Showing posts with label School Life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label School Life. Show all posts
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Tiger versus Dragon! (Toradora!)
Toradora! is one of the most memorable, and one of the best romance series I've ever watched. Though romance really isn't my thing, Toradora! gave me a far different and permanent impression. The progression of the storyline, the timely execution of the plot twists combined with the characters' dramatic outbursts and a perfect dose of comedy definitely had me going on a roller-coaster of emotions.
Thus begins the crazy romance series that is Toradora!
The story starts out as Takasu Ryuuji enters his second year of high school and tries his best to clear his image of all misconceptions about his personality by altering his "yankee" (delinquent) looks (which his mother, Yasuko - who claims she's eternally twenty-three, is so proud of, having Ryuuji inherit his real gangster father's looks). Obviously, a little hair gel didn't do the trick and his eyes still give off an aura of trouble causing fear among other students. Luckily, he's classmates with his old friend Kitamura Yuusaku who's willing to help him clear up again his image in the new class and his ultimate crush, the cute and hyper airhead Kushieda Minori. But the misconceptions of his personality blew off unexpectedly quick after his first encounter with the infamous "Palmtop Tiger", Aisaka Taiga whom he accidentally bumped in the hallway, taken an instant dislike to his disgusting "yankee" face and sent him face flat on the ground with a single knockout punch. Turns out Ryuuji wasn't that tough after all. What's worse is Taiga also happened to be in his class and is Minori's best friend. Way to go Ryuuji.
Crazy romance ensues as Ryuuji found out Taiga coincidentally lives next door after a violent, late evening encounter regarding a misplaced love letter for Kitamura and an exchange of secrets on who their crushes are. They then settled on an agreement to help each other out in winning the objects of their affections. Ryuuji also found out that Taiga lives alone due to family issues, doesn't know domestic chores and lives mostly on convenience store food. So, Ryuuji being the nice and helpful guy he actually is, cooked good food for Taiga and even cleaned out her messy apartment (not to mention her hellspawn-ridden nasty kitchen sink). Taiga, taking advantage of the fact that Ryuuji would do absolutely anything in order to get closer to Minori and would even follow her like a loyal dog to do so, turns it into a master-slave relationship and decides to spend most of her time at Ryuuji's enjoying free meals and the warmth of a real family.
As they try to help improve each other out for their crushes, the more they were seen together, and the next thing they knew, rumors spread like wildfire that they were a couple. Well from there on, things began to move in a different direction as the two slowly got along more and more with each other.
"Wanna taste my knuckle sandwich?!"
Toradora!'s petite and feisty tsundere, Aisaka Taiga. Her courtesy of greeting everyone with a piercing stare and a clenched fist earned her the famous albeit dreaded title of "Palmtop Tiger".
Toradora!'s petite and feisty tsundere, Aisaka Taiga. Her courtesy of greeting everyone with a piercing stare and a clenched fist earned her the famous albeit dreaded title of "Palmtop Tiger".
"Whatcha lookin' at punk?!"
Takasu Ryuuji's eyes speak in a far different tone than his regular kind and reliable self causing other students to give up their wallets the instant they bump into him and teachers to sink in their seats every time they had to talk to him. Dreaded albeit unfortunately misunderstood.
Takasu Ryuuji's eyes speak in a far different tone than his regular kind and reliable self causing other students to give up their wallets the instant they bump into him and teachers to sink in their seats every time they had to talk to him. Dreaded albeit unfortunately misunderstood.
Taiga and Ryuuji's first meeting ended with a bang just as quick as it was accidental. Apparently, Ryuuji had no idea who he was dealing with and exclaimed a "Naruhodo!" (oh I see!) after seeing Taiga and finally figuring out the moniker of "Palmtop Tiger", then pop! goes the weasel.
The lovely yet cute and athletic airhead of the group, Kushieda Minori. She is Oohashi High's girls' softball team captain and simultaneously works at a number of part-time jobs. An extreme workaholic. She is my personal favorite. Why? Simple. She's just so kawaii. :)
Ryuuji is taken aback and dazzled by Minori's cute smile, wide tantalizing eyes, contagious laughter and the wafting aroma of her sweat after a day's softball practice. Evidently, Ryuuji's got the hots for her.
The rich princess with a gorgeous smile and a dynamite bod, Kawashima Ami and the outspoken, intellectual and overly popular, soon-to-be student council president, Kitamura Yuusaku. Two good friends caught up in the mix of this crazy love polygon.
Ryuuji's buxom and endearing, twenty-three year old mother (as she herself claims but actually she's thirty three. Quite believable though.) Takasu Yasuko. She works nights at a local hostess bar under the name "Mirano". Though childlike and airheaded most of the time, she is a very responsible and loving mother to Ryuuji but can get really tenacious especially when roused while having her beauty sleep.
Toradora pretty much has its own dose of good comedy and hot stuff as well. One of Ryuuji's classmates had this awesome dream of Christmas with sexy bunny girls and Taiga with only a long ribbon to put on. *drool*. Well, the Christmas episodes in my opinion is where things start to snowball downhill with revelations, emotions and drama. Better watch out. Better not cry. :)
As the story progresses, more characters are thrown into the mix, revealing each one's troubles in life and love as they try to lean on each other for support. Misunderstandings and fights between friends, developing certain love triangles, or better yet, polygons, and life's vicissitudes dealing with personal issues involving family, friends and self-improvement. Life lessons conveyed beautifully in an anime wrapped in friendships, hearts and tears, and how love can be found in places where you least expect it.
This episode in particular really gave me that twisting, wrenching feel in my chest. Taiga, on her knees on the freezing ground, barefoot and cries alone outside her apartment building. Well, I won't spoil the rest so.. :)
There's something in this world nobody has seen yet.
And if you had been able to put your eyes on it, then you would yearn for it.
For this world has hidden it quite well, so that it is difficult to obtain.
But at some point someone will find it.
And only those who should obtain it will be able to find it.
That's just how it is.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
I-ta-da-ki-maasu! ♫ (Hyakko OVA)
Interestingly different, Hyakko OVA doesn't seem much of an OVA, in my opinion, as much as I would expect an OVA to be some sort of a short movie. Running for about 10 minutes, this OVA could only pass as a short special or as one of its regular series episodes showing a very different side of Kazamatsuri Touma since in this one she hangs out and gets infected with her wild opposite, Torako's antics.
Things begin to heat up as Torako slowly infects the solitary and reserved Touma with her usual tomfoolery.
What makes Hyakko OVA seem more like a regular episode is that it chronicles another crazy day in the lives of Kamizono Gakuen students, much like how a regular fun-filled episode of the Hyakko series would go, only in this one, It's just Touma and Torako trying out a bunch of different sweets.
Say "Aah".
Touma's favorite café has closed down and apparently she is looking for another quiet spot where she and her reading fetish could hang out. Torako happened to overhear the situation and impulsively pounced on the chance to catch Touma's friendly side. With Torako's legendary persistence, Touma unwittingly, and just as to shut Torako up, accepted the offer. But it isn't just the quiet café, the weirdness of its "master", or the mounds of pastries and sweets. It's more of Torako's crazy and infectious antics.
Torako decides to try each piece of pastry and sweets sold at the café, never missing out on making fun of each one before they eat it. Torako sings "Itadakimasu" in a strange yet funny operatic voice before eating a chocolate pastry called "Opera".
It appears Torako has lots of spending capacity on sweets after taking advantage of Suzume's unparalleled luck and winning a huge amount of gift certificates on a local lottery.
The soothingly palatable, Sacher Torte. A perfect substitute for every Japanese word depicting goodness.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Idiots, Tests and Summoned Beasts! (Baka To Test To Shoukanjuu)
Another great comedy anime, Baka To Test To Shoukanjuu (Idiots, Tests and Summoned Beasts in english) really kept me teary-eyed laughing on all 13 crazy episodes. The anime TV series, based on a manga of the same name, is a romantic comedy (with bits of ecchi on the side... really, should I mention that? LOL), fantasy genre anime that revolves around the "Baka", Akihisa Yoshii and his ragtag idiotic bunch of high school mates and their unique school that employs tests and "Summoning Battles" as a competitive style of rising up the academic ranks and the school's unique "caste system".
The most "Baka" of all Fumizuki Academy, Akihisa Yoshii. But not to be underestimated despite his extreme Baka-ness. He does have the characteristics of a stereotypical "loser-yet-chick-magnet" harem anime main guy character. Lucky prick.
Students take a placement exam upon their enrollment in Fumizuki Academy. Based on the results of their placement exams, they are placed in sections A to F where the classrooms' quality, furniture and added facilities dwindle respectively. Class A has luxury seats, desks, laptops and even a snack bar while Class F enjoys the comfort of a drafty dusty room in moldy tatami mats furnished with old wooden tables with broken legs and worn-out throw pillows for seats. Although lower sections may choose to engage in ESB's (Exam Summoning Battles where students battle as a section against other sections where they summon beings with strength depending their test scores on certain subjects.) to prove they are worthy of moving up and the winning team can have the privilege of exchanging facilities with the losing team
A one-on-one summoning battle between Yuuji Sakamoto of Class F and Class E's Class rep. Students who partake in a summoning battle can summon their "Avatars" only on a special field created by the teacher that permitted the battle.
Too bad for Akihisa, aside from being branded by their Disciplinary Officer, Tetsujin, as one hell of a "Baka", he ended up in class F. But more unfortunately for Mizuki Himeji whom Yoshii met during the placement exam. Mizuki is a very intelligent girl whose intellect deserves to be in class A but due to fever on the placement exam, she fainted and got a zero in the end thereby landing her in class F. Akihisa though, despite having "Baka" written all over him, is really a kind-hearted young fellow and is determined to give Mizuki the classroom she deserves. With the help of the "Baka" gang of class F, they're determined to win ESB's (Exam Summoning Battles) rise to the top, claim class A's facilities and prove to everyone that grades aren't everything.
Introducing: the "Baka" bunch!
The lovely, cute and buxom Mizuki Himeji. Yes, buxom. :) Although she is not really Baka, more of a genius really - she should be in Class A, she unluckily ended up with Class F due to health problems during her placement exam. She has a big crush on Akihisa, and is having a lot of problems expressing her feelings. No wonder, Akihisa always misunderstands.
Mizuki's cooking. Looks beautifully mouth-watering and delicious, but don't be fooled. Its Snow White's poisoned-apple-in-a-bento-box-meal and unfortunate enough for Akihisa, Yuuji, Hideyoshi and Kouta (the three other than Akihisa have no choice but to share his fate lest they break Mizuki's pure heart), their mouths are always at it's receiving end.
Yuuji Sakamoto. Akihisa's closest friend and Class F's Class representative. Very fitting for him since he's the only one who seems to be using his head in Class F and always has the best winning strategies during ESB engagements. Due to a loss in their first battle against Class A, Yuuji became the unwilling yet subservient boyfriend-slash-slave to Class A's representative, Shouko, who is madly and violently - yes, violently - in love with Yuuji.
Beacause of Yuuji and Akihisa's closeness, they are capable of communicating with each other without the utterance of words (usually accompanied by this dramatic scene. LOL). This is one of the series' best running gags and whenever this happens, Yuuji, succeeds in tricking Akihisa to do dangerous and stupid stuff for him.
The lovely and adorable Hideyoshi Kinoshita, What?! It's a dude! Yes, Hideyoshi is a guy but due to is feminine looks and features, he is always mistaken as a girl and is usually the subject of fanservice in this series. Too much sexual confusion that Hideyoshi is given his own gender in the series. (There's the men's bath, the women's bath, and there's the Hideyoshi bath. LOL)
Ooh.. lalah.. Hey! It's a dude! No! It's a Hideyoshi. Hideyoshi, having very feminine features is usually the point of fanservice in the series. Though he always stresses to everyone he is male, no one seems to mind his arguments and still get nosebleeds whenever he dresses up as a girl. This sometimes gets Mizuki and Minami real jealous whenever Hideyoshi gets the guys' attention thereby calling him a traitor, much to his own confusion.
Kouta Tsuchiya, AKA, "Muttsurini", which means, the silent/coy pervert, or as the subbing (thanks gg-subs for providing) on the anime went, "Voyeur". Kouta is Class F's resident pervert and is mostly seen with a digital camera on the ready for those "unguarded moments" Despite being always on the move and on the lookout for potential eye candy, the girls in the anime usually don't mind being compromised by this peeping tom, perhaps its because of his reticence and quiet disposition... and dark stealthy strategies. :) He is also seen keeping a large file containing every female student in Fumizuki's bust sizes and measurements.
Despite being a full-time voyeur and peeping tom, Muttsurini, still seems to be not so used to seeing "confidential" stuff and always suffers life-threatening heavy nosebleeds like this whenever he chances upon "hidden and exposed treasures"
Minami Shimada is the "tsundere" character of the series. Like Mizuki, she also has the hots for Akihisa but is unable to express her feelings because of her tsundere nature. Minami spent most of her life in Germany which made her very weak when it comes to Kanji and is also the cause of her failing in the placement exams where she was only able to answer number questions.
Miharu (a girl from class D who has a lesbian attraction to Minami) and Minami locking Akihisa in a double submission hold. Minami is usually the butt of Akihisa's jokes when it comes to her femininity. He claims, Minami isn't a girl because she lacks the modesty, finesse and the physique (particularly in the "chest department") of a real female. This in turn enrages Minami causing her to try and break the bones of poor dumb Akihisa in different submission moves.
This scene really cracks me:
Yuuji (lifts Shouko's skirt): Sorry, Shouko
Shouko: Yuuji, ... you pervert.
Yuuji: Gimme a break, I promise it won't happen again.
Shouko: Let's continue this in bed.
Yuuji: I said it wasn't going to do it again! I'm not interested in whatever the hell you're wearing down there!
Shouko (grabbing Yuuji's face): You take that back.
Shouko Kirishima is my favorite character in the series. Shouko is Class A's beautiful, soft-spoken and intelligent class representative and Yuuji's girlfriend-whether-he-likes-it-or-not. She is extremely possessive and crazily in love when it comes to Yuuji and more often than not, takes violent actions whenever he sees Yuuji as being "unfaithful".
Shouko always carries a stun gun/taser on the ready. Not for protection but for shocking Yuuji whenever he doesn't go with what Shouko wants to do. She also loves to poke Yuuji's eyes so he won't look at other girls and have him wear handcuffs with chains so he won't get away. Poor Yuuji.
What a face. This is one of my favorite LOL parts of the series. Yuuji, Hideyoshi and Akihisa are teamed up to go on a scavenger hunt. They separated to go look for the hidden items and everywhere Akihisa checks, something dumb and funny happens.
Yuuji (lifts Shouko's skirt): Sorry, Shouko
Shouko: Yuuji, ... you pervert.
Yuuji: Gimme a break, I promise it won't happen again.
Shouko: Let's continue this in bed.
Yuuji: I said it wasn't going to do it again! I'm not interested in whatever the hell you're wearing down there!
Shouko (grabbing Yuuji's face): You take that back.
Shouko Kirishima is my favorite character in the series. Shouko is Class A's beautiful, soft-spoken and intelligent class representative and Yuuji's girlfriend-whether-he-likes-it-or-not. She is extremely possessive and crazily in love when it comes to Yuuji and more often than not, takes violent actions whenever he sees Yuuji as being "unfaithful".
Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu is definitely one of the best new comedy series out there which I'd very much recommend if you're looking for a lot of laughs. Full of running gags, funny wordplay, witty comedy, tons of slapstick and crazy romance, every episode surely is one heck of a ride on the LOL-lercoaster.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Slapstick at its Best (Azumanga Daioh)
Among all the comedy-slapstick themed anime I've watched so far, this one made it to my number one best comedy anime show of all time. (beating Doraemon for the title) Azumanga Daioh is an anime that portrays the everyday lives of certain high school girls and their teachers filled with hilarity and weird antics. The combination and clashing of each character's individuality (which I like the most of course), running gags, puns and weird and funny situations definitely completes the comedic experience of this anime series.
The crazy bunch of main characters in Azumanga Daioh.
The anime's story revolves around three years of high school and the events in between. From days of classes in school to vacations in Chiyo-chan's seaside rest house to trips around Japan to leisurely walks on weekends and even in the thoughts and New Year's dreams of each character. Each episode never failed to make me chuckle at the very least, but mostly, laugh my lungs out.
The series sometimes contains a bit of dirty humor, which in my opinion makes it more laughable. Tomo-chan apart from other girls, shows a lot of interest in and is really good with dirty jokes.
Now, on with the characters!
Mihama Chiyo, the cutest of the bunch is really popular in their campus for her size and intellectual prowess, being able to skip five grades to 10th grade. (first year high school). She really can't compare with other other girls when it comes to athletics though, and is very envious of Sakaki's height and skill in sports.
Osaka and Chiyo inside the infamous "Yukari-mobile" Seems they had fun having tasted Yukari-sensei's notorious driving skills, Chiyo especially, being scarred for life after this.
Tomo-chan is one of my favorite characters in this series. Being the resident 'wildcat' of their class, she loves action and challenges whether it be challenging Sakaki in sports or Chiyo in academics in which both cases she never wins. She also loves to make fun of others, particularly Yomi, whom she has been troubling since elementary and Chiyo whom she loves picking on.
Having a "green mind", Tomo annoys Yomi by repeating out loud the name of a biscuit that sounds like penis in Japanese.
Among the other girls, Tomo has the most interest in sexuality. This time she succeeds in getting her much desired "information" from a drunk Nyamo.
Yomi is Tomo's classmate since elementary. She has weight troubles which amuses Tomo and most of the time, is the point of her jokes thereby putting Tomo on the receiving end of her punches.
Sakaki is the tallest and most reticent of the group. Her being silent is usually misunderstood by her classmates as being cool or mysterious. Despite her height and busty physique (which is the cause of her shyness), she loves cute things and animals, cats in particular. She is also naturally athletic and is frequently challenged by Tomo and Kagura.
Despite of her love for cats, she always gets bitten whenever she tries to touch one. Kagura says, the cats seem to think she approaches them with murderous intent or maybe her hand just smells like fish.
Kaorin is a girl who has developed a strange infatuation with Sakaki. Sakaki though doesn't seem to mind or realize this but Kaorin always gets anxious and extremely jealous whenever the other girls get closer to the former.
Ayumu or Osaka (the name given to her by Tomo because she is from Osaka which has been her name for the rest of the series) is one of my favorite anime characters of all time. She has an extremely weird personality, slow, spacey and always gets lost in her intense imagination. Despite this she is amazed by the bizarre and has a morbid sense of humor.
Having a weird yet vivid imagination, she imagines Chiyo being able to detach her pigtails and replace them with new ones. She even dreamt of Chiyo being able to fly with flapping pigtails and her pigtails controlling her mind.
Osaka, groups the girls according to their bust sizes, categorizing them as different nationalities. Sakaki having the biggest, she called an american, Kaorin and Yomi as hawaiians and in this one, Tomo and herself as Japanese, being the smallest. Yomi though grouped them both as Chiyo's equals.
This part of the series really had me going. Osaka plans on waking Yukari up by banging a frying pan. Still drowsy, she went to the kitchen and took a butcher knife instead.
Kagura is a member of the swim team and has declared a one-sided athletic rivalry with Sakaki. She only became their classmate during the second year where she and Sakaki became friends but still sports rivals though the latter is only on her part. She always gets tricked by Osaka to showing her tan lines in class.
Though she excels in athletics, Kagura sucks at academics. Together with Osaka and and the dumb ass Tomo being the leader, they formed their study group "Bonklers" (as Yomi calls the three of them after failing an exam) in which they are proud of being one.
Kurosawa-sensei or "Nyamo", as Yukari calls her, is the girls' PE teacher. Both Nyamo and Yukari are alumnae of the same school they are teaching in and are very old friends. Whenever they fight it usually gets to the point of digging up old secretswhich they try to conceal from their students. Despite her modesty though, Nyamo can get wild and sleazy when drunk.
Yukari-sensei, the girls' homeroom teacher is very similar to Tomo being a crazy woman herself. She is very skilled and appears to be fluent in speaking English which she uses to show her superiority over Nyamo.
Yukari is also very notorious for her driving and her derelict car has earned the ill-fated nickname "Yukari-mobile". Though, the other girls who had ridden the Yukari-mobile experienced extreme shock and trauma Tomo seems to enjoy riding with her. No wonder they are very much alike.
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