So this is what I want you to do. I want you to start at this place, then run over to the mountains in the next couple of miles. I want you to climb over that, then follow some animal tracks. Be mindful that there might by GIANT ASS wolves on the trail to. They look like some big boys. Afterwards I want you to find (once again assuming) my ex/current boyfriend who I am mad at, and tell him to hurry back to my spot before I lose blood and die. Can you do that within a matter of a few hours? Nope?! What do you mean no?! What?! You want me to lose my life?! Well, fuck you too! No lie I would have said no too. How did Balsa expect Chagum to do that? And even the bigger question is, how the fuck did he do it, and still have time to come back and save Balsa? Chagum…what are you?

Balsa, you go girl! Fighting off four guys like a BOSS! I see you! My girl went to work. Even after her injuries, she still carried that big boy for what I assume was a few miles. But I do have a few concerns. I know you were concerned about trying to not lose blood, but couldn’t you have at least moved out of harm’s way? You literally laid there and didn’t flinch when those two were fighting each other.

And one last thing. I feel so sorry for Toya and Saya. Please don’t tell me that they live there?! I thought that their previous place was bad, but this one is far worse. Harry Potter had a better room than that dresser you two were at. Compared to that, Harry Potter was living in a master suite.

And ksmovnsiogsiogsNGVsjoa! SO awesome to hear Izzy’s voice as Chagum. I wasn’t really excited to watch it in English Dub, but once I heard his voice I got all giggly. I love you Izzy!

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The Phantom Files: Eve

We live in the midst of a nerd renaissance. Film, TV, and online franchises of our favorite beloved characters and brands are mainstream hits treated with respect, and nostalgia reigns supreme. With said nostalgia came a lot of reboots, and people complaining about ruined childhoods. But, this is not a rant about how it is impossible to taint something you loved by making something new. This is about how groups of people can be so obnoxious in their fandom that they make their object of affection un-enjoyable.

I have been in love with many a series of anime of sci-fi in my life time and the one thing I learned early on is no one will enjoy the things you won’t shut up about. So, SHUT UP. I love that you have a fandom and that you can talk to other fans about it and enjoy a community. However, you have to learn when to not over talk about it when you want to get others involved. Many a anime has been put on my “I Will Never Watch” list, merely because I worked 8 conventions in a row were the series fandom were obnoxious shits at my friend’s booth. Yes, I asked about your cosplay because I had not seen the character before. No, that is not an invitation to prattle on about how your new favorite thing is the best thing that has ever been. By the way, it probably is not. Also, when you are combative about your fandom’s superiority I do not only wish to not watch your show/movie, I do not want to speak to you.Your excitement is only infectious when it doesn’t feel like a religious zealot knocking at my door at 9am on a Saturday. Calm down, and learn that you are not the only authority on what is awesome in the world, and it is perfectly cool that you are not. Why does it matter if someone doesn’t share the same opinion as you on a piece of entertainment? Does it somehow effect how much you can enjoy it?

To the fan who knows to leave their commentsat “It is my favorite.” or “You should look it up if ____ is your kind of thing.” this is not about you. You are the crown jewel of fandoms, who understand that they are a unique individual, whose tastes do not always align with others. You keep being the friendly fan who holds the door open for would be ones if they ask to come in, and the person who nods with acceptance to those who walk on by.

I love being a nerd, but labeling myself does not mean I have to watch or like everything in the Nerd spectrum. I don’t have the time in my life to ingest that much content, let alone be blank enough of a slate to like everything that has been fed to me. I like what I like,
dislike what I dislike, and venture into new things when something catches my eye. If you would like your thing to be one of those, don’t be a tactless dolt about how you present it.

This week the dark-skinned beauty returns and demonstrates the beautiful contrast of flushed dark cheeks! The company as a whole also has its annual health check-up at a hospital, so expect fanservice!The tan girl we’ve seen in previous episodes comes to chew Aoba out for giving the production team 3-D models that are riddled with errors. After promising to fix the errors, Aoba asks the girl, Ahagon Umiko, for her name. Yagami waltzes over and upsets her by calling her Ahagon. It is a rather interesting last name, I suppose.

Ahagon is forbidden!

After she storms off, Umiko is shown feeling terrible for going too far and scaring Aoba. Realizing how much sad Aoba resembles a sad pet monkey, Umiko rationalizes that giving her snacks or a toy will cheer Aoba up.

The likeness is uncanny.

Meanwhile the girls have a tea party while talking about Umiko. Rumor has it the girl injected herself since the nurse was taking too long with the shot! The director appears out of nowhere (as usual) and vouches for the short-tempered gunslinger as being reliable.

After the group gets back to work, Umiko returns to thank Aoba for fixing her models so quickly and to apologize for being too critical earlier. Umiko then gives Aoba an actual shotgun shell after receiving the full brunt of Aoba’s brilliant, radiant smile.

Aoba isn’t too enthusiastic about the gift, however.

Since she’s taken a shine to Aoba, Umiko then tries to asks Aoba to do stuff together, from having airsoft battles to playing FPSs.When Yagami appears, the three of them head over to Umiko’s secret training spot to play (which is apparently the roof of the building).

Private Aoba reporting for duty?

The next episode jumps to the girls having a collective check-up at a hospital. For some reason, Aoba wants to experience a barium enema! Unfortunately for her, that’s reserved for older folks.

Too lewd!

The girls walk into the waiting room only to encounter Yagami receiving a lap pillow. It turns out one of the nurses really sucked at taking blood so Yagami became exhausted (and traumatized) from the experience.

Rin’s not complaining.

Hifumi is lucky and is taken care of by the veteran nurse, but Aoba, Hajime, and Yun are forced to have the newbie nurse who ruined Yagami. However, the newbie manages to keep herself together until it was Umiko’s turn. As she loses her patience with the flustered nurse, the rumor is confirmed.

The stories…they’re all true.

The rest of the episode has the girls admiring Hajime’s toned abs and Umiko’s slim waist, the director attempting to rest on Umiko’s lap after she received a barium enema, and Rin realizing the implications of the lap pillow. Fan service and shiptease, ahoy!

Talking about Umiko’s wonderful thighs are forbidden.

Next week’s episode is titled, “It’s Summer Break!” Part-timers are going to be working over at Aoba’s company as debuggers, so maybe we’ll see new characters. See you next time!

An art club in a certain middle school has the following members: Subaru Uchimaki, who is a genius at drawing faces, but only wants to draw the perfect 2D wife; Colette, a rich troublemaker who never stops making mischief; and the club president, who sleeps through sessions and collects sleeping aids. Mizuki Usami is the only person in the club who wants to do art club-like activities, and constantly struggles to do so. –ANN

“This art club has a problem!” or “kono bijutsubu ni wa mondai ga aru!” or “konobi” in short, is totally hilarious. An innocent heroine who wants to do club activity seriously surrounded by a 2D waifu fanatic, a lazy bone president club, a troublemaker rich foreign girl, and a new socially awkward club adviser. Not to mention our heroine’s mischief friends. Can you imagine what kind of chaotic situation will happen in that club?

Even though Konobi’s description is a little bit chaotic, surprisingly it delivers good balance between comedy, romance, and slice of life theme. Usami’s secret love for her club mate, Uchimaki, is just too cute to describe. Too bad Uchimaki has no interest in 3D girl. But isn’t it what makes you wonder how this unrequited love will go on? With additional characters who acts insanely, this anime is sure an entertaining one. The seiyuus also do great job in breathing into their characters.

After watching 4 episodes, although Konobi delivers good story, I still can’t see the big one is coming. So even though it’s entertaining, I’m not sure if it’s gonna be great.

Source picture : 1.

So as you can see from the screenshot this was an interesting little episode. I was honestly surprised by the result since I didn’t think it could happen.Here’s Shokugeki No Souma Ni Sara Episode 7!

The episode starts with Akira being tied up to a chair and blindfolded. (I know this is food wars but this isn’t what it looks like I swear) He accurately guesses all the spices in front of him without seeing or touching them. Turns out this is just Akira’s hardcore training regiment and he’s training and honing his skill before the next match.

Meanwhile, Ryo is doing pushups and Alice comes in saying that he is definitely ready. There is a funny part where she sprays air freshener around immediately after that. It killed all the tense atmosphere in a very funny way. She’s in a good mood even though she lost to Soma thankfully. I’m glad that Alice isn’t sad since she is my favorite female character. You can say she’s like Erina but she’s different in my opinion.

The next fight shall be Akira vs Ryo if you couldn’t tell. I thought that Akira would win. The show seemed to be hinting at him going against Soma, but more on that later.

Meanwhile, it turns out Soma has invited himself into the VIP room. It was funny how much Erina disliked it. I love seeing her get knocked down a few pegs whenever possible.

The contest is a western style dish again. The two get to work and Akira is working on a dish that involves duck. Rumors say he’s a candidate for the elite 10 and Erina seems to favor him more as well saying Ryo lacks spirit. This is where Alice also makes herself invited in the VIP room.

Alice reveals that Ryo is more than he looks. He was basically raised in a hostile environment. He was always determined to win which is what makes him so crazy whenever he wears that red bandana basically. His life depended on cooking well and all he had to rely on was his skill and competitive spirit. Ryo is also quite hardcore about the whole thing. During this whole monolog, he kills an eel brutally on stage but no one is sure what he’s making quite yet.

The two try to trash talk each other a bit but it doesn’t seem to be working. That and they both seemed to be evenly matched despite the difference talents. Akira impresses everyone with his spices and Ryo has cast iron focus making sure everything is perfect so that he can win.

The dishes get finished. Akira makes one called Canard Apicius. When the female judges eat it, they immediately are in scantily clad duck costumes while talking about how amazing it is. At this point, the fanservice honestly makes me more curious if anything. Like “How will they make an interesting fantasy out of this dish?” We also get to see Akira’s spices personified as I think…Yu Gi Oh cards? (Unsure) and Ryo getting the shit beat out of him by said cards. That was definitely funny.

We then see Ryo’s dish. It is eel matelote. They start talking about the food incessantly, and Ryo tells them to just shut up and eat. Honestly, that is how I feel whenever they do this show. It saves screentime and the animation budget damn it stop rambling!

The eel itself impresses the judges a lot. Mixed with the mashed potatoes he also made it impresses them even more. As it turns out there really is more to Ryo and his skill then most people think. The judges are asked to choose which one they liked more.

Some were able to decide but the vote became split making the match a tie much to everyone’s shock. Soma realizes that both Alice and Erina are gone at this point and Ryo is needless to say furious.

They all discuss for this a bit and then decide on a way to settle things. They let them both progress and have the first ever 3-way match in the fall elections! The leader of the school agrees to this proposal and decides that Soma will be the one to compete with them!

Ryo is angered because he wasn’t the one to win and scares away one of the students congratulating him. This was pretty funny as well. Especially when Alice had to blow a whistle and tell him to basically knock it off like he was an animal of some kind.

Akira handles the whole situation much more gracefully. He seems a bit disappointed with the draw but cares more about the next match then the results of this one.

The students in the newspaper club want Soma to comment as well but he has no idea what to say but says he’s happy for the chance to continue forward like this. This ends the semi-finals!

The theme for the finals will be pacific saury. Every year is a new theme and this one is for this year. I’m curious to see what they’ll do with this! The fish has something all 3 of them can work well with. The match will be held in 10 days and it ends with the three standing epically near each other.

They all are trying to prepare, Ryo wanting to get right back to battling with Alice as practice. Meanwhile, Akira seems upset because all they seem to think he’s good for is spices. Only Soma seems to have his bearings on straight at this point.

This was really cool! I had no idea they would ever choose to do a tie, then again the opening had footage of Soma fighting those 2 if I remember correctly, so maybe I shouldn’t be that surprised. I look forward to the next episode!

I’m going to post a personal update up on WordPress soon about life and stuff. There are some things I want to say about life and of course, D Grey Man will be up on Wednesday! I bid you all adieu until then!

Review:

So Momotsuki is sick and his friends decide the best person to look after him is Kurihara which leads to the expected and standard girl looking after boy in room with embarrassed blushes sequences. What I did like was how they used this episode to show Kurihara is growing as a person.

Momotsuki’s sleeping face entrances her and she reaches for her phone and then she puts it down. She realises that she’s been staring at his picture and not at him. It’s a significant step in moving this relationship from slightly creepy to actually completely adorable.

The final sequneces where we see them trying out each other’s first names, with the extreme blushing is just a nice way to finish the episode and shows us that while they are moving forwad they aren’t taking any sudden leaps.

Momokuri can be found on Crunchyroll.

Yeah….Um…Hi!

Yes..It’s me again! Neko-desu in the house

*Ginbei screams in a girlish way*

I was checking out my old anime list that I watched in 2010-2013, It’s actually a USB compilation of the anime I watched in that time like Wagnaria, A certain scientific rail gun, Another, Full-Metal Alchemist, Chobits and more.

I watched some of it and I was really hooked on The Familiar of Zero. Chobits is good to, but the only anime that caught my attention, Kanojo ga Flag…

It interested me to do a review about this…This will be fun

Kanojo ga Flag revolves around a guy named Hatate Souta or Souta for short. Souta is a survivor of a sunken ship..but the question is.. How Did He SURVIVE! Souta met a girl that gave him the powers to see a “FLAG” in a person (A flag is like a thing in a dating sim or otomes that makes you see what does the character want or what is your acquaintance with the person or its also a thing to see the future of a person*I play too much VN for this*)

In that normal school day. A girl named Nanami Knight Bladefield was on her way to school (She is a princess btw) and The 2 met…In a very incidental way, Near a slipping Truck. After the incident..He walked out and nobody got hurt. After that, Nanami went to school questioning herself when they will meet again..and surprise surprise..They’re classmates

Bes.Bes.BES!

Nanami is a girl that wants to know answers to everything. She questions everything that she sees that is weird for her.

There are more characters in the story. Akane Mahougasawa is a Ojou-sama (A rich girl) that loves Souta…For a reason. She was kissed by Souta to save her flag from

dying. Kikuno Shōkanji is Souta’s childhood friend that treats him like a little brother..But little that you know that she also loves Souta and her flag doesn’t break.

Megumu Tōzokuyama is a trap…Actually nobody knows if she is a boy or he is a girl…She or He is a Megumu. Souta is the first one that treated him like “Guy” that’s why Megumu or Meg admires him too much

Bride?

Others like Rin, Ruri, Serika, Mimori, Tsumugi, Mei, Kuromiko and Hakua will not be explained in this list but i think i can give you a pic

From Right to Left: Serican, Megumu, Miyuki, Rin, Kuromiko, Mei, Ruri, Tsumugi, Mimori, Kikuno and Hakua

This anime is the best.

The laughs that this gives is limitless, Actually one of the best comedy romance that I’ve watched (Where’s your nisekoi now b*tch) My favorite scene happens everytime actually (3 or more times) Is when they hold hands with everyone and spin and they make like a friendship nado

This anime..I suggest for everyone who wants a good time with watching anime..It’s pretty good actually. The romance and comedy is balanced and it also gives a good vibe to the watchers. All in all..Comedy Romance and Flags are really good on each other..

I’ll give this anime a Megumu/Trap score

Watch this anime..Nyaa~

Byee~

Let’s brush our teeths

One of my favourite things about anime is the diverse kinds of beautiful animation. Just like western animation, in anime there are countless styles of animation, from the moe of Lucky Star to the… JoJo-ness of Jojo’s bizarre adventure. So clearly this challenge was hard to decide on, but eventually I settled on Kotonoha no Niwa, or The Garden of Words.

The Garden of Words follows the story of Takao Akizuki, a 15 year old who is determined to become a shoemaker. He skips morning classes to design shoes in a large public garden, which is where he meets Yukino, a 27 year old who is also skipping work, but in her case to eat and drink copious amounts of chocolate and beer. Over the course of the 46 minute movie they find much needed companionship together, and are able to move on from the problems that plagued them the first time they met.

The Garden of Words is an incredibly beautiful anime movie and I found myself lost in the almost photo realistic beauty. Every scene is beautifully drawn, from a rain-streaked train sitting at a quiet station to the lush greenery of the garden. There was always a sense of lingering loneliness about the art, with most scenes only having one or two characters, usually accompanied by rain. With great music to boot, The Garden of Words is undeniably a masterpiece to see and hear.

Unfortunately, I found the anime pretty lacking when it came to plot. While it was loaded with metaphors and symbolism, I felt like the anime’s storyline was kind of basic. The story of Takao and Yukina is touching but often mundane, with few plot twists. The constant rain of most of the anime, while creating an atmosphere of loneliness, also made everything a little same-old. The art and music was what kept me hooked.

Despite it’s downsides, The Garden of Words is a definite must-watch if you want to be blown away by brilliant art and fluid animation. What do you think is the anime with the best animation? Leave it below in the comments! :3c

Nowadays food has become more and more important in movies. It doesn’t just get involved in movies for some pretty scenes, but actually become an important character. Recent years we can see that there are more food movies on screen.

Food has always been playing a significant part throughout most of Hayao Miyazaki’s movies. In his movies, food is usually used to help the plot moving forward, and to bring characters together. I found that food in Miyazaki’s movie has the power of healing, and it sometimes brings out deep thoughts of humanity and the relationship between human and nature. It plays such an important role in his movies that fans and audiences are obsessed about all kinds of food presented in Miyazaki’s movies. People not only try to find the same food outside of Japan, but also try to create recipes and reproduce some classic scenes in movies.

In Spirit Away (2001), food sets the whole story into motion. It appears throughout the whole story, and it affects people in all different ways.

Most of food in this movie is based on real food you can find in Japan and Asia. People have been trying to recognize them while watching. Food is an important part in any culture, and you can get to learn Japanese culture by these food. In Spirit Away, there are comfort food such as onigiri and sushi, and there are also some regional dishes and festival dishes.

In Spirit Away, Chihiro’s parents eat food that were prepared for ancient gods and don’t pay for it, so they are punished and turned into pigs. Food presented in this scene is huge, oily and piled up like mountains. It delivers the message that food represents lures that arouse people’s greed for satiety and pleasure to audiences. Chihiro’s parents represent the people who lose control and lose themselves to desire in real life. Miyazaki tries to warn audiences about controlling ourselves in front of lures in this scene.

Food also represents kind and friendship when Chihiro meets Haku. He helps Chihiro while she starts to disappear by giving her onigiri. The rice balls not only save Chihiro’s life, but also cheer her up. Chihiro’s friend Lin, also shares sweet buns with her to show her support. Later in the movie, Chihiro uses a magic dumpling to save Haku’s life. These food that provides positive power and comfort all look very simple and normal in Spirit Away. Rice ball, sweet bun and dumpling. Miyazaki believes that food has the ability to suppresses evil and bring comfort to people. It’s the simplest food that actually can heal people from the heart.

It’s probably because that I’m a foodie, so I pay extra attention on food wherever they appear. However I do believe that Miyazaki use food in his movies to deliver different messages to audiences. I’ve watched Spirit Away six times, and I still get something new each time I watch it. I hope anyone who watch Miyazaki’s movies could enjoy his magic from different aspects, and could enjoy the amazing world he build for us.

To be honest, I’ve had a twitter account for years and I hadn’t started to use it until recently. I used to think it’s a simplified version of Facebook, but as I’m working on my blog, I find out that it’s a really useful source for gathering information and other people’s opinions. I’ve listed some accounts I’m following right now that helped me on my blog posts. They are also great to follow if you are interested in anime.

Anime Recommended (@janimerecommend) — An account that recommends anime and rates in grade of 10.

アニメ！アニメ！(@AnimeAnime_jp) – A Japanese account that tweets latest news about Japanese anime, anime events and voice actors.

Foomafoo (@foomafoo) – A Filipino blogger who writes reviews on anime, manga and light novels he picks randomly and has been blogging for years.

Someone (@Falahime) – This blog gives short reviews and impressions on new anime every season. A good place to have a quick glance when picking new anime to watch.

Jd Banks (@jeridel) – A Japanese culture blogger, manga podcaster, freelance writer and digital artist. She gives advices and information about Japanese culture and anime events.

Killua / Nic (@killua93) – A Singaporean manga lover. Shares her favourite manga in her blog and is welcomed to ask her for recommendations. Sometimes also shares cosplay and games.

Anime (@___Anime____) – An account that shares famous quotes from Japanese anime and manga in English.

Ink (@AnimatedInk) – Contributing editor of the website Ani-gamers, Otaku USA magazine and The Fandom Post. Posts commentary and criticism mostly on Japanese anime, manga and video games since 2004.

#TeamAnime (@TeamAnimee) –An account that tweet about funny anime scenes, quotes, reviews and memes.

SG Desperado (@Desperado316) – Anime blogger. Writes reviews on both Japanese and Western anime, TV series and games. Mostly focuses on One Piece and Naruto. Sometimes gives quizzes to challenge readers.

I did manage to watch D.Gray-man Hallow 07 today. It seems to be moving along now. Solar says that Road is best girl. So have some Road. More pics after the break.

The AR articles have taken me a bit more time than expected. They should be coming out this week now that most of day 1 is written.

If you are a fan of Japanese anime, you’ll be familiar with the term “Youkai/Yokai”. It’s a class of Japanese folk creatures, monsters or supernatural beings. It’s also a popular theme in Japanese anime. There are many successful Youkai anime such as Inuyasha; Natsume Yuujinchou and Mushishi (my all-time favourite). For all you youkai anime lovers out there, here are three youkai anime I think you will enjoy watching.

https://movie.douban.com/photos/photo/2166693240/

巷説百物語 Kousetsu Hyaku Monogatari (Requiem from the Darkness)

This anime was adapted from Natsuhiko Kyogoku’s short story collections “The Wicked and the Damned: A Hundred Tales of Karma” in 2003. A young writer Monosuke who wants to collect ghost stories come across a mysterious trio called Ongyou. He is then involved in a series of strange incidents that uncover the dark sides of humanity.

Each episode of this anime is an individual story about a traditional Japanese youkai tale. At the end you will find out that there were no actual youkai, just human who are blinded by their desires.

Warning: Following feelings might appear while watching this anime: dizzy, upset, ashamed, desperate, just want to lay down and cry for everything because you hate this world. (Just kidding (x

https://movie.douban.com/photos/photo/1015305516/

河童のクゥと夏休み (Summer days with Coo)

To make up for people who needs a heart-healing anime, I’m now recommending this anime movie to you. This anime was published in 2007. It’s about a boy Koichi who accidently found a Kappa (water spirit) and brought it home, and how his family help the Kappa to adjust and live in the modern world.

The movie tells the story in an unhurried way and have some unpredictable turns throughout two hours’ time. You will be amazed by the beauty of nature in this movie, and be upset by how it’s totally changed by human. It hits my heart so hard when Coo, the Kappa, climbs onto the Tokyo Tower helplessly and facing the city that is full of steel and noise.

And don’t forget to prepare some tissue before watching because you might burst out laughing and crying. Several times.

https://movie.douban.com/photos/photo/1572882137/

わすれなぐも (Wasurenagumo)

Warning again: people who are afraid of spiders, think twice before you watch. J

This is a short anime (25 mins) published in 2012. Heroine Mizuki accidently releases a young spider demon from a sealed book. The shopkeeper Suzuri is bewitched by it and leads to a tragedy ending.

Unlike the first two anime I recommended above, this one shows you the real evil side of youkai. And you couldn’t realize it until the last five minutes when the atmosphere suddenly turns down sharply.

Recommend watching time: at night. Or anytime you want to get a little chilled.

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I hope you enjoy these anime! Feel free to let me know how you feel about them. ;)

Anime: Watashi no Ashinaga Ojisan (My Daddy Long Legs)

| Episode: 9

So, school starts for me next week, but here’s what I decided to do to myself: I started reading the 2012 Deadpool comics, Deadpool and Cable in hype of the upcoming Deadpool sequel, which from the Nerdist, will feature Cable and Domino. I also started to read the New 52 Suicide Squad because I was informed after seeing the movie that’s what the not great movie was based on. I also started watching Teen Wolf and catching up on Supernatural. I’m also still catching up on various manga and still haven’t finished my history packet because of all of those things, I have inFamous 2 in my possession and have like three missions left before I beat the game. 

I also learned through the mist of all that that I may be lactose intolerant still. I thought it went away if it even does go away. Won’t stop me from eating ice cream tho, fight me on it. My Wattpad is getting more and more popular, no, not really I only have thirty followers ;-;. But it’s cool, I haven’t been on there in a while anyway. I’ve been spending a lot of my time on Instagram. 

I finally got my uniforms and it’s told to all Poly freshmen to not wear orange on the first day so I’m not but first day of 12th grade, I’mma wear orange. That’s all for now. Until next time. – Sollux

Who’s the real monster?

In the catalogue of adjectives that swirl amidst existence, perhaps the most commonly affixed to life itself is “unpredictable”. Left turns, right turns, zigging when it should be zagging, this most ephemeral of concepts is truly a fickle one. This, of course, is only compounded should ones particular iteration of life involve flesh eating monsters, near-superhuman police officers and an overall vibe of malice and terror. However, through these circumstances, the term unpredictable bends and buckles, it pivots and shifts until it no longer resembles its initial definition, taking on instead a more malicious meaning and a seemingly more purposeful darkness. For despite the apparent impartialness of a concept, life can more often be cruel than kind.

So…season one ended pretty harshly didn’t it? Now, to save us all a little time, I’ll go ahead and answer this for all of us; yes. Tortured in a way that made us all rethink wanting that regeneration superpower, poor old Kaneki is no longer the kid who we met in the first episode. Twisted by his experiences, and now sporting a funky fresh hair colour, our protagonist has ceased his monologues on peace and acceptance, instead opting for silence and beating up humans. So in short, a total 180. Now, from a storyline perspective, this is an interesting turn. Though not unfounded, heroes shifting allegiances is generally reserved for unseen set up or the establishment of a cliff hangar. But not this time, no, this time we get an episode one side shift that leaves us with plenty of time to unravel Kaneki’s motivations, witness his actions and deal with the consequences. Unfortunately, this does not happen to any acceptable degree. Spoiler warning for anyone who didn’t pick it up immediately, Kaneki’s reason for allying with Aogiri (the villainous faction in question) was to protect his friends. You know, learn the ways of combat from the fight hungry ghouls that plague Japan and utilise those skills to keep his loved ones safe. A solid reason, as well as one that shows Kaneki is still very much lying within his new stoic facade. That being said, this is not a big twist and I get the distinct feeling that the series wanted it to be. With his motivations revealed to Touka through some not-so-subtle hints and assumptive dialogue, nothing of note changes. Nobody villains catch on to his ruse (because I’m pretty sure they all know anyway), no heroes come to his aid, no ancillary characters piece anything together. Thus, a scene that has all the trimmings of a big reveal transforms into a sequence that blends into the timeline. Though to be fair the encounter does make Touka smile and, after having been downgraded from awesome ghoul girl to side character who doesn’t do much at all, she deserves that.

He used to be such a sweet boy…

Bouncing off that point, allow me to sum up the vibe of this series as I have come to understand it; a series of short stories trapped within a plotline. Arcing off the first season, √A goes to great lengths to pad the world of Tokyo Ghoul, exploring the characters that comprise the greater cast and providing reasons for their actions. Which is neat. However, in doing so, the series simply seems distracted from its initial premise and spread much to thin. From Kaneki’s sombre turn to the dark side, we visit the human side of the war equation and witness Amon adjusting to his new partner Akira, the daughter of his former partner/mentor. A moment for us to delve more into Kaneki’s parallel? Yes, yes it is. Actually a buddy cop style storyline revolving around a confluence of emotions and protocol, topped with a workplace comedy? Yes, yes it was. Now while I do not decry a little lightness here and there, the overall pacing of this plot aspect, as well as the series in general, left this feeling like a cliche slice of a slice of life. From cold hearted genius rookie to confused love interest in record speed, I honestly didn’t care enough about Akira for her connection to Amon to mean anything…not that my feelings for Amon were particularly strong. He’s stoic, he’s stubborn, he’s by the book, I get it. In fact, I got it back in the first season. And, despite the arrival of a love interest, I do not feel as if any of this has changed, a feeling I extend to much of the cast, if not all of it. The shortness of this Amon/Akira plot, the cutout natures of the characters within, this extends to each and every story present, hence my comment about being spread to thin (sorry if I got a touch distracted from that). Good guy cop (not Amon), malicious cop, bad guy Ghoul, good guy Ghoul, innocents, guilties, bystanders, conspirators, all the core groups you want to hit in a story, but without the uniqueness that breaks them from the mold. I hold no misconceptions, every character ever created can be put into a category, that’s just a fact. However it is the job of a story to make you forget this fact, to build upon this framework and produce a character you can care about, that you can differentiate from all those like them. Tokyo Ghoul does not do this. I do not feel as if any character was their own existence. Simply, they were the archetype needed to push the story forward. I assume this is also the reason that the series felt as if it could simply insert characters with zero backstory and have them comprise climactic combat scenes. Some form of super ghoul and an unseen super police officer? Reserved for a spontaneous last episode appearance. Now to be fair, the super ghoul was vaguely referenced in the episode prior, but as for the Dove (officer), zero warning, zero explanation, zero impact on the story. Made even worse by the character’s utterances that he was awesome, like we were dumb for not knowing who he is. Which is not a good vibe for a series to exert.

Knife to meet you

Adding on to the argument regarding the rushed nature of the subplots, I would also like to add the addendum that everything in this series is far too connected for its own good. On more than one occasion, characters were revealed to have been connected on multiple unforseen levels, completely destroying any sense of mystery or chance previously established. Again, whilst a useful tool and interesting concept, the lack of moderation completely nullifies this effect. The most egregious example of this revolves around the mystery of the One Eyed Owl, which I will now cover with no regard for spoilers. Long proclaimed as the strongest Ghoul in existence, we come to learn that this demonic entity is a natural born half-Ghoul and is in fact the child of Anteiku’s owner, Yoshimura. Now, whilst this goes a way to explain his particular opinions regarding Ghoul-human relations, the series feels as if this is not enough and takes this reveal a step further. Not only connected to Anteiku, the Owl also happens to be the bandaged member of Aogiri, the very same member who seems to hold some degree of interest in Kaneki. Mysterious…and not yet finished. No, there’s one more level to this my friends, yes, the Owl also happens to be the ditsy girl who befriended Hinami during her trip to the bookstore. What? Three connections? How interesting, almost as if it was on purpose…except for one little thing, on last nagging issue I have. you see, the reason Hinami meet the Owl unbeknownst is that she just so happens to be the author who Kaneki loves, the one he has always loved, the one whose books he was reading in the first episode and prior, before any of this Ghoulish business began…why? I don’t know. It’s all just too neat. Why did the Owl have to be so much to so many, even when there was no precedent? It just reeks of meta interference and cuts any strings suspending your disbelief when it comes to happenstance and organic connections, which, for a series devoted to building a world, is not a great aspect to have.

The dogs of war have company this havoc’s cry

Coming off of the season that preceded it, Tokyo Ghoul √A is an oxymoronically obvious and subtle pivot. Whereas the series initially focused on Kaneki’s personal experience and development through his half-Ghoul existence, this season instead placed the world itself as the primary character, whilst those within it were used as a tool to support it. Again, while this is an interesting framing device, too much remained from its previous iteration, making Kaneki’s sudden removal from the forefront of the story seem random at best. Combined with the improbable connections and shallow rapidity that plagues each sub-story, √A comes across as disjointed and structurally hectic when compared to its origins. Yet another problematic layer is spawned from the inherent feeling that this anime is an adaptation that trimmed detail in order to spur the story forwards. As previously mentioned, certain characters receive little to no introduction and yet hold a fairly decent place within the events that unfold. The actual mechanics of the world are also left in the air as characters offhandedly mention facts which we as the audience have no knowledge of. RC Cells, RC Suppression Gas, the Kagune themselves, the newly important Kakuja, all important elements that are far more mysterious than is necessary, especially considering that they are apparently widespread knowledge in-universe. Though I appreciate the slow discovery that can follow along with a story, this is not one of those situations and simply results in frustration.

It’s less of a One Eyed Owl and more of a…Satan?

As it stands, Tokyo Ghoul √A is not an amazing series. Though far from the worst offering I have ever seen in the sequel department, it does not stand up that well when compared with its precursor. Having shifted from its personable tale to a more worldly nature, √A does not utilise the strengths of this change in a way that justifies it. Each story feels rushed, each character feels like the mere beginnings of a character and the overall conclusion of the series does not feel entirely earned, nor does it carry the weight the finale of a two season long story should. Which is a shame. That being said, and in order to end with a little praise, the visuals of the Kagune are still interesting, suitably creepy and the violence committed with them is just as blood heavy as ever. My personal favourite moment/aspect of the series however is of the aural variety and one I shall leave a little on the vague side, with the hopes of spurning your interest. Let me just say that frantic, atonal piano is one heck of a powerful way to represent insanity…and that centipedes are 100% as frightening as you thought they were.

If the Madman eludes your sight, look inward

Grade: C

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