Hey guys,
Do not ask how I found this. I have absolutely no idea how I got to the page either. But I thought it's pretty cool, and some of you might like it. It's a animated text generator that you can put up in your website or blog. All you have to do is just type out the text you want in the text box provided and click a button to get your codes. Then you'll see a little ninja writing out your text with his sword. Really simple and awfully cute.
Episode 3 tells us the story of the newspaper girl we caught a glimpse of at Kiri's pub just before the crazy shootout. When she was a little girl, she and her parents were slaughtered by a hitman. Somehow, she miraculously survived and was saved by a stranger possessing the same katana used to kill her family. She then decided to dedicate her life to killing the man. 
The first thing she was given was a knife and was told to learn to protect herself. He named her Naoto as she had lost her memories due to shock. They were interrupted by the man's partner, Magato, who seemed to take an interest in Naoto and called her Naoto the Second. There must be a story behind the name Naoto. Everyday Naoto trained to use a knife.
One day, after her job delivering newspapers (yes, we even see her dropping by Kiri's pub), she returned to find the stranger beaten to death with a knife in his heart. It was the work of Magato, who had always aimed to surpass him. Naoto unconsciously launched into combat. At first, she seemed to be on the losing side but she managed to pull herself together to deliver a final deadly blow. Or slash would be more appropriate. :P
As a reward for winning against him, Magato tells her about the truth behind her family's murder. The stranger who had saved her life, whom she had hated all this while, was not the actual murderer. Her family's murderer was the original Naoto who was hiding himself in the Underworld. Magato and the stranger had kept it a secret in order to save her from a life of vengeance. I don't think it did much, since all she thought about was killing him instead. 
That is all. =.=" Of the three so far, this one has more questions left hanging in the end. So frustrating. I suggest if you guys really wanna know what's happening, go grab the manga. I'm gonna do the same. All the questions are driving me crazy!
Previously in the first post on Road to Otakuism, you've been introduced to the new exciting world of anime. Today, I'll provide you with a road map to help you navigate your way around. Try out all the different genres and find out which suits your tastes the most. Some are even served in a mixture for that extra bit of spice. ^^
The second episode of Dogs centers around a character we've caught a short glimpse of previously. Remember the orange-haired guy who stepped off the tram after Mihai when he first returned to the city? That's the guy. Badou is an information gatherer; being one, it's not usual for him to be chased after. One day, during an adultery investigation, he had a little accident which led him stumbling to a private scene of a Don. That explains why he was on the run from two men, shooting at him on the rooftops.
Badou is such a klutz for an information gatherer. But this time, being clumsy helped him escape. Here we even catch a glimpse of Mihai carrying some groceries (he seems to be doing a lot of grocery shopping, this guy). Badou made a phone call to his accomplice, Heine, but Heine refused to help him out. Complaining to himself for Heine's lack of cooperation and his lack of cigarettes, he bumped into his two pursuers. 
Just when things look bad, Mihai intervened and scared off the two men. Badou brought the lost Mihai back to Kiri's pub and they got into a hilarious discussion of hiring Mihai as a temporary bodyguard. But they were attacked by the forces of the Don. Don't underestimate the power of nicotine addiction. When Badou lost his chance for a smoke, he went amok and defeated all the armed men in a totally unrealistic showdown. 
I was disappoint yet again at the end of this episode. But this time, although it wasn't what I expected, I still had the same "that was it?" reaction. The ending doesn't do the story justice. There is still the same issue regarding character development. I honestly would like to see more of Badou, he's an interesting character. And his job is an interesting one. Two old characters reappeared but nothing was done to further develop their characters from what we've seen in the first episode, they were merely props to fill the scene. But again, I understand the constraints of short OVAs. But hmmm... nothing of the boy who killed Mihai. Maybe the next one?
I've got two additional comments on this episode though. The art is noticeably bad compared to the first one especially at the time when he slid on the can of oil on the roof, and when he showed his middle finger shortly after. He didn't look like he was sliding at all, and his fingers didn't look natural. Secondly, I forgot to mention this in the previous review - check out the music, it's really good.
The episode opens with a scene of Mihai returning to a certain place after receiving news from his friend, Kiri, that Ian had killed the boss and became the Don. Ian was the son of the boss who had been left in his care. Mihai, who was then a hitman for the organization, was given the task to mold him into a professional killer. Although Ian was only ten, he had the maturity of a child who had not known parental love.
Mihai had a walk down memory lane to the peaceful days when it was just him, Ian and Milena, a prostitute who works in the same bar as Kiri. However, a few years later, Ian killed Milena for some unknown reasons. Outraged over the death of his loved one, Mihai pulls out his gun and was consequently fired from the organization for pointing a gun to the boss's son.
In a separate scene, a grown up Ian received news from his subordinate regarding the arrival of Mihai in the city. Ian then had a flashback to a time when he was training with Mihai and was then interrupted by Milena. It seems that Ian disliked Milena for some reasons. At the same time, one of Ian's subordinates was planning to execute him to gain power.
The next day, Mihai visited Milena's grave and met Ian, who also came to meet him. Ian recounts the time when Mihai had failed to pull the trigger and asks if Mihai came back to kill him. Kiri who also came out of concern for Mihai, notices a hitman hiding in the bushes and shot the man. However, Mihai and Ian were not unharmed. A shootout ensued and Mihai once again cooperated with Ian to defeat the hitman. At his deathbed, Ian reveals that the reason behind his act of Milena's murder was due to jealousy. He had felt that she was trying to steal his father figure away from him.
On the way back after groceries shopping the next day, Mihai bumped into a young boy who suddenly ran out of an alley. It was the same boy who had bumped into him earlier in the episode. To his surprise, the boy had struck him and left with some mysterious parting words, "with this everyone who knows everything will die".
I don't really know what to make of this. In the beginning, I was intrigued with the storyline only to be wholly disappointed in the end. I couldn't help but think, that was it? It was much too predictable, a total waste of a good build up. The character development was minimal, which is totally understandable due to the nature of the OVA being short episodic clips. But they could do much better in reaching out to the audience to relate to the characters or even the story. 
時をかける少女 or it's English title, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, is an animated film directed by Mamoru Hosada based on Yasutaka Tsutsui's novel of the same name. Much praise has been sung for the movie following its release in the summer of 2006 and its excellence recognized with various awards including the Japan Academy Prize for Animation of the Year in 2007. Although based on a book, the story is not a direct adaptation, more of a sequel of some sort which takes place a few decades later.
With the new year, I've decided to start something new - my own version of a beginner's guide to anime fandom: "Road to Otakuism". Some of you might have been a huge anime fan for long, while some of you might have just been introduced to the world of anime. To the latter, I hope this guide helps to steer you the way the rest of us went down - the road to otakuism. I hope this guide will serve you well in understanding more of anime and some contents in my blog. :) Yosh, without further ado, let's get started!
The episode starts with a rather intriguing flashback of a certain person's memories against actual reality. He remembers how, as a kid, he used to sit in and watch an orchestra practice and was even offered to try conducting. However in actuality, he was often thrown out of the practice room by the conductor. The flashback ends with a scene inside a turbulent plane cabin and a dropped bottle of pills.
In present time, Chiaki, the son of renowned pianist Chiaki Masayuki, is a piano student of a musical academy. He was dissatisfied with the other students as he felt that they were without talent. During a lesson, mulling over a fellow student's big break to study overseas while he was stuck in Japan, he expressed his anger while playing the piano and was hit by his teacher. Picking up the fallen musical notes, the teacher notices Chiaki's notes and ridicules his dream to be a conductor. Chiaki blew off his top and after saying his regrets, the teacher left the room.
Walking down the hall, he heard the sounds of a piano being played messily. Although at first he dismissed it another lousy play, he was struck by the realization that the piece was played without any mistakes. Before he could find out who was playing, a girl angrily called out to him, intent on finding out what happened. They went off to a bar and Saiko tried to reason with him. Although he wanted to become a conductor, Chiaki had no intentions of transferring to the conducting section until he has perfected his piano. She tells him to study abroad but he can't take a plane after experiencing an emergency landing when he was a boy, nor can he take a boat after nearly drowning as well. In the end, he was dumped by his girlfriend for complaining too much.
A drunken Chiaki was found sleeping in a corridor by a young girl. He awakes the next morning to the same music he heard being played by the mystery student at the academy. Much to his chagrin, he found himself in a room filled with thrash and quickly ran out of the room only to find out that he will not be able to escape her. She was his next door neighbour!
At school, Chiaki was found by his weird neighbour who calls out happily that he had left his belt at her place. Wanting to avoid mistaken perceptions of the other students, he denies it and escapes from her again. Not for long. His new teacher, Tanioka Hajime was also the teacher of Nodame! While watching Tanioka and Nodame's lesson, he overheard some students commenting on Tanioka's reputation of teaching "failures". Mulling over his current situation (geez, Chiaki complains a lot >:/), Chiaki smells a waft of weird stench coming from next door and peeks over the balcony to see Nodame's balcony overflowing with thrash. He instantly runs over and ended up cleaning her whole apartment for her. 
The next day, Tanioka-sensei entrusts them with the task of playing a piano duet. Chiaki at first refuses, but after being persuaded by the teacher, he agrees to take it on as "guiding his junior". Being the impatient ass that he is, he decides to jump straight into it after only giving the both of them 8 minutes of practice. Of course, Nodame screws it up before long. Tanioka-sensei explains that Nodame learns to play by listening to the music instead of reading the musical scores and so Chiaki decides to play for her in order for her to learn. Nodame was able to reduce her mistakes rapidly much to his surprise.
And then they were ready to show off their efforts. Nodame was obviously having the jitters though, she was shaking like a leaf! Before they start, Chiaki turned to her and told her to play however way she wanted. He recognized that she had talent and was confident that the only person who could match her pace was him. After going through so much practice together, Chiaki was familiar to Nodame's way of playing and was able to match her effortlessly. He remembers how his idol Vieira-sensei had once told him that it was really rare to pull off a performance so emotionally moving that it makes one's heart go doki-doki and felt that it was at that moment that his heart moved. Tanioka-sensei applauded him for successfully crossing over his hurdle and he realizes that the lesson was actually designed for him. The episode ends with Nodame's unsure love confession... Mukyaaa~ <3
Truthfully, I hated Chiaki's character at the start. He's snobbish, he's too gloomy and he complains too much. But it was funny how he found himself taking care of Nodame unconsciously. And I felt the part when he told Nodame to play as she like was just too sweet. He was definitely thinking of her. And Chiaki, lesson well learned. Instead of trying to change people, change yourself. :D But Nodame on the other hand, I absolutely adored her right from the start. She's just too cute! Really, who could hate such a simple-minded person?
Happy New Year!!! Let's eat, drink and be merry~
Chika-Chin's Anime Mania え よこそ! Please stay awhile and I hope you enjoy yourselves! *^_^*
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