having paused blogging last year, i've managed to catch up on some quality series that i've previously missed, which includes Durarara!!, Soul Eater & AIR.
WARNING! SPOILER ALERT!
Durarara!!
This series was probably quite popular when it started airing but after watching its first episode, it didn't really stand out that much as compared to the rest of the series that aired in that season as well. After it ended, it turned out that there were major plot twists in the series and it turned out much better than i had expected after finishing it during the break.
The series revolves around a number of characters with different personalities and backgrounds in Ikebukuro. Ryuugamine Mikado, the main protagonist, arrives in Ikebukuro after receiving an invite from his childhood friend, Kida Masaomi and also meeting the other folks of Ikebukuro and also his crush, Sonohara Anri, another main protagonist. Ikebukuro was a unique town with many of the other characters involved in each others' activities throughout the town. Some characters include Celty, a headless rider on a black bike, who is told off as an urban legend in Ikebukuro and it was later revealed that she was a Dullahan who had come to Japan to search for her missing head and was aided by Shinra, a doctor who has feelings for Celty and helps in her search as well. Celty normally acts accordingly to tasks she receives, like to rescue someone or to deliver some goods. Orihara Izaya, being the most prominent antagonist of the series, is an informant where he sells information to others and is interested in the way human beings act. His arch enemy, Heiwajima Shizuo, is an extremely strong guy (who is able to throw vending machines) who was framed by Izaya and had hated him ever since. Other major characters also plays much important roles in the series but Durarara!! really has many many other characters that need time to sink in their different stories and personalities.
In Ikebukuro, it was previously filled with gangs with color indicators that stand out to others that they were part of certain gangs and in the past, two of the gangs stood out, namely the Yellow Scarves and the Blue Squares but both gangs were said to have disappeared after a major gang clash. There was also an rumoured color-less gang around called the Dollars who doesn't show themselves nor stand out due to them not having any colors at all. Soon after, there was the incident on a cursed blade, Saika, which is said to take away the feeling of love from the carrier and also if the carrier is taken over by Saika, the blade chooses to hurt others to represent its "love" for others. Saika is able to produce its followers if someone is cut and every single one would follow the orders of their "mother", the carrier of the original Saika. The incident was called as the "Slasher" incident and had brought major uproar in Ikebukuro. Anri was then attacked by the Slasher but the table later turns when Anri unsheathe the real Saika in front of the "Saika" that attacked her. As the original "mother", Anri was able to stop the other Saika followers from attacking the citizens but was also slightly injured in the incident. Having received the news that Anri was injured by the Slasher, both Mikado and Kida began to throw their hatred at the Slasher and vow to seek her out, not knowing that the "Slasher" who holds Saika was Anri herself. It later turns out that Mikado was the founder of Dollars and attempts to use the network to find more about the Slasher. Celty and Shizuo, who were part of the Dollars as well, helps to obtain more information. Coincidentally, Kida was the previous leader of the Yellow Scarves and the major clash of the Blue Squares and his gang was due to the kidnapping of Kida's girlfriend, Mikajima Saki, which was all under Izaya's scheming. He now returns to being the leader yet again and vows to drag the Slasher out. Problems started to crop out when the members of the Yellow Scarves started attacking members of the Dollars after seeing Celty and Anri (who was hidden at that time) together and suspects that the Slasher was part of the Dollars. The Dollars soon fell apart but never really did die out even after Mikado decided to shut it down due to more and more victims arising from the gang attacks. Kida did not support the idea of attacking members of the Dollars and was later stripped off the title of the leader where he finally discovers that the Blue Squares had joined the Yellow Scarves and had now taken over the entire gang. The trio discovers the identity of each other and with the other members of the Dollars and the followers of Saika, they manage to take out the ones that wanted to overthrow Kida. Kida then leaves with Saki while Mikado and Anri remain in Ikebukuro.
Well... thats the rather brief outline of the few important plot twists in the series and one strong point in the series is the way the link a single incident through perspectives of different individuals in Ikebukuro. Which in a particular incident when viewed through another's perspective, you might see the other characters being highlighted as well but not LOOKED into. Furthermore, there was this online chatroom scenes that appear every now and then, with the characters taking different nicknames in the chatroom and discussing about the various incidents in Ikebukuro with or without actually knowing who the others were, although there were some hints here and there. Mikado was also able to get into contact with Kida after he leaves silently with Saki through the chatroom. Overall, the animation was rather good and it was most likely the strong storyline that kept me on track in finishing the series which the final climax was a truly unexpected one. It is an truly wonderful series and it's definitely recommended :)
AIR
Being a KEY series, Clannad does bear many similarities with AIR but their soundtracks and moving story are equally great :)
The series revolves around the main antagonist, Yukito, who is able to make puppets move and was travelling around to find a girl who has wings and is able to fly in the sky. He stops by a town and meets the female protagonist, Misuzu, a girl who took notice of Yukito after he first steps into the town and allows him to stay over by her house. Throughout the time Yukito spends in the town, he's able to meet the other classmates of Misuzu and learns the pasts of the other characters and is able to help them in one way or another. It later turns out that Misuzu was constantly having a same dream that is sapping her life away and will eventually forget about everyone before passing on after the next dream she has. It turns out to be true after Misuzu lost her memories of her foster mother and through Yukito's hope of saving her, he's able to turn back time and was able to help her but she still moved on in the end after reaching the end of her "goal".
It was a short series and didn't have much time to develop most of the characters but with Misuzu's arc being placed right at the end, multiple triggers did bring up the seriousness of the dream that Misuzu constantly has and Yukito's helplessness while seeing her hurt in her dreams. The typical time-leaps in KEY works does its magic here and Yukito was able to see the past where they were some incarnate of past humans and Misuzu was indeed the girl who Yukito was looking for, after having suspicions when Misuzu reveals that she was flying in her dreams. The first trigger then came when Yukito decides to leave an ill Misuzu behind as his presence will trigger the effect of the illness which would occur when Misuzu becomes close to a certain individual. But Yukito returns soon after, after realising the foolishness of his actions and the time-leap event occurs. The most touching scene would be the recovery of Misuzu's memories after she was brought away by her real father as she started to struggle after being brought away from her foster mother, whom she was supposed to have lost all memories, and ran back to her, calling out "mother" repeatedly. In the end, Misuzu wasn't really able to recover fully after lying that she was still alright in order to stay with the ones she love. In her final day, she told Yukito and her mother to stand at a distance and that she'll walk to them, treating them as her final goal and collapses after she managed to stagger to her final destination.
The ending was touching enough to make me feel sour but i didn't really understood the kids that appeared right at the end, which the girl made up the starting silhouette of the title "AIR". AS this IS an old series, do not keep your hopes high for Clannad-like graphics and animations but the storyline doesn't lose to Clannad's IMO. In case you realised that there is an AIR the movie, my honest suggestion is to skip it and ignore it. It shows the other side of AIR which i didn't think it was appropriate at all. It felt that i had wasted my time watching it after barely managed to survived watching the movie. Poor storyline and poor story development... Watching the series itself was much much better. So, if you're interested, skip the movie after watching the series.
SOUL EATER
since it's still ongoing (for the manga), i wouldn't blog much about this but if you like shonen titles and love to laugh about and some seriousness, watching this would be great. It has great entertainment, lots of things to laugh about and much actions to watch but since it deters from the manga, watching the anime and treating it as an individual series could be good since the manga is still ongoing and the anime probably didn't want it to drag any longer, 51 episodes is just nice IMO.
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And so... after such long WOT, now let's have a song to listen to :D (or u could listen to it while reading O_O)
Durarara!! OP2 Complication
The OP2 itself:
And the song :)
nakidashisou na kao de ureu hikui sora
suru koto mo naku toki o kezuru
hakidasu ba no nai omoi o nomikonde
iradachi majiri no tsuba o haku
nanimokamo ga kowaresou na fuan daite asu ni obie
asatte bakka miteta tte kotae wa denai koto datte wakatteru
kagirinaku hirogaru masshiro na ashita ni nani o egaku
genjitsu ga someyuku makkura na ashita ni nani o egaku
mogakikagayaku
nayanderu jibun ga nanka dasakute
jitto shite ran nakute bakkure
yaritai koto sonna mon nai ze
okujou de kossori kuwaeru maisen
nanka tanoshiku nee kyou no saize
shinpaisou na me de miteru mai men
"naite nai ze" nante haite
tsuyogattemite mo maji tsurai ze
kayoinareta usugurai douro
yatto no omoi katta i-Pod
uwabe dake no usupperai RAP
nazeka omoi usuppera no BAG
yasashiku atatakai hazu no basho
omokurushikute akehanatsu mado
juuatsu ni oshitsubusaresou de
nigekonda itsumo no kouen
nanimokamo ga kowaresou na fuan daite asu ni obie
asatte bakka miteta tte kotae wa denai koto datte wakatteru
kagirinaku hirogaru masshiro na ashita ni nani o egaku
genjitsu ga someyuku makkura na ashita ni nani o egaku
mogakikagayaku
kagiriaru wazuka na toki no naka
hetakuso na jibun egake
ima wa mada sore de ii
kagirinaku hirogaru masshiro na ashita ni nani o egaku
genjitsu ga shimeyuku makkura na ashita ni nani o egaku
mogakikagayaku
kagirinaku hirogaru masshiro na ashita ni nani o egaku
genjitsu ga someyuku makkura na ashita ni nani o egaku
mogakikagayaku
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