Valvrave: A shaky journey

Kakumeiki Valvrave, The End to another Beginning

Honestly, this had a rough journey, from the moment it began and up to the end of its 1st season.

As an original anime series coupled with the same author as Code Geass, I was expecting something up to the standard of Code Geass, which I would now safely say that this series is nearing, but not quite there yet.

In the early episodes of Valvrave, I was pretty disappointed at how the series delivered itself, based on the character setting and plot developments which were too cliché or just purely there for the sake of being there. Some early examples were how the Valvraves were "used" at first, being simply mascot and stuff, forming a governing with students only, enemies which were exceptionally weak and not forgetting all those "rely-on-Shouko-cheers-and-we'll-win" moments.

While on the verge of that tipping iceberg, it was really fortunate when the series started to climb its way back up with views from the future, more plot developments and more questions were posed. Not forgetting more mecha actions as well, even though the Valvraves did have some disappointing designs, seeing all of them in action in the last few episodes were really appealing for the eyes.

I would say that the 6th episode basically saved the series after Saki took the pilot seat for Camilla and it was the first time where the pilot's abnormal abilities are put to the test. Immediately after that, we see a scene from the future in the next episode where Saki is still seen piloting the Valvrave but with others out of sight. From there on, the series begins to retake it's spot of being one of the better plot designs for this season.

Looking back at the entire series, based on the same author as Code Geass, there are many similarities in terms of the plot design but unique in a way where I'm really interested in seeing how this series would end. Similarly in Code Geass where Lelouch holds the power of the Geass to be able to control a person, Valvrave pilots hold a body-swapping ability which did showed how well it performed when Haruto and L-Elf swapped bodies, that enhanced the piloting ability of Valvrave Unit 01.

It was a pretty ambitious concept as well, when the Module or the school itself wanted to declare independence. As a small module being protected by Valvraves, it was seen at first as a naive move and with the idea of threatening each faction in handing over the Valvrave to the other side, it was purely a simple idea that didn't work out in the end when the Dorssia attacked. Which was rather obvious that the faction wouldn't care if they would just wipe out the entire module and hijack the Valvraves. And just when I thought that a little module that holds the school wouldn't be able to survive the assault of Dorssia, it turns out that Module 77 seems to be a well-armed module after all, with its entire purpose is to serve the Valvraves.

I can still remember how I was disappointed at the very start when it showed the Dorssia soldiers infiltrating the Module and wanted to take over the Valvraves. It was all so "Gundam-like" until the closure came and Haruto boarded the Valvrave and became a vampiric pilot who is immortal. That was when I started seeing this series differently, with pilots possessing similar but abnormal abilities. What I would have wished to see more in the series would be the focus on their abilities. We do know that the Valvrave causes the pilots to become immortal and can swap bodies when they bite someone else and recently, we know that the ability can cause oneself to lose control of his own body. Now this curse can be seen as a plus or minus point depending on how one uses it but I guess it's tipping towards the "curse" side... The unfortunate thing is that this ability, even though it's like the main focus or the story where all pilots lose their humanity, it was not really looked into yet. The only few times I see it being used was to swap bodies for fun, to escape certain situations like the body being trapped and nothing else... Would be great if we could see a more tactical usage of such abilities.

What they had created in Season 1 all seemed like a prologue of what exactly are the Valvraves and their purposed in the world. And what about the beings such as Cain himself, what are the Magius? And what exactly are the AIs of the Valvraves itself, where Unit 01 called out to Unit 02 as her brother. Furthermore with the 2 glimpse into the future where each showing Saki and some talk about the pilots as the founders, I really hope that the 2nd season would be enough to cover all these questions and end with a blast. Which was what happened to Code Geass itself. I mean I wouldn't be surprised if I were to see Haruto die in the end, since all those scene from the future doesn't seem to show Haruto in it. From those scenes, it does seem like the pilots have eternal lives too?

Looking at the Valvraves, I would say that I would personally prefer Unit 01, 05 and 06 which have Haruto, Inuzuka and Akira as pilots respectively. Unit 03 and 04 just doesn't look just as nice, with either multiple hands or multiple spider like legs. Although all those does increase the power and mobility of their units, but having those designs just doesn't look good to me. On first look on Unit 03, with it multiple hands and a focus on them reminds me of STRength from BRS, which they could possibly make the unit have larger and more productive hands rather than just having more of them. Similarly on Unit 04 or Carmilla, where I don't really think the legs should be there just to show that it has more mobility. Even I believe that some sensor or valves would be able to achieve the exact same purpose, without the legs. What looks most normal would be Unit 01 with its Harakiri blade attack, followed by Unit 05 and 06. Oh, and that adds to another question, why only Unit 01 has the Harakiri blade and only it can function after its heat reaches 666? What significance does that number hold and why does the Valvraves stop working after reaching 100? To me, that's quite a downside to the units, a very big downside in fact, since overheating would mean that the unit's a goner. I do have some preference for Unit 06's hacking abilities as well, after all it only appeared for half an episode, which means that we do get to see more in Season 2! :)

For the characters, I would say that I don't really quite like Shouko's personality at the start. Or over-optimistic I would say. Being optimistic is one thing, being overly-optimistic is another. To me, she seems like a person who believes that miracles would happen as long as one wishes for it. And that is one of the main points that to me, pushed me off the series for a while. I mean that's just too cliché? I do know that most series does have this kind of stand, but having it occurred over multiple episodes is just a big no-go. I guess that was pretty much a preview to her own character until near the end where she got devastated and a possible would-be despair once she learns about Saki and Haruto's relationship in the future. It was really painful watching how Shouko was talking to her father and which in order to save the module, her father had to be sacrificed, under the hands of Haruto, who had once vowed to help her reunite with her father. For Shouko, it wasn't a decision she could make and even if she could, there was only one plausible path she would take, which was to save the Module itself. It was a nice touch on showing the different sides of the battle where the others were cheering on the victory of Haruto while Shouko screams in pain as she loses her father. That was really depressing to watch :'( Considering the fact that she's now the prime minister and how much she feels for Haruto, I would believe that one day, she would learn the truth behind Saki and Haruto and also, the truth about her father being killed by Haruto would be exposed. For this series, it would seem that she's one of the female protagonist that is the "despair" type, where she basically can't find her real love and had to entangle with her best friend and love interest killing her father which she had no choice but to stand by and watch the blade fall.

For Haruto, he does have the "Kira Yamato" type of personality, wanting to protect everyone even if sometimes he doesn't seem to have the ability to do so. He boarding the Valvrave in the very first episode was a pretty much rushed idea since that time he only wanted to avenge Shouko whom he thought was dead, but I was pretty much disappointed in how "dilly-dally" he is in his relationship with Shouko. He does know that he himself does have feelings for her but yet still hesitates to confess to her. To him, not being human was the big thing that prevented him from approaching her but really, just because of that reason? I've seen many series that used the exact same reasoning as one side is not human etc. But all turns out just as well, I honestly thought that Haruto and Shouko would be a wonderful couple but damn you author, now all Shouko fans are devastated after seeing what Haruto did to Saki... I guess it was fortunate for Haruto to have L-Elf as his aid, since he would most probably be unable to make proper decisions for himself. Looking at the big picture, the Module's safety was of top priority and if Shouko had called Haruto to tell him that her father was on board, Haruto would definitely abandon the plan without fail. And L-Elf would have prevented that from happening by shooting Shouko dead. It really isn't much of a proper or good thing that happened there, but it was inevitable and based on Haruto himself, the module would have been placed in a large danger if L-Elf wasn't present. The sad thing is that Haruto seems to be over-dependent on L-Elf as well, where every plan he bets on L-Elf's presence and without him, it doesn't seem like he could accomplish anything. Which as the main protagonist, this falls short of his own abilities. L-Elf on the other hand, had rather less screen time after the start, where his position as the strategist merely places him on the back of the battlefield where his combat abilities are not fully utilised. Would've been awesome if he was piloting one of the Valvraves as well, honestly, I really don't think Yamada suits the image of a Valvrave pilot...

As our first female pilot, Rukino Saki does falls short of her own piloting abilities on board the Valvrave. Even though I was pretty surprised over how she manage to learn using the "DRAGOON" like system on her Carmilla and to be able to use them with ease, some basic fundamentals of piloting the Valvrave doesn't seem to quite get to her at first. Based on her personality, what she truly wants is fame, and wanting to live up to her reputation, which was why she approached Haruto in the first place, when Haruto was the center of attention with him piloting the Valvrave. Fortunately, it seems like she changed quite a lot after piloting the Valvrave and working around with others, and it was quite a bad experience to be forced down by Haruto who had lost control but honestly, I was shocked to see her rejecting Haruto's proposal, after all it all seemed quite obvious that she has feelings for him too. Based on the scenes from the future, Saki is seen taking care of a child that looks a little like L-Elf which creates another big puzzle to be fixed in Season 2: who exactly is that kid and where is Haruto? what exactly happened to the world? In fact, the future has nothing similar to what we see now.

All in all, this season seemed to me like only a prelude to what is going to come in the next season. It all feels like the real story has yet to begin and what I've watched for the past weeks were only previews of the real plot itself. Seeing how plot-dependent this series is, I would honestly say that the intro was done well, it was a shaky ride but it was worth it to see through it all.

And without further ado: here's the PV for season 2!




First things first: is that a new uniform I see? :D awesome!

From the PV, a death flag for Haruto seems to be set, most probably regarding the curse of the Valvraves and the Valvraves can change pilots? Maybe that's only possible if the previous pilot dies, or the host of the virus that was injected into them when they sat in the cockpit. And L-Elf wearing back Dorssia's uniform?! Now that would pretty means trouble for the Module (if it still exists) since everyone does seem to be alot of hope onto L-Elf himself. Nonetheless I do hope that the 2nd season will answer all the questions that were left in season 1 and that may the ending be as good as thrilling as Code Geass. Having very high hopes for season 2! :)

Finale is approaching!

Before I touch on the current season's series, apparently I missed out 2 rather interesting new series coming this Summer, so here they are:

Danganronpa The Animation

Based on its synopsis, this story revolves around students of this special school where in order to graduate, they have to commit a murder and not being found as the culprit. But here's the catch, if the killer is discovered by the other students, then the killer will be killed. But if the killer is not found, then the killer will be allowed to graduate whereas the other students will die. Seems kinda similar to Mirai Nikki doesn't it? Where they will only be one survivor left. Anyways, this look extremely promising too, so this series is definitely a go.



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Gatchaman Crowds

This series is like a kinda remake of a 1972 anime and will hold on to the genres of supernatural and action. Where people are suited up and fight against enemies. Seems like a typical action anime but the animation quality does seem good too. Furthermore considering that its a kind of a remake, it may be actually be that good to be remade or a spinoff. So I wouldn't mind giving this a try :)

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I really have to applaud for the author of Maou-sama, for their continuous success in mixing both comedy and action into such a wonderful blend. Honestly speaking, it has been quite some time since I last watched a series that has these both elements in and still turn out extremely entertaining.

The timing that they have to place in puns and small jokes here and there were just perfect and helped to enhanced the show a little more while sticking close to its original genre. The disappointing thing is that sources have labelled this series as a 12 episode series which would mean that the next would be its last. This series definitely has the potential of making a 24/25/26 episode series and I would really be quite sad when this is going to end next week, I mean it's one of the main series I've been looking forward to every week with its hilarious antics which never cease to amuse me.

Some of its notable puns this time round were Maou's indecent pose with his boxers which he is very confident of not breaking apart when he releases his own demon powers. Not forgetting the mark of genius of Emi's slapmark when Maou actually commented on her being overly exposed by the Archangel earlier on. Boy was I surprised when Emi didn't try to do something immediately when Maou told her that, until the next scene arrived with the slapmark and I went "Oh, there it is." :D

I actually quite like the character development of Suzuno which in this case, shows her drifting here and there , in a total dilemma of whether or not to believe that Maou is a kind person after all and not one that she believe back in Ente Isla. And with the sense of sincerity, Suzuno has now officially joined the Maou's side of the team, which ultimately would lead into a good end I suppose. Was pretty impressed when they actually revealed more of Suzuno's past where Maou and the rest had known it long ago when Suzuno just moved in, that she was from Ente Isla. So that was the cause of Ashiya's stomachache... that sacred power...

Now that just left one more episode to go!

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For Gargantia's case, its down to the last 2 episodes to finally wrap things up.

Based on its current plot development, I would say that Gargantia has kinda wasted too much time dwelling on Ledo's adaptation to living on Earth and they should, in the first place, dived right into the secrets of the Hideauze and progress the story from there onwards. What I feel like now its like watching the climax of the plot right near the end and thinking about how they are going to wrap the whole series up in 2 more episodes just makes me worried. This series had a decent storyline for an original series, but just that the planning of plot could be done better... (Shall talk more about this once this series ends)

So basically now Ledo knows about the truth of the Hideauze and while he was still confused over his own course of actions, the 2nd machine caliber has arrived, with his Commander Kugel in Striker, which is a variant of Chamber, perhaps to differentiate between the commanders and the men? It interests me to see what Kugel has actually done to his own fleet, which was the exact thing that Ledo has thought of making the fleet do, where the weak is discarded and the rest will live on according to their own value of contribution. It was Gargantia that changed Ledo but for Kugel, that way of ruling was his own innate set of rules, identical to that of Ledo's. It would seem that Ledo is running away from himself and the truth too but acknowledging to join Kugel and kind of used his reasoning as a shield to block away all the uncertainties that he has on the Hideauze. What Ledo has believed in was that since the Hideauze are humans, it was wrong to kill them and even he felt sick after learning the truth, but that wasn't what Kugel actually sees, which he deems them as not human.

Apparently for Kugel now, they wish to launch an awareness attack which has set its sights on Gargantia and Ledo is definitely surprised since it was the very place that "saved" him and taught him how to live unlike those in space. It wouldn't be surprising to see Ledo change sides at the final battle but it would be interesting to see how they decide to wrap up the whole Hideauze problem.

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Even if Valvrave had a second season, I've just a feeling that it might not be enough to explain the whole plot thoroughly. Even as 11 episodes have passed and a supposedly 12 episodes series for its first, almost nothing is explained yet which I've been waiting patiently for the past 11 episodes. Sure there are hints here and there, but the series just keeps dropping more and more unknown events that are left unexplained.

Remember that time when the future was shown with Saki in the cockpit of Camellia? And the memory of L-Elf and the Dorssian Princess? Nothing has been explained yet.. And what about the whole Module 77 secret? They did explain that the whole module was created for the Valvraves but for what purpose and what are the exact origins of the Valvraves. What have the pilots become? And what exactly is the AI of the Valvrave like? Why does only Unit 01 that Haruto pilots have the special blade move that no other Valvraves have? Questions and more questions...

The latest episode of Valvrave actually took a painful turn for Shouko which I believe will make all Shouko fans wince in pain, after seeing what she had gone through, either knowingly or unknowingly. In the previous episode where Haruto and Saki actually went overboard when Haruto lost control of himself, Shouko had, at the same time, announced that she was going to confess to Haruto but seeing how everything turned up to be a big mess, that "dream" of her's has shattered. With the latest episode, where her father was killed right in front of her eyes, and by all person, it was Haruto who landed the final blow. The whole plan to survive the attack was to use Haruto's Valvrave's Harakiri Blade which would definitely turn the table around by wiping out the opponent units but since Shouko's father was in one of those ships, it was inevitable.

To see Shouko in pain and despair after losing her father who was killed by her best friend whom had vowed to protect her father, it was really a painful moment to watch as the rest of the module cheered for victory whereas Shouko shouted in pain... :'( *damn that L-Elf too, intending to kill her off if she had made the wrong decision... just what is this man thinking?*

The battle however just didn't quite end there with the surprise ambush which was surprisingly not forseen by L-Elf... or is it? O___O Maybe it was all according to plan? Now that I wouldn't be surprised. With the end where Haruto proposed to Saki, which was definitely the right thing to do, I fear for what is to come for Shouko, losing both his father and his possible love interest, in the end it might be just Shouko controlling the whole of Module 77 as its prime minister, turning it into a standalone state and the other valvraves would make another independent state to fight against that? Speculation speculation, but I really wonder what would happen to Shouko when she finally breaks down...

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Another beautiful song by Nami Tamaki: Result

Summer 2013 is arriving!

With only a few more weeks left, the Summer 2013 season will soon take over the mind-boggling, action packed, humorous and eye-opener Spring 2013 that has awed us so far. Leaving the "mecha-era" behind, the Summer season this year is packed with other conventional series and sequels that are long awaited. On first look, the upcoming Summer season doesn't seem to be of a close fight to the Spring season, but honestly, are all the Spring season that good? Its a pity though, since the upcoming Summer charts doesn't even come close.

In Spring 2012 we had the all familiar Accel World, Fate Zero S2, Eureka 7 Ao, Jormungand and Hyouka, while Spring 2011 had Steins;Gate, Kaminomi, C, Anohana, Ao no Exorcist, Hidan no Aria, Denpa Onna... it must be some kind of trend then :)

So here we go! Summer 2013 awaits!

click here to view the entire chart, credits to Neregate.

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So here are the few that caught my attention for the Summer lineup:

Genei wo Kakeru Taiyou

Tarot cards + Mysteries and solving unexplained phenomenons? Do want :D

Awesome OP song by LiSa as well, animation looks pretty unique too, so definitely giving this a go! Not to forget this is an original anime too!

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Monogatari Season 2

Well, well, have been waiting for this for quite some time... Apparently it is said that this 2nd season will focus more of each heroine's individual storyline and explore their own oddities a little more further than what  was done in the 1st season. SHAFT animation, let's go!

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Blood Lad

Seeing how this series is adapted from a manga that is currently still ongoing, I've got a hunch that this series would end somewhere halfway through the whole story and forcing the viewers to transit to its manga instead. Nonetheless, this looks promising in its animation, plot, and music itself, with OP by May'n and it really sounds great. Hopefully this turns out to be good! 

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Inu to Hasami wa Tsukaiyou

A comedy X detective series, with quite a laughable situation that our male protagonist has ended himself in. Not as a person but as a dog. Does have a potential to be the more hilarious series in the season, so why not watch this for some laughs? 

Ore ga INU DAAAAA~

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Kaminomi Season 3

Quite a pity I couldn't find its TV trailer to be out yet, but having been in a run for 2 seasons, I would say I am super looking forward to its 3rd season, with the entrance of the Goddess Arcs. Definitely wouldn't miss this :)

Why not another look at our upcoming heroines this time too :D

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Kamisama no Inai Nichiyoubi

This was the first plot that actually made me very interested to watch, a fantasy-based series where it is said that the humans stopped being born, and the dead stopped dying. And these were the gravekeepers that help to keep the balance of world peace... Now thats where I believe a more large mystery encases this series, in terms of hidden meanings and twists in the plot. Looking forward to this too. 

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Will cover the rest of the ongoing Spring 2013 season next week, so till then!

Over the weeks.

Headed down to Funan Anime Matsuri over the last weekend, I would say that it was kinda like a prelude to Cosfest or an after-event of AFA, since most of the schedule and programmes were similar to that of AFA's.

Shops were the same. Nothing much in particular. The AFA shop makes a return of the madoka movie goods again. While Latendo this time had a pretty small booth, rather limited products too. The other booths were like the cafes and booths selling confectioneries. All in all, it was quite cramp walking in between the shops, area was small, so other than staying for the stage events, I would say that you won't quite enjoy walking around the event area too. I stayed in Rapidculture's shop at Level 5 for most of the time, didn't actually went down to see the activities since it was basically all cramped and hard to walk about... But boy did I heard those screams when Kaname appeared.

So down I went, snapped a few photos and that was all for the whole event. It was rather good as a mini-event in terms of it's activities (if you had missed AFA last year...) but as a event to walk around and have some free space, this wouldn't be the choice though, the event area is truly quite small. And why don't they have WS tables downstairs? Maybe its catered for Kaname since he plays VG? Oh well... :/

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Had a cohesion event over at a chalet last week too.

It was technically a Halo-filled chalet... like literally. The first night when we arrived at the chalet, it was Halo marathon all the way, into the night and into the day. We had teamfights, capturing flags, slayer modes etc, pretty fun playing the old Halo 2 again over on the Xbox. Little did we know that it was actually 5am when we wanted to take a break and sleep for the night... but the night was already gone O_O

Meal times were quite messed up, since we had a buffet the day before and the morning we only managed to catch a wink of sleep at like 5am? Haha, thank goodness there was Laoban to kick start the afternoon off. Thanks for those awesome beancurds! :D

The 2nd day was filled with Halo once again, changing modes etc until the night where the BBQ started. That's when the games started to change to Foosball. And with that, it ended the night.

To those who have ORD-ed: take care and see ya guys around! :)

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Just 2 weeks ago, me and 2 other friends decided to go on a pretty long cycling trip. In short, this time we took the same route as our BMT graduation march, from Changi all the way down to the end of East Coast Park. 

Too bad the end of East Coast wasn't completed yet so we could only catch a glimpse of the Singapore Flyer and MBS but not actually there. 

It was quite a gruelling journey haha, din't have much rest points, and furthermore we started from Pasir Ris, which meant another 6km of extra distance. Well, factoring in the final section that we missed, I guessed it was just nice 24km all the way there. The Changi coastal road was indeed still as boring as ever, just that long straight path down that I even got bored while on the bike, let alone walking. The East Coast portion was much better too, with more sceneries and stuff, but from one end to the other end, it was really tiring... Not to mention it was only a one way trip and we had to make our way back D: 

Thankfully we took a shorter way back via Bedok Reservoir side and that took like half the time we took to get there? 

Really been sometime since I last cycled long distances, was pretty much the slowest of the group throughout the journey but it was indeed enjoyable.

Let's go again some other time! :D

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Looking at general direction where some of the anime series this season is heading, perhaps it was the Shin Sekai Yori's after effect that suddenly spawned two series that had almost the same setting as it had? Well, for those who have yet to watch Shin Sekai, perhaps the recent plot development for Gargantia and MJP might have been surprising, but after experiencing the final conclusion of Shin Sekai, this two didn't come up just as good as it had if it was the first to show the same development.

Let's just start with Gargantia first:

After watching the latest episode, I think I can safely conclude that both the people on Earth and Ledo are living on the same timeframe, just that due to natural disturbances or the lack of it on Earth, that the Hideauze on Earth is less aggressive than the ones that Ledo faces in the federation. 

So what exactly are the Hideauze, or what I expect them to be was the evolution of certain creatures, but no, boy was I shocked to see what they explained the Hideauze to be. Shocked in a way that it immediately reminded me of Shin Sekai Yori...

Yes, the Hideauze are humans of the previous generations. 

Wow. Humans. Now where have I seen this development before...

Based on their history, the humans of the previous generation have decided to evolve themselves into a form where they are able to travel across space and be able to live in vacuum itself. And hence developing the form of the Hideauze to achieve that goal. Which in short, there were 2 factions, the Evolvers and the Continential Union where one supported the "evolution" whereas the other condemns it. Ultimately, it most probably succeeded and that's why Ledo was faced with those menacing creatures out in space while he was still a soldier. Furthermore, Ledo now knows that he probably belongs to the Continential Union

that denies the evolution since from the old videos, the wormhole that was shown does show some resemblance to the ones that Ledo had used in the first episode. Now that remains a question, so what exactly are there Hideauze on Earth? According to the project, the humans, now in the forms of Hideauze, ventures across space to find a suitable home and thats why they took up that form, so are the Hizeauze on Earth the remains of those who were unable to escape Earth? I believe that now Ledo might seriously consider Amy's suggestion since now he realise that what he has been killing and massacring in their breeding ground, were actually humans.

And this final scene of Chamber killing one of the Hideauze that Ledo knows and remembers from the video. A girl. Now that's some plot changing development... 4 more episodes left and I wonder how are they wrap things up. 

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Similarly in MJP, the pilots realise that their own enemies were also humans as well. In this case, the subject of Wulgaru who were once though of as aliens, are now revealed to be humans too, of the previous generations. 

The history behind the Wulgaru, was that they were the "humans" of many many generations ago, and to prevent any more devolution of their species, the Wulgarus decide to spread their seeds or offsprings, to other planets and hope that with their seeds adapting to the new environment, by the time they head over to hunt and kill them, they would be able to obtain "genes" to prevent their own devolution. And for Izuru and the others, they were just one of the few seeds that the Wulgarus have spread and thus, were being hunted down now. Thankfully for them, one of the Wulgaru, Teoria, handed down the technologies of the Wulgaru fighters which were further developed into AHSMB units that the team is using right now. 

Now isn't the setting pretty similar as to the rest? 

What interests me most now is the history behind Izuru and Teoria. From Teoria, what she explains is that she and Izuru were quite close in the past and could almost be called friends, which makes me wonder who exactly is Izuru? Perhaps he is a Wulgaru too? That might clearly be possible since no one actually knows the history behind the pilots as their memories got all wiped out. Wouldn't it be cool if Izuru was actually some prince in the Wulgaru ranks? And hence the name: Majestic Prince? Haha, its all speculations but this series does indeed seems promising. Looking for more mecha actions next time round too! 

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Moving on to Valvrave, this time, we got not 1, but 2 new Valvraves being introduced. With pilots Raizo Yamada, or preferably called "Thunder" and Inuzuka. There was much hinting for the duo to become pilots in some point in time, but just that I wasn't as satisfied with the choice of pilots here. Izunuka is fine, but why Thunder? He does seem pretty out of place as a pilot to me.. Although his Valvrave which uses quite brute force does suit him in some way... 

Seeing how L-Elf plans his attacks really reminds me of Lelouch from Code Geass, but what exactly is he planning to do, since I was wondering why didn't he change the battle plan, while all along knowing that the main force was just a decoy. It does seem that he really wanted the Valvraves to be sortied but for what purpose? Now the only Valvrave left is the purple one, whose pilot is still unknown as of now. It might seem unlikely that Shouko would be piloting one (although I do hope that she does) since she still remains just good enough for background support, but the window is clearly open for L-Elf who might just step into the purple Valvrave and command the team from there. Now wouldn't that be cool? 

I really do find it weird in seeing how the Valvraves are designed. Somehow only Haruto's Valvrave looks the most normal, with the others either having spider legs or spider arms. Inuzuka's Valvrave looks alright as well, but honestly spider arms ... =.= 

The plot is finally picking up the pace right now after L-Elf questions Takumi-sensei, who reveals that the whole of Module 77 was all created for the Valvraves and that almost every adult living in it are soldiers. Well, that was kinda expected seeing how they even have Valvrave fitted catapults and the other weapons that that module has, which just doesn't pass off as a normal civilian city. So now perhaps the revelation of the secret of the Valvraves is inching closer bit by bit and I'm now excited to see the last Valvrave in action!

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Now for some updates on upcoming events:

Cosfest this year would be on 6th and 7th July 2013 @ Downtown East. Finally its coming! :D

and of course: AFA!

This time round, AFA makes a comeback to Suntec City (always loved that place) and would be held over 3 days (which I believe the first day would be a concert day), 8,9,10 November. Can't wait to see the artiste lineup for this year too! :)

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And here's Miku's LIVE @ Kansai with Secret Police. Now that is some dramatic entrance :D

About time :)

Finally, Suisei no Gargantia has made its move, and the main plot is underway, or so it seems. No more alien soldier trying to live in an unknown land, but rather one that is now fulfilling his mission on Earth, away from the Federation. As hinted in the previous episode where Ledo was shocked by a dish that resembled an Hideauze and after encountering with a whalesquid which was detected as a full fledged Hideauze, this has brought the plot up to a different level. Apparently the Hideauze does exist on Earth, but in a somewhat dormant form that has yet to be aggressive. Tensions soon rise after Ledo kills one, which is considered as a sacred creature, and he was threatened at gun point to stop killing the whalesquids or Hideauze as he recognises it. With Chamber's DNA analysis on the whalesquid, it is concluded that it is indeed a Hideauze that Ledo has been fighting back in the Federation. That brings along 2 possible conclusions on what the Hideauze are.

Assuming that the Earth that Ledo has arrived in was at the same timeline as the Federation but just a different place, then it is perfectly normal to think that Hideauze has already invaded various stars along the galaxy and has stayed dormant due to unknown reasons. Like the whalesquids on Earth that does not become offensive until it is provoked. Then that would mean that the Hideauze that the Federation face would be of a different level, either yearning for territorial expansion or it was due to the Federation's provocation. Nonetheless, this would show that the Hideauze seems to be indeed aliens or some weird lifeforms.

Another possibility, which I am more inclined towards, would be that the Federation that Ledo had came from is of a different time and space as Earth. Since we all know travelling through wormholes or simply passing through the fabric of time and space would have the possibility of crossing timelines and perhaps ended up in the past. What I believe is that the Earth that Ledo has arrived in was of the past, since he has already learnt from the Federation that Earth was a goner long ago and was surprised to see it still accommodated with human beings. The Hideauze on the other hand, I would presume that it's some sort of evolution, from squids perhaps? That through the evolution, it becomes more intelligent, more vicious and ultimately become the Hideauze that Ledo is familiar with back in the Federation. This would then make sense since the whalesquid that Ledo has encountered was rather different in terms of offensive capabilities or it could be perhaps all due to different adaptation to the surroundings, but that's provided both are of the same time and space, which I believe it not.

Seeing how Ledo is unable to fulfil his mission of killing the Hideauze and being threatened instead, makes one feel sorry for him. On one end he, as a soldier, was forced to not fulfil his mission and all knowing that the Hideauze will one day evolve and become a creature that will endanger the humans, but the others on the Gargantia does not want to accept this obvious fact. It was pretty stressful for Ami as well since she wants Ledo to stay on the Gargantia but at the same time, knows that if she did, he would be the one suffering as he would not be able to kill the whalesquids, which is still wrong in Ami's eyes. Now Ledo and other salvages have planned to separate from the Gargantia, in hope of unveiling secrets beneath whalesquids's nest, or Hideauze, in Ledo's eye. So this is getting pretty interesting.

I am a soldier!

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 With last week's Shingeki no Kyojin showing how an abnormal Titan attacking the others and hinting that it might be Eren himself, now it has all proven to be right, in a rather unusual way. It almost seems like Eren is "piloting" the Titan, from a "cockpit" at the neck? O_O

And so it seems that Eren was the Titan after all, seeing how it has no interest in humans, have a unique fighting style as though he was trained in an army, and most of all, those eyes does have an uncanny resemblance. I was rather surprised that no one actually suspected that it might be Eren or some other human, since as a third person viewer, this seemed pretty obvious. Nonetheless, the mystery has been solved and as the abnormal Titan falls, up pops out Eren from its neck, all well and alive (so it seems), limbs have all returned and it almost seems like he has regenerated back his body parts. It wouldn't be plausible that time is reversed or like "it didn't happen" since Eren's uniforms were still torn at the limbs which proves the fact that his limbs have merely regenerated, possibly due to the Titan's regenerative capabilities. Now as Eren emerges from the Titan, more questions arise from this weird phenomenon:

1. So does Eren have the ability to transform into a Titan anytime he wishes?
2. What exactly happened to him, since Armin saw him getting eaten up, and even his hand was severed off.
3. Was he consciously controlling the Titan?
4. If humans become Titans under certain circumstances, then are the Titans human or monsters?
5. What exactly are the Titans? Biological weapons? (ok perhaps this is a little far fetched)

Most importantly, we finally got to see more emotions on Mikasa's face, or isit the first time we actually saw some emotions on her face?

P.S. Sasha has some lovable personality too, go Potato Girl!

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Back on Valvrave this week, I would say, the series is finally picking up from where it dropped. Now that is kind of plot development I would love to see. The OP has changed a little now, featuring Saki in her pilot suit. Looking good there!

Finally L-Elf is back in the story, with him threatening to take over the school and almost got his revenge on Haruto if not for the intervention by the Dorssians. I would say that I'm pretty disappointed at how Saki pilots her Carmelia, since she almost gets into a pinch whenever she gets entangled in a fight. I'm even more disappointed for the Dorssian's performance so far, with every attempt at the Valvraves having failed, badly. Somehow just watching them gives me the feel that they seem to be a little like Team Rocket. Brings in some new weaponry, gets defeated and retreats. Kinda similar don't you think?

Leaving that aside, I am rather impressed by the collaboration between L-Elf and Haruto. So the vampiric power that Haruto has can now finally be put into a much more proper use, when his own body is stuck by the metal beam. It would seem too that L-Elf can indeed be a rather good Valvrave pilot since his innate abilities are retained even when Haruto takes over his body and the Valvrave indeed works much better with him in the cockpit. Pretty interesting predictions pasted on the cockpit too, what exactly gives L-Elf his premonition power?

The writer for this series really doesn't mind how much our main protagonist gets injured since he's like immortal. And in just 1 episode itself, he gets bullets everywhere in his body, doesn't die, stands up and later gets pinned down by metal beams, and still doesn't dies. Kinda rare to see any protagonist getting "killed" that badly anywhere else too.

What came the most unexpected was Aina's death. I honestly didn't expect her death flag over at this episode, just that there was more interactions of her with Haruto which made me feel kinda weird, thinking that she might be a pilot for another Valvrave, seeing how she arrived at the dock near the end, only to be caught in a crossfire and dies (or so it seems). Aina does have pretty little character development and for this particular episode, she finally had more screentime, but ultimately dies at the end, so it feels more like a emotional impact for the rest of the students, but rather less on the viewers.

The most interesting part of the episode was with the prologue, where we actually see Saki piloting Carmelia, fighting some unknown enemy at a time which is said to be 200 years into the future. Carmelia does seem pretty "rusted" here and there, but what confuses me is the heating system of the Valvrave, I thought when the Valvrave overheats, it will release somesort of energy? Then why did Saki cooled her machine down? Furthermore, 200 years into the future and she hasn't aged? This hints that perhaps the Valvrave pilots can live for eternity. What exactly happened in the future? What is this promise that Saki is talking about? Now I can't wait to know :)

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pretty interesting remake of the Titan's invasion. pretty amusing, that chitanda sneeze, omg >:D

The real deal begins now!

For most of the series, the first introduction arc has come to a close and this is where the series starts to head into a more upfront plot development. Which in most cases, are good and some remain debatable.

I guess the biggest plot escalation this time remains with Shingeki no Kyojin. After airing for 6 episodes, our main protagonist, Eren Jaeger, loses his life while saving his friend Armin from the Titan, and so it had seemed to be. For non-manga readers like me, I guess the latest episode was pretty intense for the viewers, and along with the action scenes, come an even more surprising development. Shocking I would say.

Eren Jaeger?!

Upfront, it is shown that Mikasa had just been protected by a Titan who appeared and began slaughtering other Titans using basic hand to hand combat with the strength equivalent to an abnormality. That uncanny appearance of the Titan and its eyes, hair, actions, all remind me of Eren himself. So here's the rather obvious development that this has shown. Apparently it seems like Eren has become a Titan himself?!

With that it implies the possibility that the Titans were previously humans as well. The Titan phenomenon could be a mutation of certain beings that result in Titans being born and when humans die to the Titans, they are reborn as Titans instead and bearing the pain and suffering, they let their feelings out by taking on the humans. This could thus be the reason why the Titans have started emerging from nowhere and have multiplied over time, as they continue to consume more humans over time, which thus give birth to more Titans? This could be a possible hypothesis on the secret of the Titans itself. For the abnormalities, they might have been born from humans who have unique characteristics and had got eaten by the Titans. This is just my speculation since I've not read the manga and I do say that this series is getting more interesting as the episodes go by.

Seeing how the OP and ED still has many "Eren footages", I wouldn't think that he would just disappear or remain as a Titan until he is killed which makes me even more curious in thinking how the process can be reversed or how they would explain Eren's survival even after getting eaten by a Titan.

Oh, and Mikasa's a real badass leader too. A cool, strong and composed leader. A pity she wasn't with Eren when his squad was taken out. Really do like their concept of their equipments too. A gas propelled mechanism coupled with spare blades like how you would actually fix a penknife when it gets blunt. Seems almost perfectly possible to recreate that technology in modern times. Looking forward to more actions next week!

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With most of the humour aside in Majestic Prince, the pilots have finally graduated from their school and have become fully trained and recognised pilots of the AHSMB. And finally, more are actually revealed about the enemies that they have been fighting against, the Wulgaru. It does seem that they are humans too, or at least their physical appearance are that of a human, with perhaps more advanced technology than the other humans possess. And that only recently that the AHSMB is able to keep up with their technology and weapons.

Nothing is revealed yet about the Wulgaru's goals and aims or what they are trying to achieve other than the more common world domination, and looking at the JURIA system, I've got a feeling its more than just a basic system for the AHSMB to function. The pink haired girl has not made much appearance over the past couple of episodes but the possibility of her being a Wulgaru is indeed quite high, seeing how the other Wulgarus look perfectly human to me. The mysterious pilot of the Wulgaru fleet that destroyed the satellites the previous time Izuru and the others were trying to put up and it seems that he's the prince of the Wulgaru's leading family but however it doesn't seem like he yearns to battle a lot so perhaps he does share a little thought about the ongoing war?

Nonetheless, I believe the school and all those other students's interactions are all history now and here is where the real story begin, the 5 AHSMB units against the Wulgaru fleet. With small bits of humour here and there to liven up the atmosphere in this soon-to-be, or believed-to-be mecha action series, no doubt this too, is getting better.

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I didn't think I'll actually start talking about Date A Live, but the latest episode has definitely bring out a rather interesting plot twister here and there. Firstly, it is the first time a Spirit has actually declared that she was one, openly, without fear that she might be hunted down by the AST. She didn't even wait for Shido to make his move to capture her heart and instead, she made her first move on him 1st. This is rather surprising since she was later revealed that she was an extremely dangerous spirit that has already claimed the lives of many humans out there. And that girl in question is Kurumi Tokisaki or codename Nightmare.

Little is known about her abilities and no doubt she has quite an interesting left eye, with some sort of clock ticking as her pupil. From the OP, she was the Spirit that actually made this series look rather cool as there's is always this creepy and mysterious feel around her. Not just a new Spirit has arrived, but apparently, a girl called Mana claiming to be Shido's blood-related younger sister has come into contact with Shido once again. Which later brings me to think that Kotori was indeed a Spirit after all? Similarly in the OP, she does seem to be one of the silhouettes in the beginning, hinting that she might be a spirit after all. This is further reinforced by how Shido was able to revive himself after he got shot by Origami which might have been Kotori's ability all along. Nothing much has been revealed on Kotori's past as of now, but the possibility of  her being a Spirit isn't zero.

Moving back to Kurumi, it does seem that she has set her sight on Shido, or some power within him, that she yearns to get and had got herself closer to Shido as a result. What was surprising was how she still survived Mana's attack after her head got cut off by Mana's AST's equipments and still manage to return to school the following day. With her left eye being a mini clock, I suspect her ability has something to do with turning back time or some sort, or I wouldn't quite understand how she would be able to survive all those attacks. It is interesting to see finally a Spirit that has her own will to devour humans openly and a mysterious one to boot. Would be enjoyable to see how this goes on.

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 And this time, back again to Valvrave's development. For a moment, I did thought that this actually had some hope left, or a glimpse of hope to be exact. Well, before anything, I would say that I was pretty disappointed in seeing how the 2nd Valvrave's design turned out to be. Come on... spider legs? =.=

I actually did like the fast paced portion of the latest episode, from Saki yearning the powers of the Valvrave (or the vampire powers to be exact) and the exploitation of such ability. To her, being famous was everything, which was perhaps due to her family background that forces her to be famous even at a level where merely an Idol wasn't enough. And without a second thought, she became a pilot of the 2nd Valvrave and tested her own power of transferring bodies on Haruto. All that actually gave the series a more "complete" view since the main point which brought me to watch this series was the unique power that the Valvrave pilots each possess and the true secret of the Valvrave system itself. And seeing how someone like Rukino Saki, actually already started to exploit such powers, makes the episode much much more enjoyable than the others.

And also there were finally some action by the Valvraves this time round, other than just Haruto flying around, making it seems like a mascot rather than a fighting machine. It was quick to stamp out the idea of using the Valvrave as a hostage as Dorssia soon began its attack on Module 77, easily killing the Senator of ARUS and lead an attack on the module itself. Thankfully with the 2nd Valvrave in action, Saki was able to clear most of the enemies away with her sickening controls of her "dragoon-like" weapon discs.

This thus brings me to think, where exactly does Haruto and Saki learns to pilot the Valvraves?

It could be understandable for Haruto after all it was a close combat unit and basic flying and slicing might be easy to grasp for someone with aptitude, but for Saki's Valvrave, which involves crucial and fast controlling of her detachable discs, it is almost impossible to think that it was the first time she was piloting the Valvrave. It was hinted that their school might have been prepared for the Valvraves and perhaps the students were all genetically coded to passively know how to pilot one and to be accepted by the Valvrave?

For a moment too, when Saki was feeling fear (which actually finally made sense for once) and Haruto was getting himself whipped by the Dorssia army, I thought that Shouko would be getting into another Valvrave and helping the two out. But nope, she decides to cheer them on. Yup. Cheering. I would definitely agree that she's a hard core optimist that believes in miracles and on small things that can affect the rest. It is an alright personality but too much of that makes her more irritating as compared to the rest. Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if Shouko was another pilot for the Valvraves (there are 3 more left) and what exactly is L-Elf planning? He could easily just get into one of the remaining Valvraves but nope, he didn't. Now that's just weird.

Not too bad as a pilot eh. :)

Not so sure about the target audience of this series is now but it really seems way too overboard with all the cliché moments: "when you are in a quarrel, sing and everything would be fine". or "you're losing? come on, we'll cheer you on". perhaps it's just me but these are literal examples of how the series is spoiled. Who knows, this might just be the turning point of the series that literally went downhill after the first episode.

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Ginga Kikoutai Majestic Prince - Watashi wa Souzou Suru