Pokemon Origins - back to Red and Blue

Just with one week to wait until the release of Pokemon X and Y I find myself building up with the tension unable to wait any longer. So to distract myself I decided to watch the English subbed Pokemon Origins episode 1 which I've been waiting for a while to watch.

For those who don't know of Pokemon Origins it is a new four part anime special that follows the story and the characters from the original Pokemon Red and Blue games, anyone who has planned the original games will reminisce of those childhood memories of playing through the Kanto region as I have. The series manages to follow the very structure of the game from meeting professor Oak as he introduces you to the world of Pokemon, to even saving the journey in the old classic gameboy style save screen. The series takes an upgrade from the art style that they've stuck to for years now in the current ongoing series with Ash Ketchum, and instead decided to go with a more 3-Dimesional style giving it more depth; following generation 6 change from the 2-Dimesional to the 3-Dimesional.

 

To be perfectly honest I felt like the first episode went through the story fairly fast, understandable as the series is only four episodes and lasting 20 minutes. However I feel like the episode needed more length so the story doesn't baffle the generations that both have played Pokemon Red and Blue, and who haven't. But despite this little problem both story, art style, and soundtrack excel surprisingly well. It's pretty awesome to see characters such as Professor Oak, and even Brock who have both been in the mainstream TV series since 1997 redesigned in a new updated anime style. The soundtrack is awesome to those who have played the original Pokemon games as it takes the game soundtrack revamping it, but also bringing back those fond memories.

I highly recommend this anime for those who are awaiting the arrival for Pokemon X and Y next week, but even if your not you should still give the anime a chance, change isn't always a bad thing :)

The first episode is available here English subbed:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x15js72_pokemon-origins-episode-1-english-sub_creation

Next month the English dubbed will air as well, but enjoy if you are unable to wait!

New recommended anime: Sunday without God

For those looking to start feasting their eyes upon the last of the summer season of anime, Sunday without God is definitely one worth your time. God had abandoned the world on Sunday 15 years ago and now nobody in this world can die, or even for that matter have children. But God provided mankind with Grave keepers in the last moments of watching over the world. Grave keepers are special being who are able to burying those who are amongst the deceased and have yet to pass on, providing them with the closest thing to passing on in this world.

15 years later we meet our main character Ai, a little girl who is the Grave keeper of a little village where she grew up. So when the villagers' time comes her responsibility will be to bury the entire village, however that time will come much sooner than she expected. One day a boy arrives in the village calling himself Hampnie Hambart – the Man-eating Toy, and slaughters her entire village. But if that wasn't enough she believes that this boy is the father she never saw.

After burying the village Ai sets out to save the world, by burying the deceased and allowing them to pass on. Along the way she meets a living male who has lost his family, another Grave keeper who has something different about her, and even some other kids around Ai's age. Through this journey they visit many mysterious and strange places such as a city that holds a deep dark secret.

The story is gripping and consists of arcs that spread across 2-3 episodes, each one hooking you in to watch the next.

The series is currently ongoing and is available on Crunchyroll:
http://www.crunchyroll.com/sunday-without-god 

Kuroko's Basketball

For one as myself who is not a fan of sports manga or even anime for that matter, Kuroko's Basketball or Kuroko no Basuke was an anime I surprising enjoyed watching. The original run of this anime television series began September last year, so Its actually a fairly new anime to watch. The story follows Tetsuya Kuroko, a young short blue haired boy who has just made his transfer from middle school to high school and decides to join the basketball team at Seirin High School. Another candidate for the first years basketball is Taiga Kagami a extremely tall red hair boy tranferred from the US. Kagami shows promising strength and skills in basketball, but from a quick analysis Kuroko seems like a weakling. Looks are deceiving as Kuroko possess the mysterious ability of misdirection, making it easier for him to quickly pass the ball without attracting any attention from the opposing team. Oh and it also turns out he's the "Phantom" sixth member of a legendary middle school basketball team nicknamed "The Generation of miracles".

So the main plot of the story is the Seirin High School Basketball team versing the individual members of the Generation of miracles in their new high school basketball teams. Kagami is determined to defeat all the Generation of Miracles with the help of Kuroko, by being Kagami's "Shadow". The two of them train hard for the championship in which the opportunity arrives to go up against all of the Generation of Mircales.

Watching this series you'll find yourself on edge by the opposing team about to score a hoop and then stopped with the amazing skill and fast pace of the basketball players. Now I've never been one for sports anyway, but watching Kuroko no Basuke I found myself exhilarated with excitement with each episode leading up to the series finale. The characters are funny at times but all have personalities that will make you like them, well Kuroko has a bit of a stiff personality or none for that matter but he's still a loveable character.

There is actually a second series of Kuroko no Basuke coming out on the 5th October which will follow the Seirin team versus the final two mysterious members of the generation of miracles, and some old ones too. For those who have already seen this series you'll admit that it is a must watch for those who like or even those who don't even like sports. So I give it high marks, so make sure to watch it before the new series arrives and we'll see Kurokocchi soon! :3

Classic Starters in Pokemon X and Y, plus mega-evolutions?!

I just wanted to make a quick update for any of those keeping an eye on Pokemon X and Y and it was just recently announced that the original starters Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle from Pokemon Red, blue, and green way back in 1998; Will now be able to also be chosen as starters from the very beginning of your adventure. I'm not of how it would work in terms of it may being a promotional giveaway when players subscribe to the new Pokemon Bank system which allows players to store 3,000 Pokemon on the internet, at the cost of a annual payment fee. But not only that the classic starters have all been given mega-evolutionary forms as predicted from shots of CoroCoro magazine. For many long time old fans this will be a walk down memory lane with a slight twist, that may or may not be so good I'll let you decide on that.

Mega Venusaur taking on a new ability of thick fat, giving an defense and special defense advantage over its fire and ice weakness by 50%, also in this mega form its defense and special attack raise even higher making it the good old reliable balanced Pokemon.

Mega Charizard takes on the ability of drought changing weather conditions and powering up Mega Charizard fire type moves, but also in this form its special attack increases and with the design of this new form still seems to be the badass of the Kanto starters.

Mega Blastoise takes on a completely new ability that is introduced in the 6th generation called mega launcher, a unique ability that boosts the power of 'Pulse' type moves, such as water pulse and dark pulse. And obviously Blastoise defense and special defense increase in this form. The design of this form isn't one that appeals to me very well, but what do you think?

Danganronpa - The Animation

For those of you who are interested in comedic, mystery, murder genre; Danganronpa - The Animation is the ongoing anime for you. An anime adaptation based on the video game
Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc on PSP; The story follows a special academy with a selected group of students with various talents, from basketball to shaman skills. Monobear or Monokuma is the principal of  the elite school, yes a stuffed bear with a very creepy half face. Students are not permitted to leave the school grounds- forever! The only way to graduate and therefore leave this imprisonment is to commit the murder of one of your fellow classmates and get away with it, a very happy chappy high school experience :)

I've only watched one episode so far, but I can say the concept and characters are quite interesting. Recommend watching it if you have the time.

Welcome to Deadman Wonderland

Following Funimation's DVD and Blu-ray release of Deadman Wonderland just gone July, I thought it be best to show people what they've been missing out on. From the creators of Eureka 7 the story follows a high school student named Ganta Igarashi. While in his class he notices a "Red man" as he describes floating outside the window, which is strange because they aren't on the ground floor! The "Red man" then uses he strange power to destroy the classroom including all the student except from Ganta, who is then taken victim by a diamond made of blood shot into his chest.

After a to be put simply unfair trail, Ganta is sent to the Deadman Wonderland correction prison on being sentenced guilty of murdering his entire class. Not to mention the Deadman Wonderland is also a theme park in which prisoners must participate in events and shows to earn cast points to buy food and other things. But it isn't quite that easy. One of the events prisoners can participate in is the Dog race show, where prisoners have to make it through an obstacle course with swinging blades, incinerators, and spikes so participants are face constantly by death, of course the visitors simply believe that part to be special effects. Oh yeah and there's another need for cast points, cast points are required for prisoners to purchase candy. Yes- candy, prisoners all have collars around the necks that slowly inject a poison that will kill them in three days, so prisoners must consume one piece of candy every three days since the candy contains the antidote.

Ganta soon learns that the "Red man" is actually here in the prison and is responsible for an event that took Tokyo off the face of the earth called the Red hole. This event is responsible for changing a lot of  the lives of the people of Tokyo, some who became prisoners of Deadman Wonderland. The same red diamond shot into Ganta's chest were enacted, causing a disease from the diamond to cause the branch of sin. The branch of sin allows the welder to control their on blood in different ways, some by shooting, forging a blade, or even a shield to protect the user. Deadman Wonderland takes advantage of this and created a game called the Carnival Corpse in which "Deadmen" the users of the branch of sin fight each other to win cast points, and the loser well... you'll just have to see.

There are quite of variety of characters in Deadman Wonderland, one to take note of is Shiro a pale white girl around the same age as Ganta. But the strange part is that she knows Ganta as a childhood friend but Ganta cannot recollect this. Her personality is unlike anyone else in Deadman Wonderland as she is carefree and almost childlike, but is willing to help Ganta in anyway she can.

The series itself is very interesting especially with the branch of sin as we see how people had been affected, even if they turn insane you feel sorry for them. The only problem is, it ends without resolving some issues such as who is this mysterious character, and what about-... This series is one that I really enjoyed watching and really deserves another series to cut off those loose ends except that seems very unlikely as the series wasn't very popular in Japan as the manga was, many fans were disappointed with content that was left out in the anime which made it lose marks. So what I recommend is do watch the anime series because even if it has made mistakes its still a really enjoyable one, but also read the manga too after you have finished because that seems to be the only possible way to see the story develop further. Well unless we get lucky.

Deadman Wonderland the complete series is now available on amazon on both Blu-ray: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Deadman-Wonderland-Complete-Collection-Blu-ray/dp/B00CSVD1SW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1377886452&sr=8-2&keywords=deadman+wonderland

and DVD: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Deadman-Wonderland-Complete-Series-Collection/dp/B00CSVD0S8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377886549&sr=8-1&keywords=deadman+wonderland

Deadman Wonderland the manga is available here to read: http://beta.mangafox.com/manga/deadman_wonderland/

Nintendo 2DS?! Are you serious?!

Just a short while ago I found myself scrolling through my Facebook news feed to find someone sharing this introducing video to the Nintendo 2DS. Personally I watched the YouTube video sitting and laughing at the idea being rather pointless, then to my shock I went to the Nintendo official website to find that this video and this handheld is real. http://www.nintendo.co.uk/Nintendo-3DS/Nintendo-2DS/Nintendo-2DS-796712.html

Dear God Nintendo I know you have mad some pretty shitty handhelds in the past but this takes the prize. I really don't see the point into designing this- this- this speak and spell rip off! (Look it up it looks exactly the same). Apparently this handheld is able to play all current and future 3DS games in 2D!!! Wow Nintendo no one thought to turn off the 3D feature on their 3DS when their eyes are bleeding so why not buy a handheld which does it for us! Well its also able to play a majority of DS games and download DSI store games, but seriously what is the point to this I really don't see the need for this and the 3DS plays all DS games anyway. And its not even the concept of the device that's bad its even bad in the way it has been designed to be held and look, the point of having any DS is having the ability to take it out wherever you want to and be able to play on the go I mean that's what a handheld is right? So why is this thing design to be this block that isn't able to fold closed, fit in someone's pocket and even fit in someone's hand comfortably. Lately made apparent with the 3DS Nintendo is having a problem with designing comfortable handhelds, the 3DS really hurts my fingers if I play it for longer than an hour so imagine holding this. I can clearly see so many of Nintendo's customers complaining because they accidentally dropped it.

So what do you honestly think of this? Because if Nintendo honestly believe that releasing this on the 12th October this year is a good idea, then they are seriously going to have to come up with something big to make up for this mistake.