What Anime Genre is your Life under? 5 Genres that govern the Anime Industry

Think about it. What if we're just an anime show to some other sentient being out there? Then our lives would be classified according to a genre right? If it were, what genre from the 5 Distinct Genres would it be? Why not take the time to find out what anime genre YOU are living in.
                                      Maybe you're in an Action/Adventure Anime?

To Love Ru Darkness 1st Season Outline:

If you read the first review on To Love Ru and Motto To Love Ru, I said the anime doesn't have a significantly great story and is very heavy on the ecchi (almost to the point it's called light porn), but the comedy is still a worthwhile watch if you have the time. It's the same deal on Darkness but now the plot has a general direction for the whole series and we get to know more about the more popular characters Momo and Yami.

Ranpo Kitan: Game of Laplace 2 - Episode Impression

Here is the promised Ranpo Kitan: Game of Laplace Review! First things first, if you CANNOT STAND GORE then this isn't an anime you'd enjoy watching. The image you're seeing above is the very first scene of Ranpo Kitan after the OP song, and it's already clear that this anime isn't for younger audiences (and they say anime is for kids hue).

Now this next picture is an image of our main character: Kobayashi. 2 THINGS:

• Yes, He's cute
• Yes, He's a HE

Anyway, Kobayashi is a normal high school boy (damn it japan) who one day finds himself framed for a murder. Despite seeing the such a gruesome scene and being stuck in a hard situation, he remains calm and even thinks:






















Without showing any signs of pressure / terror (but actually exuding emotions of enjoyment and enthusiasm) he asks Akechi, the lead detective of the case (and also a High School Boy), to hire him as an assistant and he'll help in finding the killer. Akechi proposes a game; if Kobayashi can find the killer and prove his innocence, he'll hire him; and so the game of laplace begins.

So why watch Ranpo Kitan: Games of Laplace ?

• Mystery, Murder Cases, Detectives

The mystery genre and crime solving theme has risen in popularity the past few years, and I'm not just referring to anime: CSI, Criminal Minds, Lightman, NCIS and most recently Sherlock were all popular series on TV. The question is, why?

1. It brings out the audience's wannabe Detective / Investigator Side. (Everyone has dreamed to be one / Since Blues Clues you were already a detective)
2. It appeals to a person's Sense of Justice (Yes, everyone wants to watch evil people get punished for their wrongdoings)
3. A Mystery / Case being solved gives the Audience a feeling of satisfaction or even shock if the solution wasn't what he/she expected. (In short, Mystery is Very Entertaining and Satisfying)

And that's why anime with the mystery genre come out to be so good too (Another, Kamisama no Memochou, Hyouka, GoSick, Conan to name some).

A sample of the gore you'll encounter from the first episode!

• 'Genius Detective' Character

Yes, believe it or not, people are actually hooked to genius individuals --- especially if they've got a weird side to them. Kobayashi is just a high school boy but he's very perceptive, notices small details, has a very calm outlook, and to top it all of the deductive mind of a detective. His weird side is he treats the murder cases like games (he doesn't even bat an eye when he sees corpses) and he enjoys solving these gruesome cases.

To prove my people are hooked to geniuses theory, check if you like some of these ones:
-Shinya Kogami (Psycho Pass)
-Keima Katsuragi (The World God Only Knows)
-L and Light Yagami (Death Note)
-Oreki Houtaro (Hyouka)
-Lelouch (Code Geass)
-Sora and Shiro (No Game No Life)
-Izaya (Durarara)
-Victorique (Gosick)
-Shinichi Kudo (Conan)
And a whole crapload of other characters @_@ there are so much! Anyway, give Ranpo Kitan a watch, I'm sure you'll like it :)

Miuna GIF + Announcements!

Why watch Nagi no Asukara in 2 Pictures:

HI I'M MIUNA I'M TOO KAWAII FOR YOU!

Okay, so on to the announcements. Recently you may have noticed that I post at around 8 pm (GMT + 8) here in the Philippines so that's around 12 pm (GMT), 1pm (CET) and 8 am ('Murrica). I guess I'll schedule that as my regular posting time, so I hope you'll be waiting!

I just googled the timezones so please correct me if there's an error =).  The other announcement is I just added a Twitter Feed widget to my blog, and it features tweets with the hashtag #Lolzneko on it, so you can send a message / have your tweet shown / request reviews by using said hashtag. You can also follow me on twitter! @henrinstuffs

Last of course, I'll be changing the URL to Lolzneko.blogspot.com anytime soon, so if theicekeyanime doesn't work anymore that means I already changed it :)

Thanks for the support guys. Seriously, every view makes my day huehuhue

I'M KAWAII TOO!!!!
(Images not mine) 

To Love-Ru / Motto To Love-Ru REVIEW

With the second season of To Love-Ru Darkness (the 4th installment) airing, I'll be making a review on the first two seasons of THE MOST FAMOUS HAREM ECCHI (debatable) series for the past half-decade. To Love-Ru is a homophone (words that sound alike) of the Japanese pronunciation "toraburu" which literally means "trouble." So let's get on it shall we?

Synopsis: Yuuki Rito is a goody two-shoes high school boy whose only problem is his sheepishness towards girls and especially the one he likes, Sairenji Haruna. One night in the bathtub (while pondering over how to confess) a naked girl crash lands through the roof and into the tub with him. Her name is Lala, the princess and heir to the throne of planet Deviluke, rulers of the universe. Little did he know that he is in for the ride of his life.

• To Love-Ru : Harem-Ecchi-Comedy ONLY

Despite what it looks like at first, To Love-Ru has minimal elements of Romance, and is purely Ecchi Comedy. Every episode except the last were fillers and stand-alone stories that only develop small parts of the characters' personalities (mostly feelings for the main character, Rito). There's no big plot (not PLOT, genuine plot) that covers the series (unless you consider Rito's Harem building up one) and if you're looking for an anime with a serious story or a real Romance series I advise you check my other reviews, because this isn't one.

But if YOU DO LIKE COMEDY fillers or have some free time to spare watching Ecchi Comedy, To Love-Ru is perfect.

The main character, Yuuki Rito, is a good-morals guy from head-to-toe: he's nice to everyone (which is what they like about him) but he always, ALWAYS accidentally gets into Ecchi situations (gets his face in someone's pantsu, his hand accidentally grabs boobs, he walks into girls dressing up or bathing, he battles an octopus tentacle-ing the characters) you name it, he's done it (not willingly though). It's a running gag in the show (yep if you're wearing a skirt there is NO WAY he's NOT gonna get under it accidentally) and it actually makes you laugh or want to facepalm (or both) depending on your type of humor. Oh, did I mention he turns beet red/faints whenever he gets in an ecchi situation?  He's just a regular boy who doesn't want to get tangled up in a harem, but when it comes to facing a problem that involves the characters, he's ready to stand up do what's right (making the gurls fall hard).

There are two main heroines, so we'll start with the princess of another planet: Lala Satalin Deviluke. Lala is esentially the center of the show, as it's always her alien high tech inventions plus her upbeat, optimistic, energetic personality that gets Rito into trouble. She loves Rito (duh harem) and wants to marry her so she can stay on Earth and while Rito the new heir of the Deviluke throne, Rulers of the Universe. Of course, it's too much for Rito but he slowly develops her feelings for Lala. The other main heroine is Sairenji Haruna, an osanajijimi (childhood friend) who's really really really nice, shy, and has also liked Rito for years but none of them had the confidence to confess. Haruna's simply a girl that confuses Rito and the only reason she's even in the series is to keep Rito from devoting himself to Lala, thus allowing the series to pan out 4 seasons without Rito ending up with either of them.

Season 1 Rito w/ Lala
(better hair)

Season 2 Rito w/ Haruna
(hair art rework)

Together all three of them get in ecchi-comedy situations for 25 episodes, and the only part with a deciding storyline is the 26th. Overall, the art is good, the OP and ED songs were wonderful, characters are stereotypical, but the ecchi comedy can be funny depending on your taste. What bothers me is the dragged out season; the anime was 26 episodes, and since it was a 22 minute long stand-alone, there were times where I just got bored. Good thing they fixed this in the next season, Motto To Love-Ru.

• Motto To Love-Ru

Motto To Love-Ru is actually identical to the first season with few changes; Lala's twin younger sisters come into play (and add into Rito's harem), the minor characters are given more detail and develop deeper feelings for Rito, and the anime plays out in a three-stories per episode format. This is the fix I was taking about: by putting three filler stories into one episode, the anime becomes a lot more fast paced and overall entertaining. Sadly it ends after 12 episodes, but hey, that gives us 36 different quicker short stories without changing the feel and ecchi comedy class of the first season.

Art was also cleaned up (personally I didn't like the eyes at first, it looked kind of dead to me), the anime was also went deeper into the ecchi genre (lighter censors, more service kind of thing), and OP and ED music fantastic as ever. If you liked To Love-Ru, there's no doubt you'll like the second season too (no pun intended).



That's all, I'll be doing a review on Darkness and Darkness 2nd Season when I finish them. Also, I like the debate about the anime being borderline hentai; true, the ecchi scenes are too revealing and that is perhaps the closest you get to h-scenes, but the anime's focus IS comedy and fanservice, not !sex. Comment below and I'll read/ reply to your thoughts on the topic =))
P.S. remember the URL change to lolzneko.blogspot.com on Sunday

Here's your daily dose of Moe P.S. All images not mine 

Aoharu x Kikanjuu : First Impressions Review

Aoharu x Kikanjuu (Aoharu x Machine Gun) is actually a hard anime for me to make a review of since I have little experience regarding its main theme which is Shoujo and Guns. But who doesn't love female gunslingers? Let's get started! 

• Shoujo Action? Shoujo Action!

We start off with the anime's main character, Tachibana Hotaru! The Student Council President of her unnamed High School, she possesses a strong sense of justice and high athleticism. She's also stubborn, strong willed, prideful, and protective of her friends. She's boyish, and she dresses like one too so people usually think she's male. I love how the anime features a shoujo who is a fighting prodigy, and pits her against an engaging sport like Survival Games (BB Gun Games). It's basically a Sports anime (a shooting survival game sport at that) with a shoujo twist. 

• Action, Art, Sound Effects On Point. 

Need I say more? Here's some sample GIFs to enjoy (these are from the pilot episode):

• Guns, Bullets, Team Death Matches~

Guns and shooting action has always been exciting when accompanied with stunning art and screenplay; some of the newest being Gun Gale Online (love or hate the SAO series, gotta admit the GGO effects were awesome) and some of the classics like Trigun. Those, unfortunately, were the only animes I remember that were centered on guns, but nevertheless none of those two disappoint. Now, put BB Gun sports in an anime and make them fight against others 1 v 1 duel style or 3 v 3 elimination and I'm sure it would be awesome too. 

• Don't forget the Comedy 

Of course, it isn't a serious all-action anime; it's part comedy (with the shoujo twist and all) and I particularly like the scenes involving Hotaru and his unpredictable childish personality. What I don't like as much is the BL undertone between the male characters in the story, but hey if that's your thing =)). 

Overall, Aoharu x Kikanjuu is looking solid, steady-paced (more action to come in the following episodes) and really entertaining as well. Episode 5 would be coming out in half a week! You could catch up or binge watch if you haven't watched it yet =)) Comments appreciated. 

P.S. In 1 week I change the blog's URL to LolzNeko.blogspot.com

Notice: Upcoming Blog Title & URL Change

First of all, I apologize for not posting this July 27! I've been enjoying the final week before school starts (university life) and sometimes I don't get to post. I know it's important for a blogger to post consistently, so I'll still be posting daily or at least twice every 3 days. Anyways, on to the actual topic:

The blog name "The Ice Key Anime" isn't just sticking to me; I mean, it isn't related to me at the least, it's just a homophone of Daisuki Anime, and I want to think of something original and memorable to me and to my readers (though few). I think I'll be changing it to LolzNeko's Blog or LolzNeko's Anime Reviews in about a week or so. 

Why? 'LolzCatz' was my summoner name in League of Legends and has been my in game name for a lot of games I've played. Adapting the 'cat' to japanese (Neko; so atleast it's slightly related to Otaku culture) I get the name LolzNeko. I'll be working hard to promote the blog under this name/brand/mark, and I hope everyone likes it. I'll be changing the header to Lolzneko's Anime Reviews so people would get used to it, and then after a week or so change the url to lolzneko.blogspot.com. 

Thank you for taking time to read this! Will be posting some reviews on upcoming anime soon!