A Whisker Away

Hey guys!

Today I thought I would write my thoughts on a show on Netflix called A Whisker Away, which I watched recently. This is interesting because from the title alone, you probably wouldn’t have the slightest clue what this would be about. But if you read it in its Japanese title, you know you can expect it to be mellow as it is literally “Wanting to Cry, I Pretend to Be a Cat” (泣きたい私は猫をかぶる). What could this story possibly be about??

Sasaki Miyo seems like your average high school girl. If you saw her around outside or in school, you wouldn’t think there was anything wrong, except that she was a little weird. She spends most of her time in school chasing after her crush, Hinode Kento persistently although her feelings go unreciprocated. Unknown to most people, Miyo is unhappy with her life as her mother abandoned her at a young age and she now has to live with her father and stepmother.

One day when she wanders off on her own at a festival, she comes across a mysterious mask seller who sells her a cat mask, known as a Nō which is able to transform her into a cat when she puts it on. As a cat, Miyo frequently visits Hinode at his house and spends long hours with him as she watches him go about his activities and he tells her about his troubles. Although Miyo longs to tell Hinode that the cat he loves and the girl he hates are the same person, she is unable to do it out of fear of rejection.

Things come to a head when Miyo’s problems regarding her parents and a rejection from Hinode reach her breaking limit. She runs away from home, deciding that it’s better to live as a cat than as herself due to the pain. At the moment of her decision, her human face falls off and the mysterious mask seller turns up to collect it, saying that now that she has decided that she does not want to be human, she will soon turn into a cat permanently. It’s time for Miyo to really think if despite all her problems, it is still worth living.

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Putting myself in Miyo’s shoes, I think anyone would have easily felt the way she did as her life was in such a mess. She felt abandoned by her mother, isolated from her father and stepmother and was rejected from the guy whom she wanted acceptance from the most. On top of that, she could unconditionally receive acceptance from Hinode if she was a cat. There were clearly more pros to being a cat than staying as a human. Or was there?

I came across this word while scrolling through Facebook the other day and it piqued my interest.

Ikigai, which means “a reason for being”, is used to refer to having a direction or purpose in life, that which makes one’s life worthwhile. It seemed that while Miyo was fine in putting up with her family’s circumstances (even if it means putting on a facade), her ikigai was dependent on Hinode because that’s what made her look forward to the next day. In addition, the thought of winning him over made life worth living despite it being dreadful. While you don’t expect teenagers that age to have a meaningful purpose in life yet, we get to see exactly why it is dangerous to place your purpose of existence on someone else. I think that’s the beauty of this show, because it explores such a deep question: what are you living for?

No matter how bleak the outlook seems, there is always something worth living for because here’s the reality: all things will pass, good and bad. Although our pain now may seem endless and the problems enduring, if we anchor ourselves to something stable, stay positive and keep moving forward, we will eventually move past the obstacle that we thought we couldn’t climb. Miyo sort of realises this too, albeit a little late when she’s on the brink of turning into a cat permanently as she realises that if she does turn into a cat, she will never be able to see Hinode again and fix her relationship with her family. She learns that life is still worth living despite its downs because you can always try again and again. Of course, she and Hinode eventually get together in a bit of unrealistic fashion (Hinode confesses that he doesn’t hate her but that doesn’t mean he likes her romantically either y’know?) and she manages to fix all her relationships with the people around her.

Still, I was rather surprised by the story and at how much I liked it despite it being a little predictable. The art is captivating at certain moments and the emotions portrayed are raw and real because the problems Miyo face and how she deals with them are relatable. Most of all, the message of the story is clear: life may not be perfect, but it is always worth living.

So, what are you living for?

Noragami

Hey guys, welcome back to another anime review, something I haven’t done in a long time. Funny how this blog is starting to shift towards shounen content but I promise that this isn’t indicative of it becoming a shounen review blog.

I’ve been watching Noragami recently and although I’ve heard about the buzz it generated back when it first came out, I didn’t feel compelled to watch it until now. I know the reason why too. It’s because even though Noragami is a good enough shounen to watch, it didn’t feel as epic as some other shounen stories where the fighting is intense and the story universe is complex but compelling enough that you’d want to stick around.

In case you’re new to the story, here’s a quick gist of the story. Noragami is about a god named Yato who used to be a God of Calamity, born out of human wishes. Unlike other gods that are enduring and have their own shrines, Yato doesn’t have one and can cease to exist once there are no more believers in him. His fate soon intertwines with a high school girl named Hiyori who gains the ability to slip her soul out of her body due to an accident. Wanting Yato to fix her condition, Hiyori is tied to Yato and becomes an invaluable friend to him as the story goes on. The two are also joined by a Regalia (AKA shinki) that Yato takes on, giving him the name Yukine. The story is pushed forward mostly with regards to Yato’s past, as well as his current relationships with others.

Without giving away too much, I would say that Noragami is enjoyable enough to watch. I found myself curious about Yato’s past, the dynamics of being a shinki, as well as the relationship between Yato and Hiyori. However, what’s missing from the story and stops me from advocating that everyone should watch this series is possibly a clear drive from our main character. Something that the viewers can easily get behind, accept and support in order to have a strong emotional connection to him or her. For example, Naruto’s drive to become the Hokage (Naruto) or Tanjiro’s drive to do everything he must in order to find a cure for Nezuko (Demon Slayer). Such single-minded traits are tried and tested hallmarks of a good shounen story.

Yato does have a clear drive though – he aims to become a revered god that is recognised by humans and eventually have a shrine built for him. In fact, most of his time and energy is spent on getting his name out there by doing odd jobs for desperate people. But somehow or another, it doesn’t feel resolute or rather, strong enough for me to fully get on board with it. Maybe it’s because I feel that Yato is quite a mysterious character and because he’s not a simple person, it’s difficult to get on board when his motivations are unclear. In addition, Yato doesn’t speak his mind often on things that actually matter, which inevitably frustrates the people around him, myself included. I’m hoping that the story picks up now that I’m going to switch over to the manga from the anime as I felt that the story arcs so far were interesting but just barely managed to sustained my interest.

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Although Yato provides most of the comedic moments, which come from him acting childish or arrogant (which I didn’t find very funny actually), I’m more interested to see his real serious self because that’s when I find him truly compelling. It’s those moments that I find myself sitting up a little straighter in my seat and really glued to the screen. It helps that Kamiya Hiroshi is the seiyuu behind the voice of Yato because he has this alluring voice that pricks up your ears when you hear him speak.

I won’t comment too much on Yukine and Hiyori because I didn’t think too much of their characters. I like that Yukine learns from his mistakes and strives to become better in order to live out his duty as an exemplary Regalia and that Hiyori grounds the two guys by being a constant pillar of support but that’s about it.

Would I rewatch Noragami? No, I don’t think so because even on an animation level, I didn’t find the fighting scenes very artistic or visually compelling to watch. The story pacing is also kind of slow and I sometimes felt that too much screen time was given to situations that didn’t need it. But as I said earlier, I’ll be continuing the story in the manga as I’m curious about Yato’s past. Hopefully, it’ll be one to exceed my expectations.

Character Review: Agatsuma Zenitsu

Hey guys!

So I thought I’d do something a little different today. I get inspired by really random things that strike me as and when they come. So as I was reflecting on myself, my personality, and character, I was reminded that I am actually similar to Agatsuma Zenitsu from Demon Slayer.

Here’s the ironic thing though. While I was watching Demon Slayer, I really didn’t like Zenitsu. You see, he spends a good amount of time during his scenes whining and wailing about the dangers he is about to face. At one point, he even hides behind a young boy to protect himself from a Demon. That was truly a wtf moment and I thought to myself – even if was afraid of facing the Demon, he shouldn’t have hidden behind someone that was weaker than him and stood no fighting chance at all against it. You just don’t do that.

And just when you thought that Zenitsu would man up during the Natagumo Mountain Arc, he doesn’t and wails constantly about being afraid until he gets ignored and left behind by Tanjiro and Inosuke. He doesn’t move a muscle until he realises that his crush (Nezuko) had been taken into the forest along with Tanjiro and subsequently charges in without much thought.

Seeing the way Zenitsu was, I found myself really annoyed by him. Kinda like, hey you’re a Demon Slayer right and you signed up for this so you should’ve expected just as much when it came to your assignments. But when I took a step back and some time to reflect on his character, I realised that I could have been Zenitsu too. We all could have been. Because unlike his friends and most of the other Demon Slayers, Zenitsu didn’t become a Demon Slayer because he wanted to. He didn’t have a tragic past like Tanjiro (who had his whole family killed and his sister turned into a Demon) or Inosuke (who believed that he was abandoned by his mother until it was revealed that she was actually killed by Douma while trying to save him) that he could use as motivation to spur him on to kill Demons.

Zenitsu was really just a normal boy. A normal boy who somehow found himself in this position of being a Demon Slayer and therefore in this situation to kill Demons as he is told. Through his character, we can realise and be reminded of the Demon Slayers’ humanity. It’s easy to forget because all of them are so damn OP (overpowered) and they basically almost never show signs of fear in the face of danger. But Zenitsu is a gem because he’s not like them. Being OP and fearless is not the norm as it’s portrayed out to be. In fact, Zenitsu is more human than them because of his rational fear and natural instinct of self-preservation (to run LOL).

If I was in his shoes, I think I would be terrified too. I think anyone would be unless they had a clear reason for being a Demon Slayer.

Zenitsu also has low self-esteem. He constantly thinks he’s a useless burden on others and doesn’t think that he has the potential to do great things like his friends. Can you really blame the guy when his friends are so talented and OP though? The fact that he’s only learned the First Form of the Thunder Breath despite there being six forms and that he’s constantly being surrounded by talented people who are constantly progressing at a fast rate, you can understand where the low self-esteem is coming from.

To translate into simpler words, he showed an ineptitude for fighting – meaning he was just an average student and the people around him comprised of brilliant people who had more drive and aptitude than him. Considering these two facts, his low self-esteem becomes understandable and we are able to see his self-pity in a new light.

However, despite all of Zenitsu’s weaknesses, what is most admirable about him is his ability to push himself to do his best so as to not disappoint those who believe in him. This is an important trait because it shows that despite our fears and insecurities about ourselves and our abilities, we are able to overcome them if we have something to protect beyond ourselves. And we are only able to become more than ourselves if we live for others.

To protect the faith that his master had in him (and any innocent citizens in the vicinity), Zenitsu was able to become more than his fears and weaknesses and by the end of the series, you get to see his exponential growth in his fight against Kaigaku. By this fight, Zenitsu is no longer the whiny, weepy boy that we once knew in the Drum House Arc and he boldly fights Kaigaku to avenge his master. He even talks back to him in the beginning, no longer the scared, junior apprentice. I think that this growth is significant and worthy of praise. It’s a shame that he tends to get overlooked and overshadowed by the more outstanding characters. But Zenitsu’s a true gem of a character and I’m glad that such a character like him was in this story. It’s important to showcase the humanness of humanity in a story whereby it’s possible for people to lose it when they become literally inhuman.

That’s all for today, I hope you enjoyed reading my character review of Zenitsu. What are your thoughts on him? What did you think of his character amidst the other super OP characters? What did you think of his character growth? Let me know!

Perfect World (Aruga Rie)

Hey guys, welcome to my first recap / review in four years!

It’s been a while since I did a long-form review so I may be a little rusty and long-winded. But let’s get to it!

If you haven’t read the story yet, just a heads up that there will be spoilers.

The genres of Perfect World are Josei, Drama, Slice of Life and Romance.

Kawana Tsugumi and Ayukawa Itsuki were high school schoolmates, with her having an unrequited love for him back in the day. When the time came for them to graduate, Tsugumi failed to confess her feelings to Itsuki because another girl had already beaten her to it and became his girlfriend. Years passed and now as adults, the two meet again at work. Seeing Itsuki again stirs feelings towards her old love but Itsuki is not the same as before, for he is now permanently disabled, unable to walk and confined to moving around in a wheelchair.

Although shocked at first, Tsugumi wrestles with herself over the possibility of a future with Itsuki as it goes without saying that being together with a disabled person would come with many challenges. Itsuki knows this himself too and has already resigned himself to being alone for the rest of his life. However, the more time he spends together with Tsugumi and her warmth, he finds himself falling in love with her too. The two start dating around chapter 4 and for a while, things are sweet and starting to look optimistic for them.

But much as we would like to live in a fantasy, reality comes back to ground us.

Although he is happy with his new relationship with Tsugumi, Itsuki becomes painfully aware of how much he has lost and how much he is unable to do for her due to his disability. Tsugumi, on the other hand, has to deal with her parents who vehemently oppose their relationship because they want her to have a normal dating relationship and be happy. To be honest, we get where they are coming from and can’t really blame them for thinking that way. True and soon enough, Itsuki’s injury acts up, which requires him to make a few trips to the hospital. Wanting to be a reliable support for him that is capable of looking after him, Tsugumi begins to visit him every day after work to help him with his needs. Although he knows that she is pushing herself, Tsugumi denies it in order to work her way to become a competent girlfriend and caregiver.

Things come to a head when fatigue finally catches up to her and she falls on to the train tracks right in front of Itsuki’s eyes. Matters are made worse when Itsuki is unable to do anything to save her and is even turned away as a guardian to follow her in the ambulance due to his wheelchair – a cold reminder re-emphasising of his inability to do many things for her.

Tsugumi ends up in hospital where her parents come to look after her. Shaken by the incident, Tsugumi’s father calls Itsuki out with a harsh plea and requests that he break up with his daughter for the sake of her happiness. After Tsugumi recovers from her injury, Itsuki takes her out on a date and drops the bomb on her, requesting to break up. Seeing his pain and how difficult their relationship would be on the people around them, Tsugumi agrees. Subsequently, Tsugumi also quits her job and moves back to Matsumoto, leaving Itsuki behind in Tokyo.

During this period of time, Tsugumi attempts to move on by dating another high school schoolmate, Koreda who had a huge crush on her since high school while Itsuki’s nurse, who had developed feelings for him, enjoyed the role of being his sole caregiver now that her competition was out of the way.

While back in Matsumoto, Tsugumi encounters a couple that is similar to her and Itsuki. Seeing this couple, Keigo and Kaede face similar struggles in their relationship is almost like a reflection of herself and Itsuki and through them, Tsugumi slowly learns to piece herself back together again. And as fate would have it, she and Itsuki end up working together again for the benefit of Keigo and Kaede, which leads to the gradual rekindling of their feelings for one another.

Despite both trying their utmost best not to betray their current partners and their guilt over their failings during their relationship, they are unable to deny their feelings for one another. After all, they didn’t break up because they didn’t love each other anymore, but because they were “forced” to by circumstances. Tsugumi finally comes to a decision and ultimately chooses Itsuki over Koreda. But the storm is not over yet and the two have one final obstacle to cross – Tsugumi’s father.

Knowing that facing him cannot be avoided, Itsuki takes it in his stride and diligently visits him in the hospital day after day despite the inconvenience that it causes him. Her father eventually relents to speak to him, but it is to implore him to leave his daughter and say that he is unable to give them his blessings. In a heartbreaking scene that follows, Itsuki questions if he is deserving of the right to love and be loved in return to Tsugumi, who affirms him of her love.

When her father’s condition takes a turn for the worse and he tethers on the brink of death, Tsugumi is consoled by Itsuki at his bedside, which doesn’t go unnoticed by him. Realising that Itsuki loves his daughter dearly and would do anything in his power to help her in her time of need, he manages to tough out the critical period and regain some of his health. Some time later, he speaks with Itsuki again but this time, he asks for his forgiveness and sincerely gives him his blessing to be with Tsugumi.

Finally having her father’s approval, Itsuki proposes to Tsugumi and the two get married, full of hopes for the future.

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MY THOUGHTS

I loved this story.

It’s hard to find another gem of a story that touches on real-world problems and portrays it with accuracy. The author has a way of making you walk with Tsugumi and experience the emotions she goes through with every new revelation that she learns about Itsuki and the things that he has to face every day. The shock that Tsugumi experiences at the beginning of the story at the prospect of being together with a disabled person, as well as the little shocks of revelations on what it means to care for one were all keenly felt. The scales of delusion couldn’t fall away from our eyes faster. If she / you had thought that caring for a disabled person wasn’t a big deal at the start, that delusion disappeared faster than it came. Suddenly, she was learning of his medical complications and what was expected of her as a caregiver. Reality is harsh. But I don’t blame her.

As Tsugumi started visiting Itsuki every day to care for him until she pushed herself to the point of exhaustion in order to prove to herself and everyone else that she was a competent girlfriend and caregiver, I felt so very sorry for her. While Tsugumi wrestled with her insecurity regarding her competence and lamented about it, Itsuki blamed himself for being a burden and for being unable to help her. This dynamic is the reality of the nature of their relationship right there. Although Tsugumi takes her accident as just an accident and expresses her optimism at their future, Itsuki is burdened with the possibility of destroying her future and coupled with her parents’ disapproval, he breaks up with her with the reason that it is for the benefit of both of them. Such is the reality of a disabled person and the prejudice he / she has to face from society. The worst thing is, you can empathise with them but if you put yourself in the shoes of Tsugumi’s parents, you would want the best for your daughter too and not have her narrow her path to so many possibilities when she has a bright future ahead. This smacks you right in the face and makes you question yourself on whether you’re being a hypocrite.

Again, reality is harsh. Reality is not fair. But it is what it is.

Now on to the side characters, Koreda and Nagasawa (Itsuki’s nurse). I liked Koreda. Throughout the story, he sincerely loved Tsugumi and although he knew that she had lingering feelings towards Itsuki and was wary of him, he never treated his competition badly. He saw him as an equal opponent and never took advantage of the fact that he was the better choice. For that reason, he was way better than Tsugumi’s competition, Nagasawa. When Nagasawa was first introduced, she wasn’t introduced in a good way too and was quite clearly identified as “the bitch competition” from the start. Although she serves a key purpose in the story as Tsugumi’s wake up call to reality, I didn’t like her character very much, even at the end. I guess sometimes you just need bitches in your life to wake you up so that would be doing you a favour right?

I wish there were more stories like this one. Although I still enjoy reading unrealistic, fairytale-like shoujo stories as an escape, I am starting to like more reality-grounded stories that explore issues that people don’t often talk about now that I’m older. After reading Perfect World, I realised that the other story that made me feel the same while reading it was Koizora, which was actually based on a real-life story of its author. I reviewed it back in 2014 so if you’re curious about it you can have a read here.

Please drop me some recommendations on similar manga if you have any! I’d love to hear from you guys and read your suggestions!

Until the next review, stay safe and stay happy!

Hey there friends, I’m back! Sort of.

Hey guys!

So after a four year hiatus, I’m finally back! Sort of.

Let me explain.

After I started up my Instagram page, it became a medium that was more convenient for me to blog on the go on a daily basis. In order to accommodate my increasingly busy life, I eventually migrated to it completely, inadvertently abandoning this blog. But I never truly forgot about it because from time to time, there would be the occasional email from WordPress notifying me of a new comment from someone. Somewhere at the back of my mind, I knew that I wanted to come back to long-form blogging but I couldn’t find it in me to come back.

What would I write about? What if I don’t have the time to consistently get a post out every week again? Please understand that four years ago, I had more time on my hands as a student and that dream occupation (a student) is no longer an option to me now. I put off coming back to blogging and even considered deleting it completely. But then when I went back to read the comments my readers have left for me and scrolled through the posts that I’ve written over the years, I realised that I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t delete what I had built up.

And then I also remembered just how much I enjoyed writing and why I started this in the first place. I really simply just enjoyed writing my way in my own little space of the Internet. It didn’t matter if not many people saw it or took notice of it. I just enjoyed sharing what I loved and knew with others.

In addition, after attending a virtual writing webinar last night, as I was listening to the speaker talk about finding your voice and how to keep writing, I was brought back to this thought of coming back that was always at the back of my mind.

“Why don’t you start writing again?”, it said. “You can always start again.”

And so, rolling up my imaginary sleeves, I decided to log into my old WordPress account, not sure where I was going to start. Upon return, I had a few areas that I was interested in and wanted to revive. They were:

1. A place where I could dump my short stories born out of my dreams
2. A place where I could write about my faith
3. My primary site – the review blog formerly known as wordsofconfession

To my surprise, I realised that I already had sites for the first two areas! That gave me a huge motivation to restart my writing gears again.

So although I’m back in the blogosphere, I can’t promise that you’ll get a post from me every week. Heck, it might be a fortnightly thing or even a monthly thing. But I can promise you that I’ll do my best to continue to give you my genuine, honest opinions and reactions on everything that I write. Basically, I’m here to be your fellow Japanese culture geek / fangirl. And I hope that sits just fine with you.

If you’re new here, then welcome! I warmly welcome you to take a look around and spend some time here with a drink in your hand because I like to tell narratives – which means I can be kinda long-winded (sorry) haha. You’ll find that most of the content here is of the shoujo genre because that’s my favourite genre. However, it’s not all shoujo because I branch out into shounen, seinen and josei genres as well. So I hope you like the mix of genres that I cover and if you happen to have the same taste as well, please feel free to reach out to me!

If you’ve been around for a long time, since the early days of this blog and you’re still here, I only have one thing to say to you.

I’m home.

Or, to say it in the appropriate context of this blog, tadaima (ただいま).

 

Heroine Shikkaku (Live-Action)

Hey guys!

Last month when I went on holiday to Japan, I had the opportunity to choose from a whole selection of Japanese movies in the in-flight entertainment system on the way there and back. To my surprise, I found Heroine Shikkaku there! I’ve been wanting to watch it ever since I discovered its existence during AFA 2015 so here was one great opportunity since it’s really hard to obtain Japanese movies in English subtitles.

I’m not going to delve too much into the story because I’ve already reviewed Heroine Shikkaku back in 2014. You can click here to read my original thoughts and reflections of the story when I first read it but here’s a brief summary anyway!

Heroine Shikkaku follows protagonist Matsuzaki Hatori as she chases her childhood love in high school. Hatori has an interesting view of the people around her, seeing herself as the “Heroine” of the story and her childhood friend and crush Terasaka Rita as the “Hero” while everyone else as “Calefare” or “Supporting Characters”. As she is Rita’s childhood friend, she believes that she will get him one day and that it is destined to be.

However, things do not go as planned out in her head and when Rita saves a nerdy-looking girl in their class from being picked on by some bullies, the girl becomes infatuated with him and confesses to him shortly after. Finding no reason why he shouldn’t date her, Rita agrees to go out with the girl, named Adachi.

Shocked at the sudden turn of events that she had never taken into account before, Hatori begins to experience heartbreak and with encouragement from her stoic but wise best friend Nakajima, she begins to work on winning back Rita’s heart.

But things aren’t so easy when Adachi begins to become prettier from being with Rita. And to top it off, the school’s pretty boy has taken a keen interest in Hatori and has his eyes set on her. Things have only just gotten a lot messier and complicated than it should have.

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I have absolutely no complaints about the story itself because no matter how ridiculous it did seem later on, I really liked how the premise of the story was. I even remember writing a short post on it after reading its first few chapters, thinking to myself, “Wow, this is amazing, it is so relatable” because who hasn’t had a longtime-crush who was taken away from us right under our noses because we were too shy to confess? Everyone okay, EVERYONE.

Whether the live-action adaptation stuck closely and faithfully to the storyline of the manga, according to my current memory, I’ll say it did 70% of the time. Which is not too bad, really. Plus, Heroine Shikkaku was highly enjoyable to watch.

First, I want to give high praise to Kiritani Mirei, who was spot on on Hatori’s reactions, expressions – everything. When she was miserable and crying over Rita, I felt my heart break as well. When she was mean and snobbish to Adachi, I even felt like siding with her. To imitate Hatori in the manga, Kiritani Mirei had some exaggerated expressions to do and I didn’t think the movie would actually include this little detail in but her exaggerated expressions were HILARIOUS. She was absolutely a darling to watch, so funny and dear. I am pleased and satisfied to say that she was the right choice to play Hatori, without a doubt.

As for Yamazaki Kento. Haha. I’m a teensy bit annoyed with the producers for this: I know that he has a pretty face and I really do like him BUT WHY IS HE BEING CAST IN ALL THE RECENT WELL-KNOWN SHOUJO LIVE-ACTION ADAPTATIONS? Is there like, nobody else to play those other well-loved male protagonists? As of now, Yamazaki Kento has these shoujo live-action adaptations on his slate: L-DK, Orange, Ookami Shoujo to Kuro Ouji, Heroine Shikkaku, Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso and in all of these, he’s the male protagonist. Guh. I don’t hate Yamazaki Kento, in fact, I like him but this is just too much overload. Producers, please don’t do this in the future. I don’t want to look at Yamazaki Kento and see him as Kageyama Shuusei, Naruse Kakeru, Sata Kyouya, Terasaka Rita and Arima Kousei respectively ALL AT ONCE.

Okay rant over, sorry about that. Back to Yamazaki Kento’s performance as Terasaka Rita.

Honestly, as Rita, he didn’t really have much to do. Except look cool, calm and nonchalant about almost everything. It’s a personality similar to a previous role he played – L-DK‘s Kageyama Shuusei minus the perverted teasing. So I can’t really fault him there for not showing much emotion. Because that’s what’s he’s supposed to be. Emotionless haha. Okay I shan’t be so mean.

Oh yes, as an afterthought, I think it’d be really interesting to keep an eye on Sakaguchi Kentaro, the one who plays Hiromitsu Kosuke because we’ll be seeing him real soon in another supporting role to look out for – Sunakawa Makoto in the live-action adaptation of Ore Monogatari!! 

Anyway if you’ve never heard of Heroine Shikkaku, you should totally check it out. It’s highly entertaining and relatable – you’ll just love it. Girls, anyway haha. You can either start by reading the manga or try to get your hands on the movie but you’ll have a better chance at starting with the manga first because last time I checked, I couldn’t find a download of the movie – and with English subtitles, those are a pain.

Finally, here’s the trailer of Heroine Shikkaku to give you a taste of what the movie’s like. Who wouldn’t love Kiritani Mirei after hearing her wail “NAKAJIMAAA” into Fukuda Ayano HAHAHA

Overall rating: 8/10

Rewatchability: 8/10 

2015 in review

Hey guys!

So a new year has started and I know this is late but here it is – my blog stats for the year:

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 51,000 times in 2015. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 19 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

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Thank you for all your support guys, I know that I’m not the most frequent blogger or wittiest one so thank you for putting up with this lazy person ahaha

To be honest, I’m actually less active on my blog nowadays because Instagram keeps me so busy already! And it’s way easier and quicker to post an update there. In addition, the Instagram account has grown tremendously in just a year so I’m really pleased with that. If you haven’t already followed me there then do so now here.

As for current plans, I’m planning to write a review on Heroine Shikkaku soon because I watched it recently and really liked it, which surprised me. Yes, so keep a lookout for that.

And finally, happy new year to you all and here’s to another good year ahead!

Tokyo Ghoul

Hey guys!

(Omg why the fish did wordpress change its post layout AGAIN?)

So you’ve already seen the title of this post and you’re probably thinking, “Omg Confessor, where have you BEEN that’s so LAST YEAR!”

Yes yes I know guys. But better late than never right?

I started watching Tokyo Ghoul because I wanted to watch an action anime and since I’ve recently become more tolerant of watching horror/gore scenes, I decided to give Tokyo Ghoul a go. Honestly speaking, when I was still unable to stomach horror scenes last year, I decided that I would read the manga instead for the story and so I did. It intrigued me. So the anime should be cooler because its action scenes are animated right?

Of course. Anime are best suited for action sequences, that’s why they feature more shounen genre stories as compared to shoujo genre ones. Doh.

As most people would probably know, Tokyo Ghoul is a story that revolves around the protagonist, Kaneki Ken who is thrown into a colossal mess that of the world of ghouls – monsters that prey on humans for their flesh for survival with human faces.

As a result of a terrible accident that occurred that miraculously left him still barely alive and an organ transplant to save him, Kaneki is transformed into a ghoul. Well, half a ghoul. As a ghoul who was once human, Kaneki is unable to accept this new side of himself for most part of the anime as the thought of eating other humans like himself (or used to be) is disgusting and repulsive.

He struggles with his new ghoul-like tendencies and diet while learning more about ghouls through the new acquaintances he makes at Anteiku, an organisation in the 20th Ward where he stays. Through them, he learns that not all ghouls were what he thought them up to be, that they have feelings and people precious to them that they want to protect too.

Eventually, Kaneki catches the attention of a few powerful and prominent (or infamous) ghouls who wish to capture him for special purposes because he is a one-eyed ghoul that is supposed to be a myth.

After undergoing enormous torture from a psychotic ghoul named Yamori, Kaneki’s hair turns white and he finds a new resolve in himself not to let others push him around. And that’s where the series supposedly gets more exciting and badass.

I think the anime sequel to Tokyo Ghoul is completely non-canon so to know what happens after that, I’m gonna have to read the manga to find out. It’s kind of disappointing that they didn’t just make the sequel canon to the first season even though it was so popular and well-received.

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CHARACTERS:

KANEKI

I really like how Kaneki grows up from a conservative, insecure bookish person into somebody who is able to stand up for himself (even though it meant him going through immense torture that  he shouldn’t have had to go through). Even though I found his predicament most pitiful and sad, I think that it opened up his eyes to many things. As part of both the human and ghoul worlds, he could now see both sides of the story and was in this extremely unique position to actually empathise with each one of them. And although the torture performed on him made him stronger, it also gave him a changed personality that I assume made him more cold and calculating than before. Hmm, I’ll have to catch up with the manga to confirm that.

TOUKA

When I was first introduced to Kirishima Touka, I didn’t feel much for her and I didn’t think too much of her either. Touka was a character who was aloof, brash and cautious about the people around her so I found it a little difficult to like her at first. But later on, when Hinami comes into the picture, Touka is revealed to be fiercely loyal and protective over the people she cares about, which shows that she isn’t a bad person – it’s just the way that she expresses herself that tends to make her misunderstood. I’ve since come to like her a lot better after she displayed no hesitation to voice her decision to save Kaneki from Aogiri Tree.

As for the other characters, they are all brilliant – brilliantly warped and interesting in their own ways too but for now, these two are the ones I thought I should mention because I saw the most character growth in them over the span of 12 episodes.

In conclusion, I think Tokyo Ghoul is an interesting story that explores thought-provoking questions about values and ethics. Are the ghouls really all that different from humans? Should such repulsive creatures that possibly have the same human feelings and emotions be allowed to coexist with humans themselves? Is revenge the answer to everything?

Also, I’m pretty interested to find out more about Touka and her brother Ayato’s back story, as well as Aogiri Tree itself and what happens to Kaneki after the Aogiri Tree arc.

Character likeability / Character background: 8/10

Overall story: 8/10 (This was a dark story, different from the type of anime that I usually like to watch but nevertheless, I did enjoy watching Tokyo Ghoul)

Re-watchability: 7/10 (Okay this is because the story is pretty slow. The anime features more story depth rather than action sequences, so some episodes even go without any of them or if there’s one, it’s a really short less-than-five-minutes one)

One Punch Man

Hey guys!

So I know it’s very unusual for me to be back so soon but I think my material is all piling up because they all just came at around the same time so I should just clear them out as soon as I can.

A week ago, when I went out for dinner with my cousin, we had this discussion on anime. I’ll skip the details on us hotly debating on various anime and just get to the main point. The discussion ended up in an anime challenge: he would watch the first three episodes of Naruto while I have to watch the first three episodes of One Punch Man.

I’d heard of One Punch Man and had already seen clips and images of it here and there on Instagram and Facebook but I wasn’t exactly up for it because of its art and genre – seinen. As I’m first and foremost a shoujo type of person, shounen and seinen never really appealed to me but over the years, I’ve since then come to acquire a taste for certain ones. To me, they had to be really good or else I wouldn’t even go near to its description page.

BUT.

One Punch Man exceeded my expectations! I didn’t decide that I liked it right after the first episode because I felt that it deserved a second chance so keeping to my promise, I watched two more episodes and One Punch Man had me by the third episode.

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THE STORY:

Saitama is a regular guy who is looking for a job. One day, on his way home after a failed job interview, he finds a crab monster (who apparently used to be human but turned into this monstrous thing because he ate too much crab LOL) in his pathway who announces that it wants vengeance on a kid who had previously offended him. Unfazed and indifferent, Saitama doesn’t run away screaming in fear from the monster, which surprises him. Feeling merciful because he notes that Saitama has the same set of “lifeless eyes” as his, crab dude decides to spare him and leaves to hunt down his prey.

Still unfazed by the fact that he had just encountered a monster, Saitama carries on with his journey home. On the way, he meets a boy who fits the description of the crab dude’s target and his conscience is pricked: Should he just ignore him and go home because it’s none of his business? Or should he stay and protect the boy because he knows that the monster is coming for him?

Within minutes, crab dude appears, having found its target and lunges towards the boy. Just in the nick of time, Saitama throws himself at the boy and manages to push him out of harm’s way. He gets bashed up at first but in the moment that he decides he wants to become a hero, he finds the strength in himself and kills crab dude by pulling out one of his eyes.

Since then, Saitama gave up searching for jobs and worked hard for three years to train and strengthen his body. Sticking to a strict regime to be done and completed every day, Saitama’s body became stressed until all his hair fell out but in return, he obtained immense strength and invulnerability. Three years later, present-day Saitama does hero work as a hobby – a hero “for fun” as he calls it. He is now so strong that he has gotten to a point whereby taking out his opponents with a single punch has no kick to it. As a result, Saitama has become pretty laid-back and even more unfazed by the unnatural things that happen around him simply because no one poses a threat to him anymore. This situation totally reminds me of Aomine from Kuroko no Basket but Saitama takes the situation a lot better in his stride HAHA.

As the story goes on, Saitama meets various monsters who claim to be the best while he easily defeats them without so much as batting an eye with some comic suspense. He soon meets Genos, a teenage cyborg who after seeing Saitama in action once, is amazed by him and immediately persuades him to take him on as his disciple. Saitama doesn’t give in until episode 5 or 6 however, because he thinks that there’s simply nothing for him to teach Genos because he’s a cyborg and he can’t teach him the strength training routine that he used for the past three years HAHA. Loyal and dedicated to his new self-proclaimed master, Genos’ ability to keep a straight face in everything that he reports to Saitama is absolutely comical and hilarious. Together with Saitama, the duo make up the serious-disciple-and-blur-master pair.

Another interesting character that has appeared so far is Sonic, a ninja who seems to take on work for his own agenda. When he first meets Saitama and fights a little with him, the encounter leaves him very interested in the mysterious bald guy who plays the hero “for fun”. He seems to have an unusual bad habit of smiling a creepy child-like grin whenever he faces strong opponents and he seems to be an interesting character, one to look out for in future episodes. In addition, when I first heard Sonic speak, I immediately recognised his seiyuu’s voice and found out that it belonged to one of my favourite seiyuus, which is Yuuki Kaji. Yuuki Kaji is love, Yuuki Kaji is life.

In conclusion, I think that One Punch Man is fantastic – the idea of an ordinary man who turns into the world’s strongest hero is almost impossible that it’s so fascinating to watch. With his training routine, one would expect Saitama to just get very fit but not build up muscle and such enormous strength and invincibility. He’s not even very buff, just lean and muscular (as you can see in episode 5) so I’m speculating that there’s a secret to his body, which would be the reason why he has such inhuman strength. And the idea of being too strong such that doing what you love becomes something boring because it no longer poses a challenge to you? Fabulous. And what’s most fabulous about it is Saitama’s resulted personality HAHAHA.

I’m sure nobody expected to love a hero like Saitama when they first heard of One Punch Man. Neither did I. But after watching him for a minimum of three episodes, how could you not come to like this blur egg-headed dude?

(Oh yes, I’ve heard from friends who have told me that the manga is even better because One Punch Man’s mangaka is extremely good and detailed at drawing action scenes. When I took a look at one of the chapters and flipped to an action scene, I saw what they meant and THEY ARE RIGHT. The action scenes actually look like they could be extracted and transformed into a storyboard by themselves. How cool is that?)

Anime Challenge: One Punch Man COMPLETED. And results: Exceeds Expectations.

Boruto: Naruto the Movie

Hey guys!

Today I’ll be reviewing Boruto: Naruto the Movie, which I watched in the cinemas last Friday (which was once again the last day of its showing. HOW does this happen to me AGAIN???). My apologies that it took a while but here it is!

Boruto: Naruto the Movie takes place a few years after The Last: Naruto the Movie and it focuses on Uzumaki Boruto, Naruto and Hinata’s brattish yet prodigious son. In the background of the story stirs an impending threat with relation to Otsutsuki Kaguya that threatens to destroy the current era of peace.

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THE STORY:

Now a Genin, Boruto is put in a team with Uchiha Sarada, Sasuke and Sakura’s daughter and the mysterious Mitsuki, under the guidance of their team leader, Konohamaru. Smart and adept at picking up skills (just like Sasuke), Boruto has already mastered the Shadow Clone Jutsu and has already started to use nature transformations (three, in fact). After single-handedly subduing a bear for their mission, Team Konohamaru is introduced to a new gadget called a Kote, which stores and releases jutsu and can be used by anyone, including non-jutsu users.

Later in the Hokage’s office, Katasuke, the developer of the Kote pitches his idea to Naruto to allow its use in the Chunin Exams. However, Naruto immediately refuses, saying that allowing the use of the Kote would not showcase a shinobi’s true abilities.

As the story progresses, we see the strained relationship between Naruto and Boruto, who finds it hard to accept and connect with a father who is rarely around. When Naruto fails to show up personally at Himawari’s birthday celebration, Boruto snaps and bursts out angrily at Hinata, saying that Naruto must have been lucky to have experienced the joy of having no parents and goes into Naruto’s study. There, he sees Naruto’s old, tattered orange jacket and in a fit of rage, throws it out of the window.

When the doorbell rings, he immediately gets up and runs to the door. Upon opening it, he throws a punch at the person at the door, who turns out to be Sasuke. When he realises that Sasuke is Sarada’s dad and his dad’s only equal and rival, he stalks Sasuke to seize an opportunity to talk to him.

At the Hokage’s office, Sasuke throws a scroll from Kaguya’s castle to Naruto and tells him of the impending threat and that he needs help deciphering it. The two also discuss Boruto and have a bet on whether the nature of shinobi has changed. While Naruto says that it has, Sasuke bets that it hasn’t.

On the way home, Sasuke is ambushed and attacked by Boruto, who fails miserably and is tripped over instead. Amazed at Sasuke’s abilities, Boruto asks him to take him on as his disciple. Unimpressed, Sasuke asks him if he can make a Rasengan and tells him to find him again only when he can.

This pushes Boruto to quickly master the Rasengan from Konohamaru and not long after, he returns to Sasuke and shows him his tiny Rasengan. Noting that it is way smaller than what it’s supposed to be, Boruto gets frustrated and flings it at a tree, dismayed at how pathetic it is. He then runs off and Sarada, who had been watching the whole time, approaches her father and speaks on Boruto’s behalf to get him to accept him as his disciple. To which, Sasuke replies that he never said he wouldn’t take on Boruto.

And so Sasuke begins to train Boruto for the Chunin Exams and tells him a little about Naruto back when he was he was a kid when Boruto asks him about Naruto’s weaknesses. Team Konohamaru successfully makes it through Rounds One and Two of the exams (with a little cheating from Boruto) and proud of his son, Naruto visits Boruto in his room and personally congratulates him.

In Round Three of the Chunin Exams, the Genins are randomly paired off for a face-off and it eventually boils down to Boruto vs Shikamaru and Temari’s son, Shikadai. An exciting battle ensues but Shikadai manages to get the upper hand and corners Boruto into giving up. Unwilling to lose while his father is watching, Boruto makes use of his Kote once again, making Shikadai surrender and him the winner. (Notice in the GIF that Boruto uses the Gentle Fist technique inherited from his mother)

Suspecting something is amiss, Naruto does a check on Boruto’s wrist and discovers the Kote hidden there. Immediately, he disqualifies his own son from the exams and declares Shikadai the winner instead. The family drama isn’t over yet but it doesn’t last long due to the sudden appearance of Otsutsuki Momoshiki and Kinshiki, the greater threat who intend to gather Kaguya’s scattered chakra and cultivate them into pills so that upon consumption, they would be granted eternal youth and enhanced powers.

A battle ensues, causing wreckage to the amphitheatre and forcing the spectators to evacuate. Realising that their target is himself, Naruto asks Sasuke to protect Sarada and Boruto while he stops their attacks and is ultimately captured.

Boruto wakes up in hospital and suddenly it hits him that his father is gone. In despair, he flees to the Hokage’s office and looks at the various portraits of the various Hokage. There, he finds the old and tattered jacket of Naruto’s and puts it on. Looking at himself in the mirror, he declares himself to be uncool. Appearing behind him, Sasuke agrees and asks him what he’s going to do about it. He tells Boruto that Naruto is still alive and together with the four other Kage, they travel to the dimension that Naruto is held captive in.

The four Kage manage to immobilise Kinshiki and with the combined strength of Naruto and Sasuke, manage to subdue Momoshiki in an epic battle. However, the battle becomes far from over when Katasuke appears, having jumped through the portal at the last minute and shoots Momoshiki with ninjutsu in an attempt to capture him. In an instant, the villain absorbs the ninjutsu, uses the shadow jutsu to trap the four Kage and impales Naruto with chakra rods.

All hope is seemingly lost, until Momoshiki is hit with Boruto’s Rasengan as instructed by Sasuke, which throws him off-guard and releases the four Kage from the shadow jutsu. To perform the final blow, Naruto asks Boruto to make a Rasengan and surprises him by adding enormous power and size to it. With help from Sasuke as a diversion, Boruto manages to hit Momoshiki with the Rasengan, effectively destroying him.

With the threat finally over and obliterated, Sasuke and Naruto sit next to each other, with Sasuke commenting that he’d won the bet. The shinobi world is at peace once again and the old generation looks to the new generation for them to pave a future for themselves.

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As usual, that recap took FOREVER. Let’s get straight down to my opinion on it:

I absolutely LOVED Boruto: Naruto the Movie. There was just so much to it that could be expanded and explored but I guess not everything is meant to be fleshed out and revealed in a mere 95 mins huh.

Storyline-wise, this movie was a lot better than The Last and it probably had to do with the introduction of the new generation of shinobi. Kishimoto just had to make it such that Boruto was different from Naruto in almost every aspect apart from his looks – smart, possesses considerable prodigious skill, has a family, yet takes them for granted.

BUT that’s exactly where the interest is drawn to. If Boruto was a good boy and dumb but likeable as the Hokage’s son, things wouldn’t be so interesting and there wouldn’t be a story at all. Boruto: Naruto the Movie shows us that despite the many strong differences between Naruto and his son, both are still ultimately the same in that they both longed for attention and recognition from the people they wanted it most from. In Naruto’s case, it is the villagers and in Boruto’s case, because his father outshines him and is the Hokage whom everyone looks up to, it is from Naruto.

The focus on Naruto and Boruto’s relationship from strained, to even more strained, to reparation and reconciliation was wonderfully delivered as we saw how Boruto was suddenly hit with the realisation that he could very easily end up like Naruto himself without a father when Naruto put himself on the frontline and told Sasuke to look after him and Sarada. His transition from not being understanding and appreciative comes like a slap to his face and right after that when he is told that Naruto was still alive, he resolves to set things right and bring him back. I’ll admit that I nearly teared up when Naruto added more power and size to Boruto’s tiny Rasengan and this montage of the Rasengan’s history came onto the screen.

 The fight scenes were amazing, as usual. I can never get tired of watching the Naruto and Sasuke combination fights with all its extremely badass background music and sound effects kicking up my adrenaline a hundred miles per hour. The scene whereby the two stood side by side again to fight Momoshiki particularly struck a chord within me and I remembered the time back when they stood together in the exact same way before they fought with Madara. Anyone else remembers that particular scene when looking at this screenshot above?

Also, I’m really glad that they brought Sasuke back into action because everyone really missed him in The Last. Here in this movie, we got to see Sasuke’s softer side, which he shows to Sarada, Boruto and Naruto. I absolutely adored the way Sarada addressed Sasuke, calling him “Papa”, watching him protect her and training Boruto as though he was his own son. We never could’ve imagined that our cold-blooded world criminal could become such a softie, could we?

It totally warmed my heart to see the new generation of shinobi and I was completely riveted by Shikadai, who seems to have almost all the same characteristics as Shikamaru but has his mother’s eyes and blunt way of speech. This kid is definitely one freaking genius because both Shikamaru and Temari are brilliant analysts and strategists.

Lastly, I’m glad that the movie ended with still some questions left unanswered. THIS MEANS THAT THE NARUTO SERIES ISN’T OVER YET. With that questionable post-credits scene begging the question of who Mitsuki’s mother is and Sasuke and Sakura’s love story still in the dark (yes, we still want to know exactly HOW Sakura managed to snag Sasuke in the end), the series is far from over.

As usual, my overall rating for the show: 10/10 

And rewatchability: 9/10