Evangelion 3.0

Evangelion 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo

For viewers who didn't actually watch the Evangelion series when it aired, this movie can get extremely confusing with the bombardment of unknown terminologies and a rather segregated time frame from where 2.0 left off. It honestly didn't feel quite a sequel to 2.0 with so much confusion and for a moment, it all felt like a separate movie by itself. It wasn't as exciting as compared to 1.0 and 2.0 with bare moments of mecha action, but the plot does rev up quite a bit as we approach the end of the whole story of Evangelion.

3.0 takes place 14 years after 2.0 had left off, which we see Shinji awakening Unit 01 in order to save Ayanami Rei and causing the Third Impact to almost occur before Unit 01 was pierced by the Spear. (it's said to be the spear of cassius) and thus the phenomenon was called the Near Third Impact. Shinji is left unconscious in Unit 01 for 14 years before waking up and was taken into custody by Misato who is now the Captain of an Anti-Nerv organisation called Wille. She instructs him never to pilot an Eva again and would kill him if he did but Shinji does not accept that fact and flees with Rei back to Nerv HQ. It is there where he learns the truth of the Near Third Impact that he caused from a new chosen child called Kaworu and Shinji later learns the truth about Unit 01's core and the plan of Nerv called the Human Instrumentality Project. Wanting to return the world to its previous form, Shinji and Kaworu pilot the Eva Unit 13 to retrieve the Spears of Longinus and Cassius which wields the power to return the world to its previous state. Asuka and Mari tries to stop them from succeeding and even with Kaworu's uncertainty of the spears, Shinji heads in front and pulls out both spears, resulting in the occurrence of the Fourth Impact. Kaworu, who is the 1st Angel is converted to the 13th as a result of this phenomenon and in order to stop the Fourth Impact, he sacrifices himself and Shinji is later rescued by Asuka after his plug gets ejected out from Unit 13. 

Lots and lots of terminology that keeps bombarding the viewers, making this movie more confusing than the previous 2. It was pretty irritating to see how Shinji behaves in this movie as well, all immature and doesn't really want to listen to others and always thinking what he is doing is right. It wasn't entirely Shinji's fault after all, since he didn't actually expect the Third Impact to occur just by trying to save Rei. Basically the feeling that he had to save Rei was the catalyst that brought upon the Third Impact but that of course, was unpredictable as how Unit 01 had awakened. After 14 years and in Misato's Wille organisation, no one even bothered explaining to Shinji what exactly happened to the world after that event. Shinji didn't even know that 14 years have already passed since that fateful day and what exactly happened to Rei and Nerv that Misato had decided to form a Resistance. Putting yourself into Shinji's shoes I bet anyone would be equally frustrated as no one wishes to disclose anything while you yourself wants to know the truth behind it all. 

Ultimately, for answers, Shinji had returned to Nerv HQ instead. No one actually told him why Wille was formed, why the Nerv Evas had to be destroyed, and the exact reason why Shinji is told not to pilot an Eva again. Protecting the world and protecting him is one thing, but not telling him the exact reason would only produce more thirst for the truth itself, causing Shinji to find the truth in whatever means necessary. Later on, Shinji is shocked to find out the exact truth of what his actions to save Rei had cost the world, where the Near Third Impact had wiped out the entire town and the people living in it, and that his mother's conscience or soul is merged into Unit 01's core, which was predictable all along since 1.0 where this has been hinted many times. And finally, the Human Instrumentality Project. Where Nerv's aims, or Shinji's dad's aim, was to cause the entire human population to become extinct so that new lives that holds a certain characteristics can be born. Back to back, Shinji must have felt all the stress pinning onto him. Furthermore, the Rei that Shinji had saved doesn't seem to exist anymore and is "replaced" by another Rei that feels like a completely different person as compared to the Rei from 1.0 and 2.0

And given the opportunity by Kaworu that he could return the world to how it used to be, Shinji decided to pilot an Eva once again, with Unit 13 which boasts the Twin Plug System. Not heeding Kaworu's advice to stop pulling out the spears that were plunged into Lillith, driven by his will and determination to return the world to its previous state, Shinji carries on his actions, resulting in the Fourth Impact as the two spears weren't actually the Spears of Longinus and Cassius, but rather both were Longinus types. (Can't really help to explain this since I din't actually watch the original evangelion series too so this was pretty confusing) Kaworu then reveals to Shinji that he's actually the First Angel and now he became the 13th Angel under the influence of the Fourth Impact and the awakening of Unit 13. Shinji's father calls him Seele's Child too and in order to succeed his Human Instrumentality Project, he shuts down the Seele Panels that he talks too which left me blur and not knowing what things were actually going on at that moment. How exactly did Kaworu become the 13th Angel? Wasn't Lillith supposed to be dead? And was Kaworu's character an antagonist as an Angel or a protagonist beside Shinji? True enough he was an Angel, but it does seem that he has a human heart after all, and possibly that he does not wish to see the destruction of the world? Was that why he sacrificed himself to stop the Fourth Impact? Many many questions here and there, even having the prior knowledge of the End of Evangelion didn't really quite helped in this movie. How exactly was Wille formed too? If the Near Third Impact had destroyed the city, why are some who were never in the Geofront saved? And how exactly did Misato find out about the truth of Nerv and in building of the Wunder, a Wille airship that houses the Eva Unit 01 as its engines and is able to take out "fake" angels such as the Nemesis series, which brings across to another question (or perhaps 2): what was the outcome of the angels after 14 years? and what are these Nemesis series angel-look-a-likes?

The action scenes were great, the animations were detailed, there could be a little more action scenes in this movie rather than the blatant piano playing that took precious minutes away from the movie and they would have cared to explain more about their own terminologies and not just cater this rebuild of evangelion for ex-eva fans. Do hope that 4.0 would shed more light on this but I can say that this is getting more interesting as a series and a story in itself. 

Little Busters. The End and the Beginning.

With the recently concluded Little Busters! adaptation, little is still known about the secret of the world which was only barely hinted in the 1st season. Which brings across the confirmed 2nd season of Little Busters! Refrain, that will touch on the true secret of the world and bring out the darker side of a story that we have seen so far. As a key visual, Little Busters! sure had their emotional moments in the 1st season, but the emotional impact wasn't as great as they were compared to Clannad. Perhaps the series decided to focus on the different routes over the whole course of the series, each arc being of 3-4 episodes that didn't really quite bring out the feelings of the characters or actually make the viewers feel as emotionally touched as Clannad was. Nonetheless, it was just the preview of what the true story of Little Busters! was, would've appreciated if the 2nd season would be aired simultaneously after the 1st season had ended but oh well, looking forward to the awesome 2nd season of Refrain. :)

I guess for a slice-of-life series or an emotional one at the very least, there were some arcs that went pretty well with the emotions that they were trying to bring across. What came as the most significant one would be Mio's arc. Where the "supernatural" actually revisits the Key Visual once again with someone without a Shadow. That arc really brought out what someone would feel when the individual is being isolated or just purely being deemed as an insignificant being and seeing how she returned to her normal self once again after Riki's help really made the arc end on a happy note. 

Leaving that aside, I honestly do felt quite annoyed by some of the seiyuus of the series, which seems to be of extremely high pitch as compared to the other series. Particularly Komari's seiyuu. Her voice was so high pitch that hearing it for her entire arc and the rest of the series made me a little irritated when she speaks. Ku-chan's seiyuu was about the same as well, being all high pitch and piercing at the same time. Rin and Mio's were all right so I guess it was all to bring out their characters? I would rather they had chose a more similar voice for the two characters as compared to Rin and Mio's for example. 

Would leave the final series impression after the 2nd season has aired and ended, so here's all the best to Refrain. Looking forward to the true completion of the story itself. :)

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Andddd I've decided to drop Karneval after the 2nd episode. Nothing surprising over there, was already expecting this come pretty soon, since it started to feel more and more of a Shoujo series than a shounen one. The series bear some resemblance to K in terms of their male characters so nope, not a series I would follow at all. 

Hentai Ouji to Warawanai Neko 

Leaving Katanagatari aside, this was another series that I've picked out of the the blue and boy was I glad to have watched this. Wasn't that interested in it after seeing the PVs and such but the 1st episode was hilarious. It revolves around the male protagonist Yokodera Youto, who has this inner pervertedness that is held behind by his facade making him unable to speak out his true feelings that gets him into some pinches in school. Determined to remove that facade, he decides to pray to a Stone Cat to remove his facade, who is later given to someone else who needs it. Joining his prayers is Tsutsukakushi Tsukiko, a girl who wishes to change as she lets out her emotions too easily. And so their prayers are unanswered and Yokodera's pervertedness is now released and Tsutsukakushi is now free from showing any emotions. The story begins as Yokodera tries to save his image by attempting to get his facade back. Interesting plot and as a romance series too, this looks good.

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Valvrave is running over a course of 2 seasons, as announced in Animenewsnetwork:

Valvrave the Liberator's 2nd Season to Start in October

seems like the story is too complicated to be finished in one season itself. Seeing how the writer of this original story is the same as Code Geass, I'm definitely having high hopes for this one. Is the pilot a vampire or a virus carrier now? Interesting question to ponder about the Valvrave pilot's hidden abilities... The series so far has still been predictable, was pretty obvious of the reason why Haruto didn't want to confess to Shouko. The moment he did that, I was like "hey, I know this, bet he's gonna say he's not human anymore and thus cannot accept her love". And... Bingo. Overused? Just saw this exact same scenario over in Madoka and perhaps in Maou-sama soon? I still do believe that the love between them wouldn't be over just like that, perhaps the normal "I wouldn't care who or what you are, you are you" kind of thing? Furthermore both Saki and Shouko are seen in the OP so I guess it's pretty much a love triangle then...

Maou-Sama is still as hilarious as always. Seeing how the devils quarrel with the hero really makes it entertaining to watch. Furthermore now with someone falling in love with Maou, I wouldn't see how Yusa would be excluded from the love triangle thing after seeing how much Maou has changed, helping people even though he was a devil. Honestly speaking, I wonder how does the devils survive on eating pickles and cucumbers for meals... Some money issues revolving the great Demon King Satan I would see :X

Pretty quick of Railgun S to bring back the Sisters once again, wasn't expecting the plot to move so fast, considering how another Level 5 was just introduced in episode 1. No complains over here, the Sisters still play an important role in the plot anyways. Hoping to see the other Level 5s soon and Touma as well! 

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Amazing OP of Kakumeiki Valvrave by T.M. Revolution and Nana Mizuki. awesome duet!

Juz Chilling

Awesome day out yesterday to meet up with buddies and a BMT mate who was overseas :) Headed down to Newton Food Centre to have some casual local foodstuff, it was just too bad that many of the stalls were closed in the afternoon... Perhaps this's a night food centre? The food there is rather expensive too. Shocking prices I would say to expect something from a hawker centre. A glass of drink would already cost around 3 bucks which is like 50-70% more expensive than other hawker centres... Thankfully the food there is still acceptable compared to their drinks though.

Detoured to Marina Square later on for pure arcade and pool session :D Really appreciate the fact that the Marina Square arcade still accepts normal coins rather than most of the arcades now that only accept their own cards. Furthermore the prices for the games were cheaper too. Been quite some time since we last filled almost the entire row of Daytona machines :P Exciting session over at After Burner Climax too and then a chilling session of pool after that.

Been quite some time since we last met up so take care dude! See ya again soon! :)

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Following the previous post, here's the next portion of series that has caught my eye for this season. I would really say that this is really a good season seeing the amount of promising series this time round.

Shingeki no Kyojin

The 1st thought that came into my mind when I first watched this was "wow. Gantz?" Putting the artwork aside, this series is absolutely violent and gory similar to Gantz itself. There are the Titans who consume humans, by just hand picking them up and chomping them right their own mouth, that is already some pretty gory stuff. One of the eye-catcher for this series would be the actual weaponry that the military uses in the series to fight against the Titans. It has yet to show just how much their devices is capable of by honestly, the technology is simple and rather original I would say. Can't wait to see the protagonists' counterattack on the Titans. Hoping that the animation would be pretty cool :)

Suisei no Gargantia

By the same producer as Eden of the East, Psycho-Pass and Guilty Crown (can't leave this out yeah), comes another original series by Production I.G. The setting for the story is pretty neat, with humans from the future / other side of the universe come into contact with Earth, both sides seem to be aliens of the other. Pretty interesting to see how they actually made it all seem like our protagonist being unable to understand normal Japan as he's from another universe. Finally a series that actually makes note of how different human beings communicate with each other even if they do not know a common language. Accompanied by the male protagonist is an AI called Chamber that controls his unit and is like a kind of personal helper. I.G. does seem to have set a trend on AI being included in the original series. Like Juiz in Eden of the East, Sibyl System in Psycho-Pass and now Chamber in Suisei no Gargantia. Ain't complaining about this but it does look like a real good series right from the start.

Kakumeiki Valvrave

Dear Sunrise, does most mecha anime series that you make have to consist of youngsters infiltrating facilities to obtain secret machines and having protagonists that only wants to protect the loved ones around him and have no choice but to fight? While watching the 1st episode take its course, it really seems like a normal Gundam Seed opening style if you ask me. People living in space, intruders barge in and killing people that get in their way and finally almost attempt to steal the giant robot but failed. Happens to fall into our male protagonist's hands, fights the enemies and win. The romance part was kinda awkward too with Shoko losing her life that quickly, although I do know that it was mainly a setting for Haruto to take his seat in the machine. Pretty common and bland for an original series by Sunrise though, UNTIL the end when I actually do realise that piloting the machine kinda turns the pilot into a vampire. What.......?! Vampire and mecha series?! Interesting...

To Aru Kagaku no Railgun S

More Touma, more Accelerator, more Sisters, and more Biribiri. That pretty muchs sums up how this 2nd season of Kagaku no Railgun would be. Seems like for this season they are following much of the manga itself with more Level 5s making their appearances. Including Misaki Shokuho who already made an appearance in the 1st episode, and Shizuri Mugino who was hinted in the OP. Would've appreciated more if Index were to have more seasons since the novels are still going strong and the story really gets more exciting at the back so while that perhaps is taking a back seat, I wouldn't mind having this spin off series to take it's place, for now.

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Finally an official PV of Senbonzakura by Hatsune Miku in PS3's Project Diva F! :)

New season!

This season does seem to be a better season as compared with the previous season line-up, more promising shows, SHAFT's taking a break this season and here comes SUNRISE as well.

With the exception of Shingeki no Kyojin, Valvrave and Railgun S that has yet to be aired, the others has made their debut and I would say almost all does seem promising just by their opening episode alone. Just hope that a large portion of them still remains till the end of the season and not suffer a repeat of Guilty Crown or the GC-Effect (haha, kinda like to use this term nowadays).

Yahari Ore no Seishun Rabukome wa Machigatteiru

Now THAT is some long title for a series. I even have difficulty even trying to remember that title now, perhaps let's just call it "Yahari Ore no Seishun" instead...

Typical slice-of-life anime series, revolving around a guy protagonist that has no interest in his youth days, fails at interacting with girls, lives in sub-self denial and simply does not like to mix around after he was rejected by a girl once, losing his main interest in his colourful high school days.

On 1st sight, it does remind me a little on Toradora! based on the simple drawing the male protagonist has and similarly, both doesn't get quite a lot of attention, except the fail romance factor where it was more prolonged and was the key to the Toradora! series itself which I don't quite see the romance side of this series coming as quickly as it did for Toradora!

For a moment I initially thought that Yui had feelings for Hiki after all she seems to have known Hiki for quite some time? Although he doesn't seem to remember her at all. This series does seem to have a simple plot but with its 1st episode, it does seem to be one of the more carefree type of series that I believe I can relax and watch as a slice-of-life.

Ginga Kikoutai Majestic Prince 

Here we see a mecha anime series, been quite some time since we last saw one. (can't count Robotics;Notes as a mecha series though). And boy does the animation shine. Great space combat animation, marvelous mecha quality. Take Macross Frontier and add a little light humour in it and Ginga Kikoutai would be the end result.

Honestly, this series has the most "anti-climatic" scene right at its very 1st episode. The light humour is there, the characters are each unique and fun in their own personality and it would be interesting to see how the five would work as a team together in the future. The plot got a fast headstart with a big battle driven in early in the episode and I personally do like how the mechas are organised, in the terms of its specifications. Unlike other mecha shows like Macross and Gundam, there were little discrepancies on the types of mechas being used, which was distinct in Ginga Kikoutai. A team of five, which includes a Leader, a Forward, a Control, a Booster and a Gunner each with their robots, or AHSMB units as they called it, stressing the importance of teamwork to win the battle by taking into account of each other's strength and weaknesses.

Promising series with great animation quality, wouldn't want to miss out on this one. :)

Hataraku Maou-Sama!

Been a long time since I actually burst out laughing watching a series. Last I can recall was the time of Baka to test, really missed that hilarious series, but nonetheless, here comes another!

The start of the episode did gave a false impression of how the series would turn out to be. A war between the humans and the demons, an all-out war, violence, fighting, action everywhere and the Maou Satan got chased out of its castle by a Yuusha and retreated into another world with its servant in wait of regaining its own land again. And guess where did Maou and his servant ended up in? The human world as we know it. And THAT is where the real story begins, with Maou Satan getting used to the human world, working at Mcdonalds, getting all happy with a pay raise and then finally meeting the Yuusha in the human world, who was girl that he had helped once when he was going to work. Where else would you see a Maou actually wanted to use his last remaining magic power to fix the cooker to make black pepper fries?!

Funny serious and an interesting start. Would definitely be following this :D

RDG: Red Data Girl

A shinto shrine -type of series again. Supernaturals and mysteries revolving around the Himegami. Divine beings again? Do want! :) Mysterious girl who is unable to touch any electronic devices due to some unknown reasons and from the trailers itself, it does seem to be one promising show even though our main protagonist doesn't seem to stand out as one yet, more typical common type of protagonist that we have here.

Karneval

Interesting interesting series. Supernatural coupled with internal rivalry / conflicts / thieves and defence organisations? Seems a little similar to Pandora Hearts, not exactly sure how or where this series would be headed but it does seem to be "not bad"

Date a Live

Kaminomi?! A harem series it might seem to be, similar to Kaminomi. Might be dropping this if it gets too out of hand but for now, its a little bearable. Just. A. Little.

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andddd a rather interesting and catchy song by Miku and GUMI: