Anime Reviews! Part 3 5 Star Edition!

Introduction

Yo, It's been a while since the last blog, but we intend to keep the train rolling with these reviews. If anyof you follow Tireyo at all, you will probably know that he's not that easy to reach at the moment, for good reason. That won't stop the the anime though! He had the good will to let me post his stuff at my leisure. So no worries for anyone interested in this series of blogs.

Here we go with the reviews!

My 5 star pick!

Baccano!

Baccano is a pot, filled to the brim with an insane mix of amzaing characters.

Baccano! is set int the early 30'sm in the golden age gangster culture. The majority of the series take place around an incident on a famous transcontinental train called "The Flying Pussyfoot". The incident is seen through the eyes of a large cast of characters in a way that defies chronology, the closest comparison would be something like Pulp Fiction. The Tarantino comparision continues with the large majority of the charcters being related to the mafia, or are in some way criminal. The comparison falls off though when the main crutch of the series makes itself clear, the charcters aren't just immoral, many of them are also immortal.

I have a hard time coming up with words to describe the plot, since really, there barely is one. The real enjoyment to be had is getting to know all of these interesting characters, and seeing a pretty awesome chain of events through a lot of different perspectives. After the train events are over, which would be 13 or so episodes in, the show tries an actual short storyline for the last 3 episodes, which I didn't think was nearly as interesting as the rest. And the few new characters it presents aren't as well developed as the previous ones.

I'd like to bring up examples of characters or personalities, but since that is the meat of the show, I feel like it would be spoiling the experience. I guess, watch this opening and if the style is in any way appealing to you, then you will probably enjoy what Baccano! has to give.

Just trust me when I say that anyone who enjoys a good mafia movie and don't frown too hard to a bit of silliness or ridicolous gore, will have a freaking blast. All the way through. This is literally one of the best show's I've ever watched, anime or not.

Duders, watch this when you can.

Tireyo643's 5 Star Picks - Clannad + Clannad: After Story

Clannad and Clannad: After Story

I actually known about this series for a while, because I listen to an Irish music group called with lead singer Moya (Maire or Mary) Brennan, because I’m a huge fan of Celtic and New Age music. Whenever I Google Clannad, I would either get the Irish music group or the anime series. I never paid much attention to the anime until I got into doing this project. I can say now that I listened to the group Clannad, and I watched an anime series with the same name! Never would I have imagined that I actually come to LOVE BOTH!

The moment when Tomoya (our center character) said, “I hate this town. It’s too filled with memories I’d rather forget. I go to school every day and hang out with my friends… then I go home. There is no place I’d rather not go ever again. I wonder if anything will ever change. Will that day ever come?” I was instantly captivated and was sent into euphoria. It’s as if I already knew that I was going to love this anime.

In all the craziness, bug-eyed/precious moment eyed characters, slight repetitiveness, and corniness; I have to say that there was still a fantastic story to be told. Truth be told, the beginning intro with the introduction of some of the characters and the horrible music was just a major turn off. Afterwards, everything else (instrumental music, atmosphere, story) was captivating, except for the ending credits that also had horrible music. The beginning and ending credit roles really can damage ones perception of this series, so it’s best to fast forward the hogwash. Any show that can match my interests in instrumentals will score good points with me, and that’s exactly what Clannad did. Needless to say, I have the soundtrack to Clannad now, and I listen to it nearly every night because it reminds me of something that musician would do. Country Lane is probably my most favorite song, and may I say that the image on this youtube video is truly beautiful and magnificent.

This anime touches some serious issues that we as humans come to think about one time or another.

Examples:

1. Are our loved ones watching over us, even though they are not with us?

2. Do you ever feel like you did your parent’s a huge injustice because of something you did or did not mean to do intentionally?

3. What would have happened if you did something differently or something happened differently in the past?

4. Is there another world?

5. Most importantly, can you accept reality?

While Clannad is probably one of the stupidest things that I have ever watched, Clannad is also one of the greatest and saddest shows I have ever laid my eyes on. I actually cried for a good 15 minutes due to a really life changing moment in Clannad, and it really made my heart sad after watching it. The only other time I ever really cried over some cartoon was when I was young. It was a Disney cartoon named Fox and the Hound. To this day, I think Fox and the Hound is very sad, though I don’t cry at it anymore. Any show that has the ability to make me cry like a bitch will indeed receive my praise, and Clannad touched that tip of the iceberg. Clannad had some great funny moments throughout, so spoiling one funny moment isn’t really going to hurt! Nagisa being drunk is absolutely hilarious.

I’m actually attached to some of the characters in this anime. It is actually weird, but I would probably be Tomoya’s friend if he was real and beat the hell out of Sunahara since everyone else is doing it. LOL! Sunahara has the worst and most shrill voice I’ve ever heard in a male, and he is such a moron; however, I like it! Nagisa is a sweetie, and her father Akio is wonderfully psychotic! Kuyo and Tomoyo are two bad ass girls that can kick your ass, and it would of been great to see them fight each other! There was never really a dull moment for me in watching any episode of Clannad.

Some of the voice acting is pretty bad but honestly I didn’t particularly care, because I could really relate to Clannad! Many of the girls looked the same, as most of them had purple hair. They do have different personalities, so after a while you know them all by name. I didn’t particularly dislike like anyone in this anime, just wish they were more differentiated.

I cannot believe that I got all these thoughts and wrote about them all over a very stupid anime series; I cannot believe that I actually teared-up once and cried once for 15 minutes while watching; also, I cannot believe that I watched these series from beginning to end. I don’t usually LOVE cartoons, but Clannad in its entirety is very special to this 23 year-old! You could almost say that this was the perfect match! Though the series may not be too appealing when it first starts off, it does get better over time. The After Story truthfully helps shape Clannad, and it makes me appreciate the entire Clannad series/genre more. This anime is not for everyone as it is almost like a soap opera on life and chick flick high school drama garbage and what happens afterward. Even though Clannad never really came to any conclusions, as there are multiple realities, I thoroughly enjoyed this hogwash. I’m not much for soap operas, but Clannad was a series that reached out to me that I could actually relate to in a way. Clannad is my kind of special garbage, stupid, drama, visual novel and psychotic show, and I’m not ashamed to say that I absolutely LOVE IT! This series turned out to be exactly what I was looking for. This series has really gotten me to think about the decisions I make in my own life, so in a way Clannad was a cerebral series for me… which may explain why I can feel like that I can relate to it so much. I don’t know about you all, but I’m going to listen to more of the amazing soundtrack right now and conclude this review!