Author Archives: OtakuAnthony

Farewell

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All things good and bad must come to an end someday and this one day something does end. As of this writing I have decided to leave Blog of the Hawk as a writer. So why am I leaving all of a sudden you ask? It boils down that I have no motivation to write anymore. The interest that I had in writing about anime last year has now been replaced with just a lethargic attitude towards writing about anime. I still like anime but writing about it now feels like a chore instead of a hobby.

Well I am not completely going away from the anime fandom. You can still find me on twitter at OtakuAnthony and I still will have things to say on there.

I have enjoyed the time that I have written for the site, but I have decided to leave before I start getting more cynical than I already am about writing.

Farewell,

OtakuAnthony

OtakuAnthony’s look at the upcoming Summer 2012 anime season

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So the start of the summer anime season for 2012 is just around the corner (okay so Kingdom already started). With that we all have an idea of what shows that would like to at least check out. Here is the current chart for the shows that will air this summer season:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
So with the shows listed in the picture, you might be asking “what shows am I looking forward to this season?” Below is a list of the shows that I am looking forward to watching this season.

Tari Tari – This could be similar to K-on! but there could be more focus on the music then there was in K-On!

La Storia Della Arcana Famiglia – Something about the description of the show interests me greatly.

Chitose Get You! ­­­– I have mixed results with 4-koma adapations anime titles. While I enjoyed 4-koma’s anime like Lucky Star and K-On! I have also had some disappoints with Kill Me Baby’s first episode did nothing for me and A Channel was just too generic as a whole.

Binbougami ga! – I like Sunrise shows so I will be giving it a shot.

Kono Naka ni Hitori Imouto ga Iru! – Incest stories are something I enjoy. I also have love imouto stories since I have a imouto fetish.

Campione! – This could be interesting to watch.

Hagure Yuusha no Estetica – It is made by ARMS so that is a plus in my book.

Dakara Boku wa H ga Dekinai – It’s a rom-com and I enjoy those to an extent so I will be checking it out.

Sword Art Online – I am enjoying this current season show Accel World and this seems similar that there is an online game but I like the idea of dying in the game means death in real life.

Kokoro Connect – I like gender bender stories so I will give it a shot to watch.

Ebiten – There needs to be more female otaku in anime and I do have an interest in female otaku.

So that brings me to a total of eleven shows that I have an interest in watching this season along with the currently airing shows from the current season Accel World, Space Bros, and Saint Seiya Omega along with another ongoing show Gundam AGE. If I had to take a guess I would say that with the eleven shows that I have listed above there is a good chance that I will finish less than half of the shows which is to be expected with any season. Now the real question is which shows are going to be picked up for streaming rights and which shows are likely to get both streaming rights and physical media rights in the R1 region.

Anime Review: The Vision of Escaflowne

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High school student Hitomi is transported from Earth to the magical world of Gaea, where she meets boy prince Van Fanel, and is caught up in his quest to unite the countries of Gaea against the ominous Zaibach empire. On the way, she discovers a hidden ability and strives to unravel layers of mystery surrounding Van, his past, and the giant machine known as Escaflowne.

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When you take an idea that by itself is nothing new in the medium of entertainment it can be challenge to build on that idea in a way to make a quality show and not just be run of the mill. While the basic premise of Escaflowne a high school girl being sent to another world is not new by any stretch of the imagination, it does show that by putting in the effort to develop on the basic idea and adding in some different genre concepts without doing it half assed you can have an excellent series that is enjoyable to watch.

So what makes Escaflowne so enjoyable? Well there are lots of things that make Escaflowne as enjoyable as a series. The first one is the cast of the series. These are not just two dimensional stock characters that have standard motives, no the cast members feel like real people and by the end of the series you can feel for all of them. The show does give off the “these are going to be standard characters” vibe early on but with some very strong character development through the series but the end they characters become more than they are when we first meet them. The one aspect of the character development that needs to be mentioned is the strength of the female characters in the show. Instead of just existing to provide fanservice for the viewers or just be stuck to stereotypical roles the females characters are in fact quite strong as characters. In fact I am going to go out in a limb here and say that the fact that we have a strong female lead character and the few females supporting characters are also so strong is that if the writer of the show made these females weak, the whole show itself would have been ruined completely by this.

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Choose my next review

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Okay readers I have a few ideas for what I want to review next, but I cannot make up my mind at all. So I decided it is time again for you guys to pick what I should review next. Below are the choices for stuff I would like to review. I have done this numerous times before but I am making a slight change with this. Along with the choices below I am also going to include an area for write in answer there. This is not going to be a free choice to put anything down there are a few rules with this. First it cannot be a show that I have already reviewed. Two, no rare OOP titles (I do not have that kind of money to track down those titles). Third, streaming titles are allowed HOWEVER they must be shows that appear on a legal streaming site (TAN, CR, Hulu, Funimation, Crackle, etc). Fourth, no super long shows*.  If you want to make a suggestion for what I should watch next you can either put the answer in the choice other or you can add it to the comments section of this post in a format similar to this:

Show: XYZ, it is currently streaming on DEF.

*Disclaimer: I do have the right to reject the majority vote if there is no realistic way for me to review the title in question (for example the sequel to a show that I have no watched, or something that would take too long for me to review like One Piece or Naruto)

The poll will run for one week starting tonight and will end May 19th at 6:00 PM EST.

Update: So it is a little late for the update but the polls are closed.  Since it was a tie between Blue Drop and Escaflowne I will review both titles.

Spring 2012 First Impression: Kids on the Slope OtakuAnthony’s Take

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Plot Synopsis: “Summer, 1966. Kaoru Nishimi has moved to live with relatives in Kyushu. He’s been an aloof honor student his whole life, but that starts changing when he meets Sentarou Kawabuchi, the school’s notorious bad boy. Through him, he learns the appeal of jazz and forms his first real friendships. “

I no little about jazz music so let me start with that. However you do not have to be an expert in jazz or even now jazz to enjoy the first episode of this new series. The cards are not all laid here and most of the episode is basically character introductions and some background information on Kaoru and what he has been through in life and what he has to go through as a new student at a school. The animation is good and the voice acting is nicely done and does not feel like it has to through moe voices to the females.

So the question that is on everyone’s mind is this going to be the best show of the season? Still way too early to tell but if things go the way they did with the first episode it is a strong change that it can be.

Score 4/5

Kids on the Slope is streaming on Crunchyroll

PS: For those who are wondering the title of the episode is the name of iconic jazz song