Genei wo Kakeru Taiyou

Title: Genei wo Kakeru Taiyou aka Day Break Illusion
Episodes: 12 or 13
Status: Ongoing
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Supernatural, Magic

Synopsis:

 In a world plagued by the Daemonia, creatures that take advantage of the negative emotions of people, transform them into monsters. Girls from 22 special bloodlines are chosen to wield the power of the Elemental Tarot and confront them.

The story follows Taiyo Akari, a 12 year girl who becomes the wielder of card "The Sun" and joins the mysterious organization "Sefiro Fiore" to confront the Daemonia along other card wielders. However, it does not take long for Akari to learn that with their duty comes an unbearable guilt, as to defeat the Daemonia, the humans aflicted by them must perish as well. (From Wiki)

The Anime

This is one of the anime that I picked up during the summer anime release and I'm glad that I picked this up. The opening is sung by LiSA - "Träumerei" and that was the very reason why I wanted to watch this anime. Kitmura Eri (VA of Saya from Blood + and Kawashima Ami from Toradora!) is also one of the seiyuus - another reason why I started watching this original anime series.

At first, I was a little sceptical when I saw the promotional posters. Little information was given about what kind of show it was and I even dismissed it before the fact that LiSA sang the opening caught my eye.  

Story

At first glance, it seemed like a typical Mahou Shoujo anime and I got that same impression after I started watching the first episode. Though it is a Mahou Shoujo anime (with many cute girls), it's rather dark at times, very much like Puella Magi Madoka Magica. (that show is awesome btw) 

The violence is nothing to laugh at, since it can be bloody at times. The show targets the human psyche, about human emotions and feelings - usually negative and focuses how such negative feelings can develop into something scary. The nature of Daemonia is rather complex and as mentioned, in order to kill those monsters, you will have to kill it's not-so-human hosts as well. And that, clearly, doesn't sit well with our Protagonist, Taiyo Akari. She's this peace loving girl who's super optimistic and doesn't really want to kill Daemonias (since they were humans) when she found out the truth. Even more so when she starts hearing the voices of the Daemonias when she's fighting them. 

To spice things up, in the first episode, she inadvertently killed her cousin who turned into a Daemonia when she "awakened" when her cousin attacks her. Her existence is then forgotten. (When Daemonias are killed, it's as if they never existed. Their whole existence is erased.) However, during one of the later fights, her memory returns and of course, it traumatises her, causing her to run away (that was when she found out the truth about Daemonias previously being human) 

Character Design

Seems like when they transform, their hairstyle changes as well. In Akari's case, her hair becomes longer and more fiery. Her bangs covers her right eye, giving off a cool vibe or rather, image. Her voice is deeper than usual as well and these changes are a contrast to her soft and sweet voice as well as short hair. 

Other characters seemed to have their own pasts as well, though not explicitly shown to us. We get image and scenes here and there but all those pieces have yet to be puzzled together into a story. Hence, this makes the anime more than what it seems.  

Moving on...

Anyways, do give this anime a try! :) :) If you don't like it...then maybe Mahou Shoujo ain't your thing. But do give this a chance. It has potential to become a good anime but unfortunately, it is a little underrated. 

By the way, if you aren't 17 and above, you might wanna reconsider your choice in watching this. (Due to the violence and all) 

Summer 2013 Anime Release

2013's Summer Anime started releasing several days ago -jumps up and down in excitement- and of course I'll be watching them~

Here's the List of new Anime that I'm watching or might watch: (there are more  but given the fact that i have limited time on my hands, these would do for this season)

1. Inu to Hasami wa Tsukaiyou aka Dog and Scissors
2. Brothers Conflict 
3. Danganronpa: Kibou no Gakuen to Zetsubou no Koukousei - The Animation aka Danganronpa: Academy of Hope and High School Students of Despair (Hikasa Yoko and Sawashiro Miyuki are part of the VA crew :3)
4. Gen'ei o Kakeru Taiyō aka The Sun Penetrates the Illusions (I'm only watching this 'coz the opening's by LiSA)
5. Fantasista Doll
6. Makai Ouji: Devils and Realist
7. Choujigen Game Neptune: The Animation aka Super Dimensional Game Neptune

 I'm already watching the ones in bold so here's a quick summary of the 3 of them:

1. Inu to Hasami wa Tsukaiyou

Genre: Mystery, Comedy.
Summary: A high school boy, Harumi Kazuhito is obsessed with  reading books but was killed during a robbery in a cafe after protecting a customer. His great desire to read Akiyama Shinobu's latest book (he refuses to die until he reads it) resurrected him into a dachshund and he now belongs to Natsuno Kirihime, a novelist who uses scissors to abuse him.










2. Brothers Conflict

Genre: Comedy, Romance, Reverse Harem
Summary: Hinata Ema's dad is remarrying and rather than bothering them, she decides to move into the Sunrise Residence Complex owned by her step-mother and at the same time, living with her 13 step brothers in that huge mansion. As she gets to know all of them, will one of them fall in love with her?











3. Danganronpa: Kibou no Gakuen to Zetsubou no Koukousei

Genre: (Murder) Mystery, Horror, Psychological
Summary: A group of 15 elite students are gathered in a special high-class high school. However, to graduate from the school, the only way is to kill one of your classmates and get away with it. If the other classmates discover the identity of the killer, the killer is the only one executed. However, if they fail to catch the killer, only the killer graduates and the others are annihilated. Which of the 15 will survive the bloodbath to come?

Hataraku Maou-sama

Title: Hataraku Maou-sama aka The Devil is a Part-Timer! 
Genre: Comedy, Fantasy, Romance, Action
Episodes: 13 
Summary (Taken from Wiki) : The Demon Lord and one of his generals, Alciel, escape Ente Isla through a portal to modern Tokyo, Japan after being confronted by the Hero Emilia Justina and her companions. However, due to the lack of magic in the modern contemporary world, both the Demon Lord and Alciel change into forms representing what they would look like if they were human. In order to survive, the Demon Lord takes a part-time job in a fast food restaurant named MgRonald while Alciel serves as his houseman. One day, the Demon Lord, who now goes by Sadao Maou, meets a girl who is actually the Hero Emilia, who now goes by Emi Yusa. 

Characters:

Emi

Yusa Emi (Emilia Justina): 

The "Hero" from Ente Isla. After forcing The Demon Lord to retreat, she ended up chasing him into a portal that leads them to modern day Japan. She lost her magic powers upon her arrival and has no choice but to work to survive. She works as a call center agent. 

Arisa

First Volume of Arisa

Left:Sonoda Arisa, Right: Uehara Tsubasa

Manga Title: Arisa by Ando Natsumi

Genre: Romance, Mystery, Shoujo

Summary: Twin sisters Arisa and Tsubasa were separated when their parents divorced but promised to send letters to each other to keep in touch.

Three years later, (aged 14) they finally met up again. Tsubasa was envious of Arisa's school life and hence Arisa suggests they switch places for a day. When Tsubasa reaches home, she goes on about how she envies Arisa to which Arisa said, "You don't know anything, Tsubasa. You don't know their secret, and you don't know my secret." After which she committed suicide by falling off the apartment window.

Arisa stays in coma while Tsubasa, determined to find out the truth , poses as Arisa and went to her school. There, she discovered the class's dangerous secret, known as the "King's Time"

Main Characters:

Uehara Tsubasa:

She's a delinquent and in her school, she's known as the "Demon Princess". She has poor grades and hangs out with guys or rather, her "pals" as girls tend to be afraid of her as she often gets into fights.

She dyed her hair blonde prior to the story and she thought her sister wouldn't recognise her. She loves her sister very much and would go to the extremes to help and save Arisa. She is also determined and strong-willed, often choosing to believe in Arisa in several instances.

She's the older of the twin.

Sonoda Arisa:

She's the Class Representative of Class 2-B and has good grades. She's rather popular in her class and is out-going as well. Deep down, she's a nice and kind girl who's insecure about her relationship with her mother, afraid that Tsubasa would take her away.

She's the younger twin.





Akira Manabe:

Arisa's classmate who doesn't really get along with others in the class. He is initially suspicious of Arisa, believing her to be the "KING" but later finds out that Tsubasa is pretending to be Arisa.

He helps Tsubasa in finding out who the "KING" is and has a childhood friend in the same class as him who hates Arisa (hell-bent on getting her revenge on her) because she believed that Arisa was the "KING" and she's the KING's first victim. She attempted suicide when she received the KING's traitor letter but survived.

Just felt the need to strangle someone after reading the latest chapter of Fairy Tail that came out today. Not that it's bad. (IMO)

-Spoiler alert-


Brief summary of last week's chapter:

Ultear was having a small monologue about how she hasn't changed at all and that she's still a "witch" who's willing to kill an innocent human being without a second thought. (Poor Ultear >.<)
Meanwhile, near the end of the chapter, Gray died while trying to save Juvia from the small dragon's attack (He was shot several times by their beams/lazer)

Many people were raging in the forums over that "pitiful death" of Gray's by putting the blame on Juvia. Here's how the scenario goes: Gray saved Juvia from a lazer/beam/attack from a small dragon/small monster thingy and tells her that he has something to say to her. Juvia misinterpreted (as usual) and was thinking about what could Gray possibly want to tell her. In that time, another beam was shot out and Gray shoved Juvia aside to protect her, only to get shot through the heart. And then a few more beams were shot through his body. You'd think things couldn't possibly get worse but a final beam shot through his head.

And yep, Juvia, Lyon and Meredy saw the traumatic scene. I'd say it wasn't fair to blame Juvia for Gray's death since it's probably a reflex thing to Gray that he had to save her. He'd probably save Lyon or Meredy if they were in Juvia's place. (Just saying.)  People argue that Juvia's body is made up of water and it wouldn't hurt her but I suppose the small dragon's beams were magic induced, so her water body wouldn't work here. I really have no idea what Mashima (the author) is trying to pull in this chapter but nonetheless I still like this chapter. Mostly liking  how his death was depicted. Reminds me of Musica's apparent death in Rave Master.

Brief Summary of today's chapter:

Ultear decides to sacrifice her life to perform "Last Ages" using her Time's Ark, to reverse time, to take the world back in time before the Dragons attacked. However, she was only able to reverse a minute. She dies in regret, thinking that she wasn't able to save anyone, thinking that her life is only "worth a minute". However, during that one minute, everyone had a pre-motion of what's gonna happen and so were able to predict the enemies' move, thus saving the lives of those who were supposedly dead or were going to die.

Macao who was on the brink of death, Droy and Gray who died were "brought back alive"

Once again, we were "trolled" by Mashima. Many were unhappy/disappointed by this chapter since they feel that its "predictable". Some stopped reading after this blah blah blah. I mean, this is the author's creation, he has the right to do whatever he wants. So far, he has done an awesome job with the series. Who are we to complain that the chapter was ridiculous? I'm fine with the chapter, though not overly surprised by the outcome. Just one minute. In one minute, Ultear has saved a few lives. :) And she dies without knowing that. How sad is that? Her death was a noble one. Just like Siegrain (from Rave Master) who died while protecting Elie's grave back in time. I think this is more realistic than her actually saving the whole damn world by going back to before when the gates open. It gives the whole "going back into time thing" more value since time is precious and knowing the "outcome" might change the whole course of history. 

Though i hope the dead stays dead now. Then it'd have some meaning in it. In any case, Ultear's death was...expected? I guess. Given the sins that she has committed the past years and her mini monologue the past last chapter and this as well...Though i'm quite saddened by her death. I find her character rather interesting though she could be a typical "bad girl turn good but not so good after all". 

 

I wonder what happened to her body. Did it got burnt from the magic she used?

 

Presenting my top 12 favourite characters for both females and males. And this is not in any particular order....

Females~

1. Erza Scarlet from Fairy Tail

Erza <3

2. Misaka Mikoto from Toaru Kagaku no Railgun

 Mikoto (Biri biri) <3

3. Mikasa Ackerman from Shingeki no Kyojin

Mikasa :D

4. Altria Pendragon aka Saber from Fate Zero

Saber  <3

5. Shana from Shakugan no Shana

Shana :3

6. Akiyama Mio from K-On!

 Mio :3

7. Nakamura Yuri aka Yurippe from Angel Beats!

Yuri  (Yurippe) :) :)

8. Tohsaka Rin from Fate/Stay Night

 Rin >.<

9. Kikuchi Makoto from The Idolm@ster

Makoto :DDDD

10. Haibara Ai aka Miyano Shiho from Detective Conan

Ai :3

11. Nishikino Maki from Love Live!: School Idol Project

 Maki :3

12. Kisaragi Chihaya from The Idolm@ster

Chihaya :D 

Males~

1. Usui Takumi from Kaichou wa Maid-sama!

Takumi 

2. Fujisaku Yuusuke aka "Bossun" from Sket Dance

Bossun :3

3. Killua Zoldyck from Hunter X Hunter (2011)

Killua :3

4. Jellal Fernandes from Fairy Tail

Jellal

5. Edward Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood

Edward

6. Okumura Rin from Ao no Exorcist

Rin :3

7. Ootori Kyoya from Ouran High School Host Club

Kyoya

8. Natsu Dragneel from Fairy Tail

Natsu

9. Leo aka Loki from Fairy Tail

Loki

10. Sawada Tsunayoshi from Katekyo Hitman Reborn!

Tsuna

4 Day Marathon

I'm currently feeling the effects of watching 3 seasons straight of Maria-sama ga Miteru and a 17-episode season of Kokoro Connect from Friday to Monday. The feeling isn't really that great. I feel like I ate too many potatoes. I spent Friday, Saturday and part of Sunday finishing up Maria-sama ga Miteru (31 Episodes since i finished season 1 some time ago) and the rest of Sunday and most of Monday watching Kokoro Connect.

I would have continued watching more but i think i should stop for now before my obsession starts to take over my entire being and when that time comes, it would be too late. 

Anyways, on with my review of  Kokoro Connect. 

Kokoro Connect tells a story of 5 high school students, Taichi, Iori, Himeko, Yui and Yoshifumi who are all part of Cultural Research Club. One day, Yui and Yoshifumi swapped bodies without warning. The next day, the same thing happens to the other club members. The swapping of bodies between the five students threw their daily life in disarray as they began to suffer the effects of the swapping of bodies - emotionally. 

However, after that phenomenon, another phenomenon occurred whereby the 5 students' (deepest) desires would be unleashed, followed by them turning back to when they were younger (for 5 hours before they turn back to normal) and remembering stuff from when they were of that age and finally, transmitting of emotions between the five of them randomly. 

Just by reading that you could already foresee the troubles they all faced. Just by experiencing this unnatural phenomenon caused by the whims of a mysterious being called Heartseed, their calm lives were shattered, the relationship between them starts to change as painful  scars that were once buried inside their hearts were exposed, ultimately putting their friendship to test. Past trauma and secrets were also exposed as the five of them struggle to continue on with their daily lives without letting anyone know of the burden they each carry under the warning of Heartseed. 

Thoughts

This anime explores human emotions and feelings, what we actually are like, how fragile human beings are and how sometimes we let our emotions get better of us, causing us to inadvertently hurt others by what we say. This is explicitly shown under the "unleashing of your desires" and "transmitting of emotions" phenomenon. All five of them went through hell because of the unexplained phenomenon. Heartseed caused this phenomenons to happen for his own amusement, and wouldn't hesitate to 'spice things up' if things start to get 'boring' or 'uninteresting' --- (e.g. hiding inside your room everyday and not going to school etc)

This anime is like all the supernatural/unnatural phenomenon (that involves only humans) out there that you can think of mashed into one huge emotional story of love and friendship. The characters are all unique, and can be surprising at times. When you think you know a character very well, they'd spring something else onto you, leaving you shocked and surprised.

I really like this anime (and its characters as well) and would definitely re-watch it sometime in the future. That's how awesome this anime is. If the plot doesn't capture your interest, then maybe the characters will. I hope.

Characters

From right to left: Yaegashi Taichi, Inaba Himeko, Nagase Iori, Kiriyama Yui, Aoki Yoshifumi

Tachi's a 'selfless freak' (dubbed by Himeko). He is selfless and would try to help anyone in trouble, which, according to Himeko (and much to her chagrin) , would naturally make girls swoon over him. He would naturally sacrifice himself to save others and his desire to help others would often override his rational mind.

Himeko is the vice president of the club, and would often react violently to Tachi's or Yoshifumi's jokes. She is nicknamed "Inaban" by Iori (later "Derebun" -laughs-) and is generally distrustful of others and worries a lot. However, she is the most calm and rational amongst the five when dealing with unexpected situations. She's also the sharpest and perhaps the most sensitive of the five.

Iori is the president of the club. An easygoing and cheerful person, she lives alone with her mother who is seldom at home. She has had 5 (i think) stepfathers, of which one or two are pretty violent. Hence in order to fit their expectations of her, she often alters her personality to the point where she is unsure of who she really is, and what or who the real her is. 

Yui is skilled in karate but has androphobia after she was almost raped in middle school. After receiving help from Tachi and Yoshifumi, she starts to be more comfortable with men though she has rejected Yoshifumi many times but later admits that she's just not ready for a relationship yet. She later overcomes her androphobia after Yoshifumi reaffirms his love for her (During the "turning into their younger selves" phenomenon)

Yoshifumi has a carefree attitude but is in love with Yui and does not hesitate to to show it seriously even though he was rejected by Yui many times. When he was younger, he vows to live his life to the fullest after a student from his class died. He used to date a girl called Nana back in middle school who looks like Yui. He began to question his love for Yui during the "turning into their younger selves" phenomenon. 

Of all the characters, I love Himeko the best. She is so adorable and cute especially when she's embarrassed. And i almost died from the overflowing cuteness during the "turning into your younger selves" phenomenon when Himeko turned into a kid. 

Mini Himeko <3 ISN'T SHE ADORABLE?

Iori can't resist hugging her :3 (I WANNA HUG HER TOO)

Yui and Iori unable to take Himeko's cuteness -- after hugging /playing/touching mini himeko for a period of time

A scared Himeko hiding behind Tachi