Mirai Nikki - weird, eerie, bloody yet interesting find

Mirai Nikki was something I picked up randomly since there were a lot of new anime series back late 2011 but watching the first episode made me want to watch more and see how it unravels. The anime is still ongoing and I am still catching up coz I was all busy from work, reading mangas, watching other anime. Nevertheless, here it is.

Mirai Nikki is all about, as what the name says, future diaries. Here, we are introduced to a world where a select few who are so diligent in keeping records of their daily lives are rewarded with a future diary unique to each owner. Future diary basically is a diary that can tell what happens in the future and the good thing about this series is that the future actually changes based on the owner's actions so he can actually change what happens in the future. Good enough to understand right? The thing is, the "god" who gave them this power actually is pretty cruel since there are 13 future diary owners, he wants all of them to kill each other and whoever emerges as the victor would replace him to become the "god of time". Cliche as it may sound especially since I just watched Hunger Games last night and stuff like this remind me of those battle for survival plots such as Battle Royale but it's actually cool in a way because when future diary owners clash, what happens now? Well, for me - personally, the whole thing actually becomes something that came from predictable to unpredictable. How? Well, if two people have different unique characteristics in their future diaries and they both predict something in the future, whatever they know - they would eventually take advantage of it and if it's gonna bad on their part, they would need to change it to save their life. Both their actions would affect both diaries and in a fast-pacing environment where there are a lot of chasing done, wouldn't it actually be exciting to see how these owners make use of their diary and try to survive this competition?
Anyhow, I missed a lot of stuff up there. The main character is Yuki who was the very first future diary owner and is thought to be the strongest but is actually protected most, if not all, of the time by Yuno - the second diary owner who is obsessively in love with Yuki. They go on a roller-coaster ride of getting rid of diary owners who are trying to get rid of them and along the way they meet people, good and bad.
The anime is promising and I heard the manga is good. I might contemplate on reading it. The seiyuus are great! The soundtrack, not so much. The anime had a good start. I hope it finishes off with a bang!

Giant Killing - Utterly superb!

When this anime came out last year, I wanted to try watching it but never had the chance to - maybe I wasn't motivated enough then. Now, after I read some reviews of Area No Kishi - there were some negative reactions and some compared it to Giant Killing where they mentioned that it was not as amazing as the latter. Seeing how Area No Kishi is still currently airing and after reading all the scanlated chapters who wouldn't want to pick up another sports anime series title?!?!?! I just had to, you know?!? And boy was I surprised at what was in store for me. I am just so glad I decided to watch this series! I've been watching shonen sports anime from time to time, titles such as Prince of Tennis, Eyeshield 21, Overdrive, Initial D, Slamdunk, Area no Kishi - what not... but Giant Killing was the only seinen genre under the sports category that I have watched so far. Maybe because I've matured enough coz I am turning 24 this year and I watched those other anime like 5 years ago. Sometimes you would just like to watch a realistic sports anime but at the same time would still give you the same amount of excitement. Despite my busy schedule because of work, I managed to squeeze in some time to watch the whole series (26 eps) in a week. Well, I watched it twice actually in a week coz I had to watch it all over again with my boyfriend.

The story starts off with East Tokyo United, a soccer club that is basically the weakest in the Japanese Soccer League scene. When the general manager Goto decided to hire Tatsumi, an ex-ace striker of the team to become the team's manager - the team's reputation of being the weakest in the league might just take a 180 degree change. Tatsumi's determination to topple all the strong football teams and release the team's "Giant Killing" nature in them along with the team's loyal fans' support - is this enough to rampage through the storm and have the team make a name for themselves? You just have to watch the anime and read the manga to find out, right??!
That being said, I totally recommend this manga to all anime enthusiasts who wants to watch a realistic, fun and exciting sports anime. This should be one of the best anime under the sports genre, I would dare say. The plot, the characters, the seiyuu, the animation, the soundtrack, I don't have a teeny bit of complaint in any of those aspects.
MY ONLY COMPLAINT WOULD BE, WHEN WILL THIS ANIME GET A 2ND SEASON?!?!? I hope they would give this anime one since the anime was such a cliffhanger!!!!
Don't forget to watch this anime!!!!!!