Durarara!!

Or uh, Dyurarara, or Dulalala, or DRRR.. hell, I dunno, everyone and their mother calls it something different. anyway it's most commonly romanized Durarara!! so we're going with that.

I didn't watch this when it was airing because I was too distracted with other shows (I can't remember what now, must have been amazing huh?) But I came across it hosted on 4shared on accident, and since nothing decent is airing on the weekends.. why not. I've heard good things.

I've heard many things actually. So many, I actually had no idea what it was about. Headless Irish fae monster? Gang fighting in Tokyo? Love triangle? Internet fads? Man with super strength? Katana wielding spirit?

The answer is yes. Yeah, all of that, and some other things.

So I started watching, and immediately had trouble telling what genre I was supposed to be in the mood for, as you'd expect with a plot lineup like that. Basically, you have to be ready to switch from comedy to action on a dime was the general feel I got, and be able to read either Japanese or subtitles really fast because there's a character who speaks with text and a lot of internet chatrooms.

What I'd really like to do is introduce the main characters, but not only is that riddled with spoilers, almost every character in the series is a main character. I suppose Mikado, a boy who heads to the city of Ikebukuro at the urging of his best friend, would count for this but much of the series is focused on varying people and events.

In the end all the characters wind up having their plots entwined, making something as simple as trying to show you the focal characters look something like this:

And that's still missing a few characters I would have included.

I'm definitely not complaining though, the characters made this worth watching no contest. I don't think there was a single character I didn't like - I mean I didn't like them because they were evil or something, but they were all really well written. The relationships between the characters are completely believable, which is good since half the show relies on the connections between people to tell the story.

There are a lot of people to keep track of, but the series manages it flawlessly with the intermingling relationships of everyone that's introduced. You start to know and care about who everyone is because the way they fit into this enormous circle of people is so clear.

The only issue with the characters I found was the series tendency to forget about certain minor ones for a time, or in some cases never go back to them after establishing a role for them. This includes a police officer, a father, and a girl and her boyfriend among other people, they just sort of dropped out of the show after their section was done.

This is probably due to episode constraints though and is likely written in more depth in the manga, which I haven't read yet.

Other than that, I was really happy with the way the show went even though it does sound like it was all over the bloody place. What seems like random events and unrelated side plots actually tie in together in a fantastic way that answered most of my questions. What wasn't answered was left in a pleasantly open way that lets me make things up for myself.

It was a really exciting series with twists and turns and some intense fight scenes just to make sure you're still paying attention. There's also a few scenes where fights are attempting to be prevented which I thought were more exciting than the actual battles.

I don't want to spoil anything because even explaining the name of the show is an unfortunate giveaway and I think a lot of the fun part of this anime is not knowing what is what. With that horrible excuse for a series description, I definitely recommend it.

Seriously, give it a chance, chibi Izaya and Shizuo command it.

Durarara!! is the property of its creators, owners and licensers 

Digimon Tamers

Out of the blue, I suddenly got back into Digimon and decided to rewatch every season for the heck of it. Digimon Tamers was my least favorite when I was younger, but was the first one to finish downloading so I ended up watching it first.

I remember not liking it very much as a kid because I was an avid fan of Adventure and Adventure 02 and this one seemed like blasphemy to me somehow, it was just so far removed from the world the first two series created. The rules were changed, when digimon died, they died, it was like Wizardmon all over again only every single time.

Not cool man, not cool.

The basic premise is that Digimon is a popular game series within the show and the main characters happen to be big fans of it and then get digimon and help to defend both worlds. What makes that kind of interesting is that unlike the other series, when these chosen children get their digimon partners they actually know what they are right from the start and what they're capable of.

Also different from the first two Digimon incarnations, Digimon Tamers is a lot darker, and keep in mind that the originals included two digital Satans and a slavemaster kaiser with a whip. While it starts out with a fairly benign concept of real life kids getting digimon and learning to fight and be friends with them, it eventually descends into just plain weird territory later in the series.

The first thing to keep in mind is that the show was written by Konaka J. Chiaki, who also wrote Serial Experiments Lain. Yeah. Uh. Wow. That explains a lot. He brought the concept of the D-Reaper to life, which is a horrifying sort of digimon anti-virus that got out of control a la Hal from 2001 and is only acting on its programming to erase humanity because it deemed that we should not exist. Also it's powered by the depression and helplessness of a little girl who thinks that everything is fated to die.

I don't think it would have felt that eerie without the other mature elements of the series. There's a recurring theme with the two male leads that both of them having growing fear for their digimon partners as they evolve and become more powerful and frightening. This wasn't really addressed before in earlier series, and I think it's highly realistic - how would you feel if your cute pet baby dinosaur turned into this?

Not to mention the death concept from earlier. In the Adventure series we did have to deal with digimon dying and being reborn, which was often treated as a sad enough thing as it is. In Tamers, a supporting character's partner digimon is brutally murdered, never to be reborn, and her misery over it becomes the catalyst that nearly destroys the world.

So just to recap... this is Digimon ---

Ho-ly crap man, what were they doing when they thought this was a good idea?

Alright I'm kidding, I actually really like it a lot now that I'm old enough to appreciate it and have gotten over my bias. It's actually pretty freaking sweet, it's got some severely nightmarish themes that make the series a lot more broad than it was before. It deals with adult issues like fearing change, the helplessness of being just one person, and the choice between being strong or being good.

I love Digimon Adventure and Adventure 02, but I have to say that Tamers is easily my favorite after rewatching each season. All those things up there I sounded like I was complaining about? I love it.

....still refusing to watch Xros Wars though.

Digimon is the property of its creators, owners and licensers 

Kuragehime

So when this came up on the fall television schedule, my initial reaction was "...jellyfish princess, what?"

I don't follow josei manga most of the time because it's mostly irrelevant to me being a twenty-one year old guy - there are exceptions of course, but for the most part I tend to stick to fantasy shoujo nonsense. Still, every now and then I'll find something as fantastically enjoyable as this has been so far.

A lot of times when I pick up a new anime, I lose interest by the third episode or so, it's rather sad. I thought that would be the case with this series, about a jellyfish otaku girl living in an all girls' dorm with other antisocial NEETs and her adventures in meeting a crossdressing bishounen.

It sounded like a gag series, might have some cute moments I figured, plus hey, I love jellyfish. Might as well give it a chance, not like I can't stop if I don't like it.

So I was really surprised to find myself really liking it right off the bat with the main character Tsukimi's antics, not to mention her dormmates are charming in an "oh god" kind of way. And the jellyfish Clara/Kurara is the cutest thing I've ever seen.

I think this show has the makings to be amazing, it's really a shame that it's only going to run for eleven episodes. Even the opening, Koko Dake no Hanashi, is a lot of fun.. though I admit I actually didn't like it at first, it grew on me. The show itself has a remarkably good feel, and like I expected it often relies on shock and gags, but in new refreshing ways that I don't think I've seen before.

I don't want to go into too much depth until I see the whole thing, but so far the characters are what are making it for me. They're just plain enjoyable to watch going about their day, I'd be willing to watch a show about nothing but the women in this dorm doing what they do.

Bonus points if the crossdresser Kuronosuke is there creating havoc, he's pretty much a riot no matter who he's around.. though it seems like he's got his own problems. Hm..

It's pretty good though, I might write a follow up about my feelings when it finishes.

Kuragehime is the property of its creators, owners and licensers