Opening Songs
OP 1 - Gate (Kishida Kyodan & The Akeboshi Rockets)

Ending Songs
ED 1 - Prism Communicate (Risa Taneda, Hisako Kanemoto, Nao Toyama)

Genre: Adventure, Fantasy

Episodes: 12



At first glance, "Gate" does seem to be quite a unique show. Talking about a modern day soldier who is sent into a newly discovered world that spawns from a gate that suddenly appears out of nowhere, the possibilities are almost endless. That whole new world for a modern day soldier with modern day technologies under his belt should prove to be interesting. To be honest, it IS quite a cool show. Sure, its one of those shows that may not appeal to anyone and everyone, but there is a lot to like here. If you like a story with a deep amount of lore to be uncovered, then you'll love it. If you're all for gun blazing action and fan service, then "Gate" might not suit you THAT much, its a little bit of a thinking man's show with fantasy and some (very minor) fan service thrown in. One thing's for sure though, if you do watch "Gate", then you can expect an adventure with a whole heaping ton of fun and unexpected twists.



Tuka is most definitely the hottest of the 3.


The opening theme is "Gate" by Kishida Kyodan & The Akeboshi Rockets, a group that I adore quite a fair bit despite them only performing theme songs for so few shows. In all of the openings that they sung, I was least impressed by "Gate" out of all their performed theme songs, even when I'm saying that, its an amazing effort. Its energetic, it gets you pumped and its pretty hype, that's pretty great. The ending theme is "Prism Communicate", a slow song by the seiyuus of the 3 main heroines in the show. Not my cup of tea, but there's not really much else to say here.



Rating: 8.0/10



Just for the first season alone, I personally enjoyed "Gate" quite a lot. Its engaging, its characters are fun and humane (coming from someone who went through military accord before), even on just the modern side, there's a lot to like. The fantasy side feels a lot like an MMO anime done right, with a lot of an adventure feel with our characters journeying throughout the land like a band of heroic badassess. In terms of the feeling of "adventure", its quite hard to get "Gate" beat. You get the same feel of awe and wonder as the main characters explore this new land. While the 3 main heroines do feel a little bit tacked on, they're rarely ever out of place and at least they don't cling to the main character needlessly without reason. The story is massive, there's a lot going on and the show tries its very best to give us satisfactory story telling without leaving out too much. Its good enough, though there definitely will be a lot more in season 2. There is some action, and while these moments are quite rare, they're pretty nice to look at, especially with the flashy explosions and magic when all the fighting occurs.



My face when I look at the next season's animes at the end of each season...

Yoji is an old man in his 30s that's pledged to being a military personal. Well, I say that but he's basically being a soldier for money so that he can spend it on his otaku stuff. Yes, despite everything, this guy is an otaku soldier. One day, on his way to an anime event, he sees something out worldly happen right in front of his eyes. A massive gate appears out of nowhere in the middle of Tokyo, and out of the gate spurs forth an endless amount of other worldly creatures, including orcs, griffons, wyverns and other...sorts of nonsense. These creatures slaughter innocent bystanders and start attacking the city. Being a soldier at heart, Yoji jumps into the fray and starts to try killing these things while rescuing civilians. After long, grueling days of battle with the military helping out, they manage to suppress the invaders, with Yoji being promoted in rank as being one of the soldiers who helped the most during the attack. He is charged with leading a force into this gate and to explore the new world, seeing if it brings any threat to mankind. Little does he know, he's in for an adventure of his life.


"Gate" just rubs me the right way and is one of the most fun shows of 2015. The 2nd season is out and probably almost done at this point, I can't wait to jump right into it. At this point, I expect nothing but greatness.




Elana, The Squalid Squeen

HP: 9280
Skills: Flame Swathe*, Dark Orb, Dark Hail, Axe Combo*, Teleport, Summon*
Souls: 72000

Difficulty: 3.5/5
Deaths: Slightly less than 10



It's been awhile (been busy lately, especially with f**king "Dark Souls 3"), but we're back with a boss profile post for the first DLC segment of the game. After going through the absolutely obnoxious map of Shulva and heading down Dragon's Rest, we're finally at the first boss of the map, and its none other than this ugly bitch. And you'll get a taste, for the first time, how retarded DLC bosses can be.



Don,t. Don't you DARE summon!


As disgustingly putrid and filthy as she looks, Elana packs a punch no matter what type of character you are playing. Despite being an obvious, caster type boss enemy, Elana is actually much more deadly up close with her enormous axe, so be extremely careful. Otherwise, if you stick to her, you can most likely bash her skull in if you're already adapt at dodging her melee strikes, which can be quite tricky. She can also summon and teleport around like a little bitch, so no matter what, you're in for a tough one.


Flame Swathe* - The exact same variation that you can cast if you have the spell. This spell is freaking ridiculous since for Elana, it appears out of nowhere and the fireball can suddenly just spawn beside you for instant f**king death. Dodge away like the plague when you see it.

Dark Orb - Again, same as the hex that you can use as the player. Dodge if you see it coming, she won't spam this, so its not too bad.

Dark Hail - You know the drill. Just dodge, its just Dark Orb with lesser range and a larger area of effect.

Axe Combo* - She starts swinging her axe when you're up close. She opens up with a horizontal swing most of the time, which covers a massive area. Each swing does massive damage, and she does it up to 3 times. Disgusting, blocking takes almost all your stamina, so dodge and punish.

Teleport - She just turns into black gunk and disappears, then appears elsewhere. 

Summon* - She summons either skeletons, or f**king Velstadt. Prepare your anus.



As you can see, this bitch is no f**king pushover. She's defeatable with some perseverance, but if you're the type to despair easily on your first attempt, this could get bad. Anyway, Elana is a caster oriented boss with some devastating melee attacks, meaning that you'll probably need to grow some balls going up to her for some hits. She has a huge health pool, so take note. Most of the battle simply has her casting simple hex spells that you've been seeing for the entire game, these are relatively easy to dodge, and if you're close enough, you'll get some opportunities for punishing her.


Probably the only spell you'll need to look out for is Flame Swathe. Unlike the normal player's Flame Swathe, Elana's variation appears out of nowhere, and can be right next to you when she casts it, giving you very little room or opportunity to dodge. As always, this spell does an obscene amount of damage, so you won't want to get hit, especially if she has summons running around. Elana will teleport to a different location within the arena if you hit her enough times, so get used to running around like a madman. 


Well....f**k this.

Finally, the ability that Elana is most renowned for...her bloody summon. She can summon 1 of 2 things. First, its 3 skeletons, secondly, its Velstadt. Both are equally bad, and chances are you probably will WANT to kill the summons because the next time she summons again, it WILL stack with the first batch. This is not so bad if she has 3 skeletons, but if she summons Velstadt, chances are you won't have the time to focus him all that much because he's so DAMNED tanky. If you see her summon 3 skeletons, take them out ASAP, if its Velstadt....I recommend you try to ignore him as much as you can and rush the f**k out of Elana.


If Elana summons the skeletons, it'll be extremely hard to dodge her other attacks with them picking on you, so killing them is the way to go. Velstadt on the other hand, is slow and bulky, so he's a lot more manageable around Elana's other attacks. Either way, Elana's defenses aren't fantastic despite having a lot of health, so burst her down quickly for the win. Her summons die when she does, she also drops 72000 souls.




----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------






Sinh, The Slumbering Dragon
HP: 10030
Skills: Fire Breath, Arc Breath, Flank Shot*, Standing Fire Breath, Bite, Leg Combo, Tail Swipe, Aireborne Assault*
Souls: 96000

Difficulty: 3.5/5
Deaths: 5


I absolutely hate this battle. A lot of players say that this is the redeeming battle of the first DLC, but I find Sinh to be a massive shitload of RNG that's always not on my side. People say this is a dragon battle done right, but IMO this is still worse than Kalameet, and its actually 10 times more frustrating if Sinh doesn't cooperate with you. Prepare for a long, tough fight, or a fairly moderate one because if Sinh doesn't act like a giant bitch, then he's actually not that f**king hard AT ALL. Just pray to the RNG gods on this one.



Shoo! You f**king gigantic f**k!

Being a dragon, I actually don't quite like this guy, despite me loving the Kalameet fight in the first "Dark Souls". There just aren't many good dragon fights in this game...this was supposed to be it, but I freaking loathe this fight, because of how draggy it is. Sinh has a MASSIVE arsenal of attacks, I mean, its not joke how this guy just throws a different move at you every 5 seconds. Anyway, here they are. Also note that most, if not all of Sinh's breath attacks cause toxic buildup. 


Fire Breath - A straightforward breath of fire forward. Easy to dodge and predict, so there's not much to do here but to move away.

Arc Breath - He breaths fire and moves his head in an arc pattern. Just run the other way, loop around and hit him.

Flank Shot* - Probably the only attack on the ground you need to look out for. He jumps up and shoots a fire ball at his flank at quick speed. Very hard to react to, especially if you're mid-swing. Just dodge as fast as you can out of the way.

Standing Fire Breath - He stands on his hind legs and breaths a massive AOE of fire right in front of him. Run the hell away or just sprint to his back when you see this one.

Bite - A simple lunge attack that can be dodged or blocked with ease.

Leg Combo - He has a variety of attack variations with his legs, he can swipe once, twice, or even 3 times, sometimes even mixing a tail whip in there if he feels like it. These are usually simple to dodge as he has an easy rhythm to predict if he decides to combo, but a mistake can be lethal.

Tail Swipe - He turns 360 in an incredibly fast motion and attempts to flail at you with his tail. Easily blocked, but otherwise, this is a fast attack and may catch you off guard.

Airborne Assault* - Aka bullshit mode. He has a variety of attacks while airborne, and he's completely invulnerable in this mode. He can shoot singular fireballs, lay forth an airborne carpet of poison fire, or simply just bullshit dive you for unblockable damage. He can stay in the air as long as he wants until he decides to show mercy and land.


Despite his ridiculous aresnal, Sinh is a much slower and less deadly dragon than Kalameet on the land. His moves are usually quite predictable and are easy to dodge with proper timing. Most of his grounded attacks are heavily telegraphed and his breath moves are easy to punish. He likes to move around and cover a lot of distance, but if you maintain a suitable amount of space between you and him, its actually easy to sprint behind or next to the beast in the middle of one of his breath attacks. Hitting his flank is the best since you're safe from almost all of his attacks except for his Flank Shot and Tail Swipe.


You'll want to get underneath the belly of Sinh and hit his legs. You will only be vulnerable to the 2 said attacks up above. His Flank Shot will be likely to hit you because of its insane speed, but it shouldn't be too bad outside of the toxic buildup. He'll likely retaliate with leg swipe combos that can be easily dodged and countered. Afterward, he will run around to build distance and use another breath attack again. If he keeps doing this, its easy game.


Monster hunter time!


Of course, its not so f**king simple. As a dragon, Sinh likes to take to the air. While flying, the dude is invulnerable, as you'd think, but unlike Kalameet who goes up only for a simple fire attack before flying back down, this f**k has plenty of aerial attacks. Meaning he likes to stay up there and use ALL of his attacks, maybe even repeating some of them, before he comes down. Meaning, you'd be standing there, staring at this dumbass as he dumps attacks on you all day without giving you a chance to so much as HIT the bastard even ONCE...UNTIL he decides to SWOOP down, take out a third of your HP, then land at the opposite side of the map.


Seriously, there is no counter to this. If the bitch spams his flight mode, you are done. You'll just chunk estus over and over as he stays up there doing his usual shenanigans without you making any dents in his HP pool. If he doesn't use this, all the more power to you, this boss is pretty much just a slightly supe-d up Guardian Dragon. If he spams fly, you're in for a rough ride. Either way, you can cut off his tail, but that won't amount to much. Beating him nets you 96000 souls.



----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------







Afflicted Graverobber, Ancient Soldier Varg, Cerah The Old Explorer
HP: 3350/3310/2540
Souls: 60000 

Difficulty: 3/5
Deaths: 2



In my opinion, the seller fight of the first DLC. After struggling through that passage filled with a shit load of enemies you wouldn't bother killing, you are greeted by one of the laziest designed fights in the game. I say that, but I enjoyed this fight SO f**king much, even though its pretty much just battling against 3 overpowered NPCs with an awesome BGM playing. As many youtube comments mentioned, its like the developers got ganked too much in PVP and decided to f**king put a gank squad as one of the boss battles in the game. Genius, f**king genius.



You gotta take'em out 1 by 1.

Since its basically just a battle against 3 NPC dudes (actually, the graverobber is female, she emits the female damage sound when hit), I won't be going through any of their attacks. They can do what you can, except that they have a godly amount of HP each and they have a shit load of poise. Like all NPC gank battles, you won't be able to realistically take them all out at once, the proper way to win would be to single them out and then take them out 1 by 1. Sounds simple, but it can be quite a long and daunting battle because of how aggressively their AIs are programmed. These assholes show NO MERCY, and if you going into this fight alone (as you should), don't expect an easy as a battle as you would against normal NPC enemies.


As you enter the fog, the Graverobber and Varg will immediately charge you like madmen, do NOT stand and fight, as Cerah will be far away, taking pot shots at you with his Dragonslayer Greatbow. Needless to say, if you engage the Graverobber and Varg together in close quarters combat with Cerah will alive and far away, you will die, quickly. The order in which these 3 should be killed is quite obvious when you compare their stats and HP values. Cerah first, the Graverobber second, and of course, we'll leave the Havel monster Varg for last, as there is simply NO point in killing that tanky son of a bitch first.


The threat of having to die in this fight is as real as any other boss fight despite it just being 3 NPCs. Varg can easily one shot you in NG+ with his insanely high damaging Dragon Tooth attacks, and the Graverobber can quickly inflict bleed on you in just a few hits. Up close, Cerah's Estoc can stunlock you to death VERY quickly, so there's that to worry about. The Graverobber and Varg also have an insane, game-breaking amount of poise, meaning that you'll need to take pot shots at them like other bosses instead of trying to stun them like you would against other NPCs or players.



Get that bitch!


Use the map to your advantage. The Graverobber and Varg will chase after you endlessly like starved wolves, but Cerah won't. He'll mostly just sit still, firing arrows at you. Take the 2 melee meat heads on a tour around the map, sprinting all the way. When you've lost them for a few seconds, take the time to get to Cerah and hit him a few times, as he's isolated from the group. DO NOT GET GREEDY, as Cerah can fight back with Estoc, either that or the other 2 faggots will be RIGHT BEHIND you as you get greedy hitting Cerah. Rinse and repeat until Cerah is dead, he's the squishiest member of the trio, so this shouldn't take long. 


With him out of the way, now comes the tough part. You won't be able to separate the Graverobber and Varg well, so you'll to engage them right now. With Cerah out of the picture, its a lot easier. The Graverobber attacks fast while Varg is slow, focus your attacks on the Graverobber first. Again, juke around using the environment, take pot shots at the Graverobber until she goes down. She's rather tanky, but you should have no problems if you hit and roll like a bitch.


Finally, we have Varg. Honestly, at this point, its a battle of patience. Of the 3, Varg is easily the most powerful, with his insane Dragon Tooth damage, immaculate poise, and scumbag healing. Yes, this bastard is the only one out of the trio to chunk estus flasks in the battle, despite wearing the best armor and being the most durable. Now its simply just a one on one NPC battle, though Varg will very likely kill you in a single hit if you are not full HP. Play like a pussy and play it VERY safe, heal to full if you are hit, and you'll eventually kill this asshole when he runs out of estus. You get 60000 souls for killing the trio.





Opening Songs
OP 1 - Renegade (STEREO DIVE FOUNDATION)

Ending Songs

ED 1 - Country Of The Night (Annabel)

Genre: Action, Drama

Episodes: 12




Like me, many were impressed by "Gangsta" when it first came out. After the gigantic amount of cliche animes we finally thought that we'd be getting something a bit more different than the others. "Gangsta" started off pretty nicely as were introduced to the nasty, crime-riddled city of Ergastulum and its inhabitants. It felt like it was going to be a pretty dark show that discussed and touched on some pretty nasty topics. However, we were quickly fooled and lured into "Gangsta"'s pace. Sure, its not cliche and doesn't hold itself back, going all the way with its themes and characters. Honestly though, they're just not very f**king interesting. While it shows promise, "Gangsta" just never fully lives up to it, bringing forth a lot of questions but never fully answering them. It soon becomes another simple matter of good guys vs bad guys, with the occasional OP fellow that shows up taking on enemies 10 to 1 in a head on fight. Nothing really..."gangter-ish" here, honestly.



Pimpin' all f**king day.


For a show about gangsters, mafia life and the dark side of shady organizations, I expected something a little bit more badass for "Gangsta"'s opening theme. "Renegade", while alright on its own, just didn't bring the hardcore or awesomeness that I was looking for. The ending theme, "Country Of The Night" by Annabel, is just a generic, slow ballad of an ending song. Nothing much to talk about, but I guess it does fit a LITTLE bit.



Rating: 7.0/10



Basically its a show that TRIES to be dark and serious. In a way. it is, but not so much so. In the first few episodes we get a glimpse of how f**ked up the world of Ergastulum, but that's pretty much it. Even when the show tries to dive deeper into the darker themes of the show, it doesn't get serious enough to hype up the drama or tension level. In a way, the show plays it too "safe", and as a result, its quite boring when our handymen don't tackle anything different or interesting at all. Instead of proper mafia fights, negotiation and turf wars, it all boils down to...you guessed it, super powered, genetically modified humans to single handedly turn the tide of battles. Instead of clever planning or making full use of the mafia/gangster theme....that is just...kind of disappointing. That said though, the overall show is all right and it does heat up towards the end, though character development overall save for Alex is pretty weak. The action scenes are average, so there's really not much to say here.



Wrong part of town, asshole.

Worick and Nicholas are nothing much but a couple of stooges running a service in the most scum-bag infested city in the world, Ergastulum. A place where gangsters, mobs and mafia runaways go wild and do whatever they want. Kill, steal, rape, so on and so forth, the police are always busy, but they can't touch some of these guys because their mafia leader counter parts are immune to the law. That's where Worick and Nicholas come in, the pair are also pretty much law immune, and they get the green to go on a killing spree on the idiots who try to break the peace. The law that has been set up by the great 4 father figures of the 4 ruling families of Ergastulum, if those are broken, these 2 get the easy pass to go in for some murdering on the poor bastards who crossed the line. Thing is, one regular day on another job, the 2 manage to pick up a stray prostitute, Alex, who's being used by the guys that they happened to be after as a cash whore. After saving her by killing her former employer in cold blood, the 2 take her in as she seemed to have nowhere to go. What seemed like a kind deed quickly turned sour as Alex is plunged into Nicholas and Worick's world of shady dealings.


"Gangsta" just didn't quite live up to its massive potential IMO. It still is and looks cool, though that doesn't get you very far if you can't keep people interesting. There is a whole lot of build-up for usually a whole lot of mediocrity, even the ending was wishy-washy. A season 2 would certainly clear things up, but honestly, this one deserved better.




Opening Songs
OP 1 - Kuchiduke Diamond (Weaver)

Ending Songs
ED 1 - Candy Magic (Mimi Meme Mimi)

Genre: Comedy, Magic, Romance

Episodes: 12



One of my few favorite manga franchises to follow a few years back, I kind of stopped reading "Yamada-Kun" back when the releases were starting to get too slow for me. So naturally, when the anime adaptation was announced (I skipped the old OVA releases a few years back), I was a little bit excited for it. Just a little bit. After watching it, I can say this: as an adaptation from the manga, its a little bit lackluster. Quite a bit was forgone in the anime adaptation, and I was certainly a LITTLE bit disappointed. Still, seeing it come to life in anime form was amazing, and honestly, if you know nothing about "Yamada-Kun And The Seven Witches", I cant ell you this, its a show damned worth watching. When it comes to the epidemy of high school comedy and romance, I'd say that its one of the strongest ones in the genre, if you're looking for some real romance. As a newcomer, its honestly not difficult to get drawn into its colorful cast of characters and expansive plot, though its kind of dumbed down in the anime adaptation. Still, this is a solid watch for high school romance comedy lovers.



Too bad we don't get a dedicated swimsuit episode.


The opening theme is "Kuchiduke Diamond" by Weaver, and its a decent opening theme that you'll probably find best fitting for a light hearted, high school romance comedy such as this one. On its own, its honestly not that spectacular, and I kind of prefer the ending theme more. The ending theme is "Candy Magic" by Mimi Meme Mimi. It may not be my type of song, but for a slow, cute-sy song, it really flows well, and I do think that it beats out the opening theme for being catchier.


Rating: 8.0/10


Despite it not being a perfect anime adaptation from the manga, its still a damned good show (hell, "Shokugeki No Soma" wasn't a by the book adaptation and it was still amazing). "Yamada-Kun And The Seven Witches" quickly sets the tone and standard about what kind of show its going to be early on, and keeps it that way. Each and every episode has character development while being funny. There are a ton of characters, each with their own personality and quirks. Also, while its not "really a harem", it does the courtesy of having a good amount of male characters as well, while many of these kinds of shows just like to flood the cast with female characters. Discovering about all the different witches was incredibly interesting, with each character having their own episode to expand on their backstory or circumstances. These are done well enough, with interactions along with the main character kept interesting as he goes through many changes via the powers of the many different witches.



Honestly, this is the first thing you'll do when you find yourself
in a girl's body as a man.

Yamada Ryu is...not your everyday normal high school kid. Sure, he's a first year in high school, but he's not exactly a model student. In fact, he's a delinquent, frequently picking fights outside of school and getting into trouble like no tomorrow with the teachers. He is notorious on campus for his attitude and feats, so much so that he attracts a lot of attention. Anyway, one very normal day, he falls down the stairs and bumps into model student Urara Shiraishi. The 2 are knocked out, when Yamada wakes up, he finds himself in a strange position of...not being in his body. He looks in the mirror to find himself staring at the beautiful Urara, and at that point, he can only assume that he switched bodies with her. After doing all sorts of dirty and interesting things that he could never do while in his own body, he seeks Urara who's inside his body, and the 2 discuss about how to switch back. After repeating the falling tragedy again and having no results, Urara mentions that before switching bodies, she accidentally kissed him, and when they tried that, they switched back. Urara is one of the many "witches" within the school, with student council member Miyamura finding that out, he quickly ropes Yamada and Urara into a quest for the occult, much to Yamada's dislike.


"Yamada-Kun And The Seven Witches" is definitely one of the stronger entries of 2015. In a year with already a ton of amazing shows, that's quite hard to follow up. I'd recommend this one to those who love high school romance/comedy shows, but even for first timers, this is a nice start.