Heart-warming movie: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time!

I've been intending to watch this movie a couple months now after seeing it as one of the top-recommended anime movies out there. The Girl who Leapt through Time is a very heartwarming movie and subtly done but all the elements are great that makes this movie a great watch! Beware of spoilers!

Story: 9/10
The story revolves around Makoto, a high school girl who inadvertently discovers how to "leap through time" by literally leaping... she can go back to the past. After learning how to go about doing this, Makoto deliberately uses and abuses this ability on almost everything her somewhat boring life has to offer. From wanting to maximize an hour's worth of karaoke, she goes back to the past so that she can sing her out for more than an hour and she does so until she grows tired of it. She uses this ability on a lot of petty things but little did she know that this ability has some limitation to it. What if she loses it when she needs it the most? What happens then?
"TIME WAITS FOR NO ONE" is the message that the movie wants to convey.
Why a 9? I would've given it a 10 but I just don't like how almost, if not all, Japanese movies are so open-ended and just leaves you hanging there with more questions than when you initially started! Sorry, sometimes you just would like to know the answer, right? There's not much in this movie, it just revolves around Makoto, her 2 friends, Chiaki and Kousuke, and, basically, what goes on with their everyday lives. When you just feel like strolling through life, you tend to forget about what's important and what's not. You tend to overlook some things that you thought never mattered and only do you realize it's importance when you lose it. This movie also happens to teach you Newton's Law of Action-Reaction, that in every action, there's always an equal reaction. Whenever Makoto tries to go back in the past to change something, there would most probably something or someone who'll be affected depending on the degree of the change. Just like how she didn't like to confront Chiaki's feelings for her, and tried to go back in time to escape or run away, in the end -- her girl best friend confessed and Chiaki accepted which pained her. When she tries to go back in time to hook Kousuke and girl who likes him up, the price was their life. When she tried to get everything back in order, the price was for Chiaki to say goodbye to her forever. When she fixed everything up from when she gained the ability, the bargain was to say goodbye to Chiaki once again. This movie tries to teach us to live without regrets to avoid thinking of going back to change something. We should not hold ourselves back from reaching what we want. We must not escape from what we feel. We should not hide or run away from whatever we fear confronting. That's how precious time and our lives are.
Characters: 10/10
The characters were well-made. The seiyuus amazing but I just regret watching it english dubbed but nevertheless, I watched the first part of it in Japanese before and I knew it was good. I particularly love Chiaki!
Soundtrack: 10/10
The soundtrack was awesome! I cried my heart out during the Makoto's last time-leap scene!

Well, I just said a lot of stuff on the first part, I don't what else I have to say!

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!!!!!!

The rebirth of my POT freakiness!!!!

I loved watching Prince of Tennis before. I had a marathon watching all episodes before in 3 days and I was so psyched when I found out the manga was being continued and now it has come to our television screens once more! This is so nostalgic! I am seeing my favorite Seigaku once again! I think this anime doesn't even need some introduction because every anime fan out there should've at least heard about it but anyways, this time the crew is back to prove themselves that they can be part of Japan's U-17 tennis team. All the best high school and middle school players are being invited to get a chance to display their skills in this tough selection process. That alone should let you know that this series is action-packed with cool, unbelievable, unrealistic tennis matches but it is what makes this anime great! That's what anime stuff should be -- full of imagination! I rarely like slice of life if you should know. LOL.

Anyhow, I am just so happy to see my beloved Eiji and Echizen, my two favorite characters in this anime, once again!!! Yipeee!!!!!!!!!!!! So far, it's great!

promising ecchi anime - HIGH SCHOOL DXD

I, for one, do not really like ecchi anime but there are a few animes out there that I can tolerate the ecchi part as long as the story is good enough such as Air Gear, Ikki Tousen, High School of the Dead, etc. Now, I encountered this series, High School Dxd and I know my boyfriend would be interested in watching this so I we watched the first episode. I didn't like it at first but after watching the first episode, unbelievably... I thought it was good because there were other elements I think that makes this anime worth watching, worth enough to overlook the echhi stuff in it and it's also fun to watch.
Basically, the series is all about Issei who is a natural pervert who was killed by his first girlfriend on their first date who turned out to be a fallen angel. He was saved and reincarnated as a demon by his' school's most popular girl, Rias Gremory, who happens to be an heir to one of the high ranking demon families. From there, Issei's adventure as a demon starts.
The story is fun to watch and at the same time interesting since I know there might be something deeper than just watching all those ecchi stuff. The series can be serious when it has to be.
This anime is surely recommended to guys who love watching ecchi stuff and some stupid guy whose dream is to become a harem king and action-packed stuff as well.

Aquarion Evol - promising winter mecha anime!

After watching the first special almost-an-hour long first episode, I loved the anime right away. The anime is full of CGI but it was great nevertheless. 4 years ago, I was not a big mecha anime fan and I loved Code Geass which had mecha stuff in it although it was not really the main part of the anime. Then my boyfriend did a lot of convincing to make me watch Gundam 00 and when I did, it was the beginning of a newfound interest in mecha anime. From then on, I started watching Gundam Seed and Gundam Seed Destiny, went on to watch Gundam Wing then the most recent one was Eureka Seven. Now, Aquarion Evol came into the picture and I am certainly loving it. Hope the story buildup would be excellent.

Aquarion Evol is all about Amata Sora who had a special power of levitation but hid it because he received a lot of hate because of it from when he was young. One day, he met a girl named Mikono and spent the whole day with her when suddenly villains appeared and attacked the city. Both of them were in danger so he used his power to save Mikono and himself. When he released his power, he unknowingly awakened Aquarion, a legendary weapon and they were able to save the city, beat the bad guys and stuff.
This is just a way too general synopsis but that's basically how the anime is. You have to watch the anime itself to know what I am raving about. The best thing in this anime for me is the soundtrack! I definitely love the opening song and I am going to download it once it is released. Here's the anime's opening theme.

I am really looking forward to watching the whole season! Don't waste any more of your precious time looking for some great anime to watch! Start watching this anime, NOW!

Area no Kishi - great sports anime for this year!

I just watched the first two episodes of this anime and I might be reading the manga if I have the time but so far it's a pretty good anime. The last time I watched a sports anime was Major and the last time I read one was Kuroku no Basket and New Prince of Tennis both of which have an anime aired this year.

Area no Kishi is about Kakeru who half-heartedly quit playing soccer but still became the team's manager nevertheless. His older brother who is famed to be Japan's under-15 ace has really high hopes for Kakeru and still believes that he has the ability to be the best striker of Japan. The title Area no Kishi means "Knight in the Area" which meant per the anime that in a soccer game if Kakeru's brother was the midfield king then Kakeru is the striker knight. Area here means the box that you see on a soccer field just right where the goal is. Kakeru was supposed to be a very skillful soccer player but was paranoid at using his left leg when it caused someone to be injured when he kicked the ball using it. His brother still hasn't given up on his hopes though so one day during a practice match, he made Kakeru his team's striker. Will Kakeru admit that he still loves playing soccer or will he still remain as a manager? Will he be up for the challenge to become Japan's best? Just watch and find out!