Nagi no Asukara

Nagi no Asukara or NagiAsu, meaning "A Lull in the Sea", will swallow and crush you like a tidal wave with the drama this series carries.

NagiAsu harbors a cute twist: a 'supernatural' touch to the regular romance-drama series, where the characters are humans descended from the Sea God and inhabit the sea. With a storyline that uses the setting to its full capability NagiAsu was never boring; living under the sea is an idea appalling to the audience. Nevertheless, the setting isn't the only thing NagiAsu can boast about. For a series more on the romance-drama side than romance-comedy,  NagiAsu was still funny at the right times giving NagiAsu the vibe of a well balanced anime and makes it more charming to watch.

Miuna too kawaii

If there was a theme, I would say Nagi no Asukara focuses on friendship, and eventually, love (remember AnoHana?). But what makes NagiAsu special is its perfect, harmonic balance between character relationships and the heart-melting dramatic plot. In my opinion, people tend to love anime with character development; the more characters who have a dynamic, changing personality as opposed to a static one attracts viewers. I know I may say this for a lot of anime/VNs/LNs, but NagiAsu is also one of those stories where you fall in love with every single character; you sympathize with them, you almost feel what they feel, and before you know it, you're caught up in the NagiAsu's charming little world. Nagi Asu is must watch, surely one of the best anime releases of 2014.

Comments very much appreciated :)

Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso: Overall Review

 "Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent" -Victor Hugo.

Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso (Your Lie in April) is a romantic-drama anime where the star-crossed main characters are musicians; a boy haunted by his past and a girl with a bleak future.

I have almost no words to describe how well written this anime is; blending in different dramatic stories into one big plot makes the anime thrilling while being very emotional for the audience. The general plot is about talented musicians trying to surpass their life-changing problems while using their music to express the depth of their feelings.

 Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso combines: a main character with a haunted past; his parent's death's weight on his shoulders; his passion for music though his past cripples him; his love for a fellow musician who brought him back to his feet only to leave his side due to a twist of fate. I love how the author mixes in key elements and ideas of drama to form something much more dramatic-romantic while remaining unified and coherent. Topping it off with excellent art and music, surely anyone who would watch the whole series would be taking a feels trip on a feels train to feelsville.

(spoiler alert)

Shigatsu wa Kimi no uso is is a really good romance-drama anime overall --- no kidding; but if I could find one fault, it's that no one --- I repeat no one --- wants an anime where 2 lovers don't have a happily ever after (Guilty Crown, RosarioxVampire, I'm looking at you) but I think the ending was written as a final kick in the feels for the viewers. I enjoyed this series, and I hope you will too :)

Comments very much appreciated :)

Seraph of the End: Expectations

Post-Apocalyptic World. Humanity reduced to 1/10 of its original population. Vampires. Demons. BAD ASS WEAPONS!

If you're looking for any of the above, well, Owari no Seraph is the anime for you. Wow. I sound like a product advertiser. Anyways, a fair warning: there might be SPOILERS in my review because I will be basing on the manga (the source material), not the anime, which is about half an arc slower. So let's begin!

Owari no Seraph is more or less still a fresh series, only 33 chapters from its beginning, but to be honest they have to level up some stuff if they want it to be better than the average action - shonen manga. It's kind of different from other shonen manga in the aspect that the series stresses the value of teamwork; apparently one low-ranked vampire noble is already as strong as 15 aptly-armed humans. This therefore limits the actions that Yuichiro, the main protagonist, can make to live up to a shonen MCs name. It is perfectly fine to watch 5 human v 1 vampire battles as long as it is action-packed; but unfortunately, there isn't much to admire about the battle scenes the manga AND anime have shown us so far. I do hope they focus more on the physical battles than the characters' psychological battles with their demons.

Another point to consider is how the main character is somewhat of a stereotype for action-shonen manga: brave idiot but physically strong and skilled in battle, strong desire to protect his friends/family, and if all else fails he has an inner monster/seraph/demon sleeping inside of him. He isn't hogging the spotlight yet because the action scenes stress teamwork over 1 v 1s, but I do hope he does so in the near future so we see more of his individual capabilities.

What compels viewers as of now to keep on reading or watching the manga/anime is the mystery that shrouds a project called "Seraph of the End" that is definitely connected to what almost ended the world. I have high expectations for Owari no Seraph, and I'm looking forward to the plot twist/surprise they come up with on the succeeding chapters/volumes.

Comments very much appreciated :))

P.S. SHINOA <3