Top 4 Anime Recomendations For People Who Have Seen 0 Anime

What happened when you watched anime for the first time? Did you think that it was weird, interesting, frightening, like something you had never seen before? I felt all of these things when i was watching Spirited Away at the age of 10, which spawned my interest in anime. I have today compiled a short list here of a couple of shows that you would like if you either have gotten recommended or you purposely want to get into anime. This is for people who haven't seen ANY anime.

Death Note, 37 Episodes, 1 Season Series, 2006, Thriller

Story

Out of boredom, a shinigami called Ryuk drops a death note to the human realm. A genius boy named Light Yagami who one day finds the book dropped on the ground, picks it up. In the instructions, it says that when you write a name in the death note, that person dies in real life. He uses it and starts to use the death note as he wants to eradicate all criminals from the world.

Personal Thoughts

This is what got me into the more "dark" and " serious" types of anime. Before watching death note, I hadn't watched any anime in years and it was when I saw death note that I quickly wanted to watch more of that style anime again. 

 One-Punch Man, 24 episodes, 2 Seasons, Series, 2015, Comedy, Action

Story

One punch man is about a failed businessman named Saitama who decides to train like an elite athlete to become a superhero. He eventually becomes so strong that he can beat enemies with just one punch. 

Personal Thoughts

OPM opened up the world of anime to a lot of people, and the anime is very short and easy to watch. It's also action-packed and even though it's a parody of long battle anime like f.ex Naruto and bleach, it has a great story and stellar animation. However, I would only recommend the FIRST season.

 Spirited Away, Movie, 2001, Supernatural

Story

A spoiled and naive girl named Chihiro is moving into a new town with her parents when they suddenly notice an amusement park that slightly different then it what appears to be at first.

Personal Thoughts

It was my first anime ever and got me obsessed with the supernatural genre in anime. This is a must-watch if you are not only into anime but movies also. Because I consider this to be as much of a classic as let's say "A clockwork orange" or "Citizen Kane".

A Silent Voice, Movie, 2015, Drama

Story

Shouya Ishida is a bored elementary school student who tries to beat his boredom in many cruel ways and when the deaf Shouko Nishimiya transfers into his class, Ishida and some other classmates start bullying her for fun and when she eventually leaves the school, Ishida takes all the blame even though he was only just one part of it. Now in his third year of high school, Ishida is still plagued by his mistakes as a young boy. Because he is regretting his past actions, he sets out on a journey of redemption: to meet Shouko once again and make peace with everyone.

Personal Thoughts

Prepare to cry while watching this one, this is a very dramatic anime with themes of bullying, suicide, etc.

As you saw this list was a mix between movies and series, this is because if you want something more bite-sized I recommend one of the two movies, but if you want something more cohesive and long with stuff like character development, characterization, etc. Watch one of the two series. This list didn't include every genre, it only included the ones that I think are easy to watch/get into.

This is all for now,

Sayonara mina san

First Episodes: Shield Hero, Cardcaptor Sakura, One Punch Man S2

Hello everyone, and welcome to a new segment to My Anime Life.

In this new segment on the blog, I'm going to write about my first impressions of 3 new shows that I'm giving a chance during one spare evening. These are shows that have been on my PTW list on Myanimelist for a while, and I thought what better way than to talk about my first impressions of these anime right here.
 I will talk about each show, giving you my thoughts and then decide if I'm going to drop the anime, put it on hold or continue watching it.  I will see later on how often I will do this, but I hope that all of you readers will have a fun time reading this while I do this, so let's start with...

Cardcaptor Sakura: This reminded me of the very first series I watched back in the day called Kamichara Karin. Karin was a magical shoujo show that was very upbeat and happy with some romance sprinkled across it. I've heard that there will be romance later here but so far I'm digging everything about it even though it's aimed for maybe a slightly younger audience than me (I'm 16). So, it probably won't do some batshit insane things like what happened in Madoka Magica.

Judgment: I will, however, put this anime on hold, even though I was impressed, I wasn't as impressed as some of the other first episodes that I watched this evening.

The Rising Of Shield Hero: Damm, this was interesting. It was a bit daunting to see that this episode was 47 minutes long and also that I'm also nooot the biggest fan of this genre. I have only completed two isekai shows previously (NGNL & SAO), but just from this episode alone, this is much more unique and un-cliche than both of them. I actually felt pissed off at what was happening to our main lead, Naofumi. At first, I thought that this would be just another isekai but then when I saw what happened to him I was like well, this is different. (not going to spoil)

Judgement: I'm continuing watching this one, everything about Shield Hero was infuriating but that's exactly why I'm going to be watching it.

One Punch Man S2: Not bad, but not that great. This was not as a strong of an episode that the very first episode of the first season was. The first thing I noticed was that the animation has gone down a notch, this was because studio MadHouse adapted the first season but now it's J.C Staff, which are more famous for their high school romcoms (f.ex Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo & Toradora!)
 It's still as hilarious as the first season, I laughed so hard when Saitama suddenly appeared at King's house. but I hope it will pick up and improve from here on.

Judgement: I'm continuing to watch this one, but if it doesn't improve animation and quality wise, I'll have to drop it.

Final Thoughts: This has been an experiment, but this was really fun, the reason why I even did this was because to explore these anime that have been sitting on my PTW list for like months, so I thought that I would make this segment, which is perfect for me to not only give these shows a chance (whatever they are current or classic) but also to recommend you what you can expect from these anime, kinda like me giving you all recommendations on what to watch.

100 Completed Anime!

After 7 years of watching, I finally completed 100 anime!

Now, when I have watched 100 more anime, how long will that take?

Thoughts On Madoka Magica

WARNING- SPOILERS!!

Around a week ago, I got around to finishing Madoka Magica, a magical girl anime that's not very "magical".  It's more dark and grim. These girls have terrible lives, they live in this world where they got tricked by some cute animal, only to end up not only getting killed but also becoming an immortal witch afterward, how grim is that! Madoka is yet another great anime from the amazing Shaft, which has made some of the greatest anime I've ever laid my eyes upon like Monogatari & ef a tale of memories. Shaft has easily over the past few months become one of my all-time favorite studios, I love the aesthetics, the head tilts,  the initial confusion and then understanding of what exactly you're watching, f.ex in monogatari. I've only seen one magical girl show before, and that was Kamichara Karin, a show that was extremely lighthearted and cute, which Madoka is the complete opposite of. For Madoka, I just thought that it would have some dark undertones, not that it would be another Evangelion. I mean that ending reminded me so much of end of Evangelion, where Madoka essentially becomes a god and frees other magical girls from their wishes so that they completely break free from being a magical girl. The ending to the series was really sad and cruel with all of the girls except for Homura forgetting about Madoka entirely, I haven't seen the third movie which is the actual ending but I will watch it sooner rather than later. 

Alright my dudes, see you next time! 

Ja mata

Why Monogatari Beats Out All Other Harem

One of the genres of anime that I've explored deeply is the genre of harem. It's the perfect genre of anime to watch when you are 12, the age I was when I discovered the genre. I've lost touch with the genre quite recently and have been disinterested in almost all new harem shows such as "The quintessential quintuplets". But today, I want to show you guys one anime that defines all other harem anime out there. This harem anime is 100x better than any other harem I've seen and I'm more obsessed with it than any other harem.

Long ago I used to watch loads of these types of shows. Date a live, Nagasaraste airanto, seitokai no itchizon, is this a zombie? sword art online, yosuga no sora, shuffle! Rosario to vampire, ladies versus butlers, to love ru, and more. I have recently rewatched half of these shows and while some of them were good, somewhere a bit too cliche and simple. The only one I have recently watched (without dropping) were OreShura, Trinity Seven & of course Monogatari (am right now on Tsuki).

What makes Monogatari stand out so much as compared to other harem is a lot of stuff. Firstly, the protagonist of Monogatari who is called Koyomi has much more of a personality, he is perverted without being annoying about it and is laid back and introverted without being too nice to other people. Not only those Koyomi balance these two traits, but he is also unlike anyone I've seen. He is much more philosophical and mysterious than all the other harem protagonists. (Remember I'm on Tsuki, I've yet to see the kizu movies yet). Araragi doesn't even take pride that he helps the girls, he just says "T Notice that most harem protagonists either fall into the category of being too much of a pervert (f.ex Hyoudou Issei from High School DxD) or too much of a "nice guy" like Tsukume Aono from Rosario & Vampire. Koyomi Araragi balances these things quite nicely like f.ex helping Senjoughara but not ignoring her. And tickling Mayoi without doing anything too weird. In most harem anime the protagonists are quite dense. Take for example Ichika Orimura from Infinite Stratos. But, Araragi seems to be quite aware of the girls' feelings for him. Take for example when Araragi when Hanekawa confessed to him he replied with "I see" like he knew she would say that.
Not only do we have a non-cliche but an also an interesting and unique main character with a mysterious aura around him.

Secondly, we also have the girls around him. None of them fit any "dere" type (f.ex tsundere, kuudere, yandere, deredere). They're all different in their own ways, all of them have animal spirits. These animals spirits symbolizes different things for every girl in the show, f.ex Senjougharas spirit is the crab which symbolizes protection and security. Senjoughara appears to not want to do anything with anyone because of what had happened to her long ago, with her divorce and attempted rape. But when she meets Araragi she completely falls in love with him and starts to eventually interact with more people. Then we have Tsubasa Hanekawa, a girl who is in love with Araragi, she has the spirit of the cat and a tiger. Hanekawa wants to be a good and modest girl, she is however filled with loneliness and envy. Hanekawa lives with a cold family that she feels she barely knows. Therefore, The tiger symbolizes uncertainty and all of the dark things about yourself that you don't want to admit. Therefore again, the cat symbolizes Hanekawas aggression, strength, and courage. She wants to change and she doesn't know what to do with her feelings. That's why her cat form (black Hanekawa) goes out trying to kill innocent people.

Thirdly, the animation/style of the show. The screen cuts that appear every 5 minutes are extremely interesting, have you ever seen an anime done that? Shaft's animation here is also brilliant (as usual) and the anime is meant to be watched in a different order. Oh! That's the sweet stuff!

The last thing I want to mention is the lack of cliches in this show, I have mentioned this already many times in this post, but I truly mean that this show ignores most cliches and gets away with it.  Most harem follows a generic and dense guy in high school who has no interests whatsoever, he has a perverted and idiotic friend who wants all of the girls he is getting. The MC has a childhood friend who loves him, he has three other girls who love him. Then we get introduced to the main love interest who is a bit of a tsundere. Then comes the beach episode and then the time comes when he should pick a girl but then he picks no one because he wants everyone to be happy. I just described the walking cliche Da capo 3 to you all (yes all of that happens in that anime and for some reason, I've seen that show twice). Even though Monogatari has cliches and tropes, it doesn't use too many of them and the ones that the anime uses are more to its advantage. F.ex Hanekawa loves him, but Araragi falls for the new girl. But then what Monogatari will do is something completely left-field like f.ex when Araragi tickles Hackikuji. And That's what makes Monogatari original, creative and so fun to watch compared to so many other harems.

The only thing that I dislike about Monogatari is that it has made most of the harem anime I've watched before so boring and dull and I think it's going to be hard from now on to find a good harem anime that is at least comparable to this wonderful franchise

I hope to write more about this show in the future, but this is all for now.






































Sources: https://myanimelist.net/featured/2159/Nine_Harem_Protagonists_That_Actually_Have_a_Personality.
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HaremGenre
https://aminoapps.com/c/anime/page/blog/animal-motifs-in-monogatari/lVtQ_u3jvVD3n5xJpMK4ppJ51PV17j
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbXcnA82B7U

The Amazing Dynamics Of Dai-Gurren In Gurren Lagann

*Spoilers for Gurren Lagann*

One of my favourite anime of all time, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann has some of the most interesting, unique and even stylish characters in any anime ever! Let's take a look at our main characters firstly, we have Simon, who is symbolized by his red glasses, Boota and mainly for his symbol. We have Kamina, Simons "bro" who is symbolized by his blue hair, red glasses (they're not fucking orange) and his katana. And lastly, we have Yoko, who is symbolized by her rifle, her mini skull, and those booobies (c' mon guys don't deny like there were not the first thing you noticed) Anyways, what I wanted to get across here is how Gurren Lagann use their characters differently than in other shows, and what anime that will come in the future can learn from Tengen Toppa (i will call the anime sometimes Tengen Toppa instead of Gurren Lagann). But for today, I'm going to ignore those three characters and talk about the diverse, cooperative and unique supporting cast of the show. I will also try to focus on just the characters alone while not trying to mix other factors from the show because there would just be soooo much to write about. And I already have a review on the whole anime which you can find here: https://myanimelist.net/profile/Krav40/reviews

 The eccentric supporting cast of Dai-Gurren gets introduced just within the first 8 episodes. All of Dai Gurren makes the show even cooler, like f.ex Kittan who had this alpha tough guy approach but who has a heart and cared for all of his sisters. Before Rossiu, he was the coach/leader for Dai Gurren who made sure that everyone was doing what they were supposed to do. What makes him so likeable is that he doesn't take things too serious and that he can joke around from time to time, like f.ex he also cares deeply about his sisters and makes sure that no one upsets them, that's why him and Kamina had a mini-fight in the infamous episode 4( don't worry, I will sometime talk about this episode) . And then you have a guy like Leeron, I mean how many times do you see a homosexual character in a non-yaoi show like Leeron who is this interesting. While being the "brains" of Dai Gurren, he was all around the smartest character in the show and he made Dai Gurren work in terms of the mechanical and technical stuff. Then you have Rossiu, and he also has the leader aesthetic to him but without the macho or humorous style that Kittan has. What makes Rossiu so interesting is that his leadership is way more serious and authoritarian then Kitttan. Actually, later in the series is that he makes these quick decisions like f.ex imprisoning his friend Simon and taking over as the official president of the country. But while all of these decisions working, his mental state got worse and in episode 22 he went so far as to attempt suicide. Rossiu seems to be the only character that dislikes action and conflict. F.ex when he got asked to join Dai Gurren for defeating the anti-spirals, he said no and wanted to stay at the planet (even though he had no reason really). Gimmy & Darry were enjoyable because we got to finally see other characters come out of the surface, and we get to see these two be amazed by just everything around them like Simon was in just the first episode. They gave blood to the series and it was so fun to see the after the time skip and what their personalities had developed to. F.ex before Darry was just a deadpan girl, but then she grew to be quite helpful towards Simon. They also kinda felt like Simons disciples, which was fun to see because Simon deserves all the disciples for just being so amazing (dude deserves at least 100 000 disciples). Anyways, all of Dai-Gurren help out each other one way or another. F.ex Leeron notices an attack and reports it to Kittan. Kittan alarms everyone to get ready to fight and gets everyone into position and sends out f.ex Simon, Yoko, Darry & Gimmy, all strong and motivated fighters. After that, Rossiu comes in and gives orders to everyone on the battlefield what to do in order to win, meanwhile, Leeron analyzes the fighting field for other threats and challenges along the way.

Like another one of my favourite anime, Nagasaraste Airanto, Tengen Toppa uses talking animals as characters. Some of my favourite moments from the show were actually just where the animals where involved, like t.ex when Boota transformed into a human, when Viral and Simon were fighting and some random chicken interfered or when Nia was captured.


Also, the amount of character development that all of these people go through in this show is insane. F.ex Gimmy & Darry go from clueless kids too hard-working adults, Yoko becomes a responsible teacher and Simon.. This guy goes from being an outcast in his mine with no family, friends or ANYTHING (except Kamina) to becoming the saviour of the universe.

That's all, for now, folks, I hope you enjoyed this train of thought I had about Dai Gurren. I will write about more aspects of Gurren Lagann so stay tuned for that :D