fares a little lower than "Oath sign" for "Fate/Zero" (that song was pure eargasm), but is still an awesome song on its own. The first ending is "Yume Sekai" by Haruka tomatsu (the voicer of Asuna herself) and its a ballad. Unfortunately for me I don't really like ballads, and an ending is an ending, few ending songs catch my attention.


The 2nd opening is "Innocence" by Aoi Eir, whom sang one of the endings from "Fate/Zero", and in my opinion, its better than "Crossing field". This means a lot, and well that just means it an amazing song as well. The 2nd ending is "Overfly" by Haruna Luna, which is actually NOT a ballad. Itsa little upbeat, but I wouldn't call it epic. Its probably an average song for me.



....I am a Lyfa/Suguha fan, much more than Asuna.

Rating:9.0/10



Ah it makes me happy that I get to dish out a 9.0 score again, little animes manage to grab me and mesmerize me so well as those with 9 scores. "SAO" is just great on so many levels its amazing. It has great action, it has its own love story (which may I add is pretty emotional and intense), it has character tension and drama....and just so much else. It even spreads across 2 different realms, showing us the beauty of the 2 different games that our hero experiences. Character interaction is just amazing in "SAO". Think of "SAO" as a VERY beefed up ".//Hack". "SAO" may not be the most original anime, but damn son, there is almost no way to not enjoy this unless you're a hardcore anime hater.



Looks awesome already huh?

Kirigaya Kazuto is the worst kind of player you can find in an MMORPG. He's what others call a beater, a beta tester and a cheater. In an age where technology advanced MMOs into a virtual space using a console known as the "nervegear", MMO players get to completely immerse themselves into the game...being in the actual game themselves. In the newly released "Sword Art Online", 10000 lucky players get to dive headfirst into the game only find out that there is no log out button. The game creator himself shows up in the game, telling all players that they are trapped in "Sword Art Online", and that they cannot log out. The only way to escape is to clear the game's 100 floors, and that if they die in game, they die in real life as well. Now desperate, 10000 players are prepared to fight for their lives as they face daily trials of just surviving, or to work together and defeat bosses, hoping to clear all 100 floors to survive this death game.


I just had to review "SAO" asap. Its one of those animes that got my mind so fired up that the moment I finished it I just HAD to review and share it with everyone else. I'm sure most otakus have already indulged themselves into the wonder that is "SAO", but if by any chance you don't know about this anime or don't want to watch it(I don't know why you wouldn't want to watch this), I urge you to just squeeze out some extra effort to your bodies and find ways to just watch this. You will not f**king regret it.



Peace. Kirito X Asuna forever.





Here's to another season , if they decide to do it.



Lets just get right to it.

Now that season 3 has arrived, just take my previous builds with a grain of salt. Many things have changed, but most items should still be the same, except that every jungler should now take a hunter's machete rather than anything else.




Rammus
The Armordillo





Rammus is the trolling rolling armadillo of doom. I still play in the jungle a lot, although my team has learned to jungle here and there, it still boils down to me doing it most of the time. Rammus has been nerfed to all hell and is kind of weak now, but that doesn't mean he can't work. His ganking is still pretty damn strong and can only be rivaled only by Maokai or Nautilus (in my opinion). If you want to be a trolling speedy ball that taunts people in the face, check out this armadillo.


In recent times since he was nerfed, Rammus's laning capabilities have gone down by a large margin, and even in the jungle he suffers from many issues. Lack of sustain, a really crappy clear speed, being largely open to invasion....these are just some of weaknesses Rammus has. BUT, to compensate for all that crap, he ganks like a boss. Powerball > taunt > defensive ball curl can keep an enemy locked up for an easy 2-3 seconds early on and that is MORE than enough to secure a kill as long as your laner isn't half retarded. As you get more points into your taunt your ganks get stronger and stronger, eventually you reach the point where the moment you show yourself in a lane, the enemy is already dead. Powerball is so fast sometimes it just zooms past wards. Homeguard boots of mobility + ghost + shurelia's revery = successful gank.



Nothing beats a robot armadillo that rolls over its enemies.





 Rammus excels in team fights, like most tanky champions. Rolling into an enemy team with shurelia's on can catch most teams off guard. When you ram into them, taunt their AD carry or AP carry, turn on defensive ball curl and your ultimate, your job is pretty much already done. Your team will sweep in and clean up the taunted target, and tremors can actually do decent DPS to take down squishies. If you have decent items, there's a high probability that you will not die, because defensive ball curls makes you a tanky beast. If enemies are retreating, no worries! Nobody, I repeat, NOBODY can outrun a powerballing Rammus.


Rammus may be one of the champions that I currently like to use, but he's not exactly a very practical pick. Right now he needs some buffs. His early game is bad if he doesn't get any ganks in, and its really easy to fall behind as Rammus. Needless to say, if you have the balls, pick Rammus. If you manage to get past the early game with a decent score, be prepared to become a scary armardillo!


My build for Rammus

-Hunter's machete + 5 pots (sell the macehte later on)
-Boots of mobility:Homeguard
-Philosopher stone
-Shurelia's reverie
-Aegis of the legion
-Runic Bullwark
-Sunfire cape
-Banshee's veil

-Guardian angel




Maokai
The Twisted Treant






I never did like Maokai until recently. When I first bought and used him, I fell in love with the tree. He fits RIGHT in the jungle (being a tree and all), and excels in almost EVERY component. There is a reason why is so often picked in high level competitive play. He has some of the strongest ganks in the game, standing right next to Nautilus and Rammus. Though he kind of loses some purpose late in the game, his early/mid-game impact can pretty much make enemy laners shit their pants.


Maokai is a definite jungler, he fits right in. His early clearing and sustain are great, plus, he is strong versus invaders, because his health always stays up. His ganking is monstrous, mostly because it takes almost no effort to gank a lane as Maokai. Just walk up to the lane, use twisted advance, walk ahead of the enemy, use arcane smash to knock him backwards, and toss a sapling right in front of them for more damage. This sounds complicated, but no. Twisted advance is a point and click snare, meaning that there is almost no way to fail a gank as Maokai. His early burst is decent, combined with a laner's help, the enemy stands almost no chance. Some people just instantly flash when I show my face in their lanes.



On a side note, merry christmas!

Maokai isn't much of a team fighter. While his early ganking is great, he degrages into nothing but a mere initiator late in the game. He becomes nothing but a body with a snare, a puny knockup and an insignificant ultimate that boosts your team's resistances. Of course this all changes if you build AP, but you lose your tankyness and will die instantly the moment the enemy decides to aim your ass down. In team fights, initiate the fight by using twisted advance ON THE NEAREST ENEMY, it doesn't have to be the carry, all you need to do is stop the enemy's movement and get to the enemy team to unload your CC, however insignificant they may be late game. You only have to create an opening for your team to go in with your snare, and make sure your ultimate is placed perfectly so that the battle takes place in there. You may not have much impact after that, but you've already done what you needed to. Just use all your skills on the nearest squishy when your cool downs are up.


Maokai is a strong pick for the most part, because he has one of the largest jungling presences in the game. His early ganking and CC will help feed his team into fatties. Come late game, its their turn to carry the game, because Maokai is but a mere initiator later on. Its kind of a payoff, don't you think?


My build for Maokai

-Hunter's machete + 5 pots(Sell Machete later)

-Boots of mobility:Homeguard
-Philosopher stone
-Shurelia's reverie
-Aegis of the legion
-Runic Bullwark
-Frozen Heart
-Abyssal scepter

-Guardian Angel


 
 
Riven
The Exile





Riven is hot. I don't get to use Riven often because I find her a huge risk in the jungle. She is however, a great top laner, and can destroy most matchups with ease. She works in the jungle, but NEEDS to get kills. Not assists, but kills, because the jungle doesn't provide nearly as much farm as the top lane. Pick your poison for Riven, and go with it, because she can work both ways.  But for me, I'd rather the top lane.


Riven in the top lane is a beast to duel against early on. She has to press her level 1 and 2 advantage, because nobody else in the game can deal over 300 damage in just investing a single point in 1 ability. "Broken wings > auto attack " x 3 is basically just an equation to murder every single top laner in the game if they are foolish enough to fight you early on. She kind of drops off late game so its important to press your early advantage and shut down the enemy laner, she does this VERY well, especially after she gets valor and her stun. Repeated harass will quickly shut down the enemy (unless they are like, Jayce or Irelia or some other OP f**k), and eventually allow you to kill them. Her jungling speed is very fast, but early sustain can be a problem. She has great ganking, being given 4 gap closers, tons of damage, a stun and a slight knockup. She can snowball really hard if she gets early kills.



 
 I heard you guys like some bunny Rivens.


Riven's goal in a team fight is to kill the enemy carry, and cause as much disruption as possible. Since she is semi-tanky, she can soak up some damage before going down (plus, valor blocks a good deal of damage). She can deal a ton of AOE damage and that is crucial to any team. Her ultimate gives her a huge AD boost and allows her to use windslash, a great AOE ability to go with broken wings and ki burst. She will absolutely OBLITERATE squishies in seconds with her ultimate on, even her auto attacks hurt like crap. And because she has 4 gap closers, she will chase up to her prey, catch them and kill them, no problem. She can also flash ki burst to initiate, just saying, she's a pretty good bruiser. Bruisers that are tanky, can deal a lot of damage and have great mobility are always valued in a team, Riven is one of those champions.


As you can see, there are many pros to having a Riven on a team. I personally think she's an awesome pick, but only as a top laner. She's kind of iffy in the jungle, and I have fallen behind as her MANY times due to lack to kills and minion farm. If I use her up top though its mostly a won lane, her early laning is just so strong. To top it off, she's one of the hottest champions in the game. SO SEXY!!!!



My build for Riven

-Boots + 3 pots / Hunter's Machete + 5 pots (jungling)

-Ionian boots of lucidity (Any tier 3 upgrade)
-2 Doran's blades/Wriggle's lantern (jungling)
-Black Cleaver
-Frozen Mallet
-Sunfire Cape
-Guardian Angel

-Bloodthirster (sell wriggle's/Doran's blade)



Peace for now, hope you enjoyed the Rivens :)