Your Lie in April

I think I put off this anime for far too long because I was afraid of its ending. I'm sure you know the types I'm referring to; the endings that make your eyes puffy and your noses' stuffed. The type that makes you curl up at night and replaying the scene over and over and hearing your heart break into pieces. But even so, I implore you to watch Your Lie in April.

The story revolves around Arima Kousei, a washed up ex prodigy who used to play the piano. He had been the stuff of legends, but when his mother passed away, everything came crashing down. On the day of his most important piano recital, Kousei suffers a mental breakdown and becomes unable to hear the sound of his piano.  And now, he's stuck in a monotone- colourless world, and unable to move forward. Everything changes when he's roped into accompanying his best friend on a blind date as a 'wingman' of sorts, and there he meets...her. Miyazono Kaori.

The story begins from there, and it's a beautiful yet tragic ride and shows that it is possible for an anime to be funny, yet heartbreaking. Cheerful yet sad. I can draw these parallels all day.

Story : 7/10

For the most part, the story has good pacing, and follows kousei on his journey back into the musical world. The anime sells itself on the romance between him and Kaori, but I feel that is much deeper than that. At it's core, Your Lie in April is a story of self-discovery, and reminds us that we are only human. That it's okay to fall and skin your knees, because what matters in the end is that you pick yourself up and keep going. Kousei's journey was much better than I thought it would be, and watching his journey was like watching a close friend of yours trying to pick themselves up from that dark, dank hole they've fallen in.

Your Lie In April deals with the topic of death, and our darker sides fairly well. It doesn't preach and picks apart the topic tastefully. The only bad things I can nitpick about the plot would be the large amount of foreshadowing. There are many, many scenes where the foreshadowing becomes a little too obvious, and it feels like the creators aren't giving us enough credit to figure it out. Toward the middle of the anime, the plot becomes slightly more predictable, and because of all the foreshadowing, you already know how it will end. Fortunately, none of these takes the excitement out of watching it, and it was still very enjoyable.

Characters : 8/10

The character development for Kousei is phenomenal. He grows from a meek, mild mannered boy to a confident and matured individual. His growth is handled beautifully, and by the time the anime was over, I found myself wishing the best of luck to him. He tries to give up numerous times, but the people around him won't allow it, especially Kaori. And it occurred to me that she's like that friend who constantly pushes you to challenge yourself, to excel, and shows us that sometimes, what we really need is not a a comforting hug, but a great big shove.

As for Kaori, I didn't find her character development as great as Kousei's. But this has more to do with how the anime presents her, an 'mysterious' and 'enigmatic' figure that Kousei can't figure out no matter how hard he tries. And since Your Lie in April plays out from his perspective, we only get to see certain sides of Miyazono Kaori.

There's no supporting character worth mentioning more than Tsubaki. She gets a fair amount of development as well, which is great!. Tsubaki had me rooting for her for almost the entire length of the show, and for good reason. Unlike most of the 'childhood' stereotypes in rom coms of today, she actually takes a stand. Yeah you heard me, she takes a freaking stand. She acknowledges that Kousei is head over heels for Kaori, but she doesn't give up. The best part about it, is that she wasn't horrible about it. Tsubaki didn't try play saboteur to the budding romance between them, and deals with her own set of confusing feelings. There were a few heartbreaking scenes of Tsubaki just trying to deal with the lowest point in her short, teenage life, and it was fan-fucking-tastic.

Music : 10/10

One of the best parts of Your Lie in April was the music score. Oh god the music. There is nothing much to say other than that it was an absolute treat to my ears. Classical music has always been a soft spot for me, and hearing the recitals, piano/violin performances in the anime reminded me of how good this genre could be. It also worked extremely well for setting the mood. One of my favourite songs would be 'Love's sorrow' and it's been on replay ever since I first heard it.

Animation : 10/10

Your lie in april was a feast for my eyes. I have never been more grateful for a good computer monitor until now. The scenery in this anime was glorious, all the colours come to laugh and become more than just that, and how the creators used it here is a testament to how good animation can really be.

The anime had a interesting way of using colours, For example, the character's mood or state of mind were conveyed were conveyed using a brilliant colour palette that just made me go 'wow, I never knew they could do that' with every episode. Overall it was very imaginative and very impressive.

Overall : 9/10

A definite must watch for music lovers, romance enthusiasts, and anyone looking for a anime with a good plot, solid character development and great animation. I will definitely be coming back to watch this again.

Recommended: 5/5

Crimson Peak - The movie with an identity crisis

When I walked out of the cinema this morning, I spent almost ten minutes in the toilet pondering on what I just watched. I had a mixture of emotions roiling inside me, which made me stop to think about what I just saw. And around nine hours later, I sit here, still not quite sure of what I did watch.

I was tremendously excited to watch this movie for several reasons. (a) It was a gothic romance, (b) The trailer made it looked superb, and (c) The cast of the movie looked freaking awesome. But strangely enough, it wasn't quite what I expected it to be. Could it be because my hopes for this movie were ridiculously high? Maybe. But Crimson Peak has some rather glaring flaws which might have attributed to how disappointing this film turned out to be.

Let's get this straight. Crimson Peak is not bad. In fact, I wished it turned out to be some stupid romance horror flick that I could just walk out of the cinema and say "Meh. That was awful." and go on my merry way. But it wasn't. And that, is what makes me torn. The problem, is that Crimson Peak isn't bad, but it is definitely not good either.

For starters, the plot was quite lackluster. It's straightforward, and plays out like one of those point and click adventure novels which makes it, unfortunately, quite predictable. You know how it will play out, thanks to the ample amount of foreshadowing, but it uses a straight forward formula that takes much of the 'mystery' aspect out of it. And we have to keep in mind that Crimson Peak isn't marketed as a 'Mystery' movie, so we can't really blame the darn thing for having such a lackluster mystery.

But on the other hand, Crimson Peak isn't a horror movie either. I'm no expert, but it doesn't really feel like a 'horror' movie would. Like Edith, our main female character, says at the beginning of the movie. It's not a ghost story. It's a story with ghosts in it. Well, okay. And therein lies the problem.

Crimson Peak does not know what it wants to be.

It's not scary enough for horror fans, It's doesn't have good enough plot for mystery fans, and while the romance makes the movie interesting, it isn't enough to save it. Crimson peak can't be classified by a genre, because it doesn't even know it should be classified as. The story goes from 'mystery' to 'romance' to 'horror' and then shockingly, ends with a sequence that seems like it would be a better fit in a slasher movie than in this one.

Pros:

+Movie is stunning and very beautiful
+The cast and its acting is brilliant
+CGI is well done and doesn't feel cheap
+Sound effects are good

Cons:

-Weak plot
-Unsatisfying payoff
-Movie is stuck between a smattering of genres
-A little too bloody despite being marketed as a gothic romance


Did I enjoy Crimson Peak? Yes.

Would I watch it again? No.

Seraphina - To be or not to be?

I think  most of us have read fantasy books about dragons at least once in our lives. There is something very intriguing about scaly, fire breathing reptiles that make them such an interesting subject to read about. Dragons have played many different roles. Villain, victim, hero. As time has gone by, they no longer have a fixed set of powers. Now they don't merely breathe fire, they can a wide variety of powers ranging from shape-shifting to healing, and are no longer just painted as beastly brutes who plunder the lands in search of their next meal.

The dragons in Seraphina are one such variation of dragons and are intelligent, sentient creatures. And I think this is one of the reasons that make Seraphina such a interesting read. That is not the only thing the book has to offer of course, they are certainly many other factors that make it such a good read as it is.

The story follows Seraphina, or Phina for short, as she tries to navigate through the waters of high society while trying to keep her 'heritage' under wraps. I confess that I didn't expect it to be part-murder mystery, part-self discovery, but thankfully it was done pretty well. The other characters in the book like Lucien and Glisselda were likable in their own way, and the interactions with Seraphina were so lively, and the way they contrasted with her just made those scenes come to life in the best possible way. The romance this book comes out of nowhere, and while I'm not really bothered by it I feel that it could have done without.

Unlike in some books, the politics in Seraphina did not bore me to death. The power play between Dragons and Humans is a source of tension for both races, and our dear protagonist is caught between the two worlds (literally) and desperately tries to keep herself from being washed away by the hostility between the two races. Her path of self-acceptance doesn't play out like one of those cliche fairytale types, it is much more intense and emotionally disturbing in a way.

Overall, it was a nice read and I look forward to picking up the next installment in the series.

7.5/10 - Would read again! 

Recommended to those who are okay with/like:

-Fantasy

-Politics

-Dragons

-Slight incestous vibes (Lucien and Glisselda are cousins and are engaged, but this is only referenced sparsely throughout the book)

Sword Art Online 2 (Mother Rosario arc)

                 

And now, onto to the Mother rosario Arc.

I suppose that most SAO fans hate Alfheim online is because of the somewhat incestuous relationship between Suguha and Kirito. They're cousins, so maybe the interest she has in him is deemed somewhat 'disgusting' in a way, but honestly I don't really care about that. The reason I disliked it was the fact that it was just pure filler; it was obvious that they were trying to milk the show till it was bone dry. But not only that, the addition of that nasty new villain just left a bad taste in my mouth, especially with him threatening to rape Asuna every scene he was shown in.                                        
I don't find that particularly good as a plot device, and not forgetting this scene where Asuna escapes her cage and gets caught by these blob-like tentacle monsters. I half-expected it to transform into some tentacle hentai, and that is juts...bleh. No thank you. The story and action sequences were decent, but the characters were just largely annoying, whiny and plain creepy. But enough of me whining about ALO, let's get to the real meat of things.

Story - 8/10

The second Arc of SAO 2 is extremely well done, though the build up to the main story of that arc was kind of slow. Kirito and his harem- ahem, I mean team, set out on a fetch quest, and though that part was somehow lacking in logic whatsoever, the excalibur part ended on a rather decent note. There's also a few Kirito X Sinon scenes littered throughout the episodes, and you can't help but wonder why Asuna isn't feeling even the tiniest bit jealous.

And then comes the true meat of the story, where Asuna meets Zekken. I was pleasantly surprised and a little shocked at how the story panned out. Asuna (finally!) steps into the limelight and the rest of the arc plays out from her point-of-view. Asuna finally gets some long awaited character development in this season, and it reveals her strict upbringing and militaristic mother who's hell bent on living a new game plus through her daughter. Don't worry if you don't catch my meaning, you'll find out when you watch it. No sense in me spoiling it for anyone!

And besides Asuna having to worry about her real life problems, she is also 'recruited' by Zekken and joins their small guild named 'The sleeping Knights'. There, she tries to help the guild with a seemingly impossible wish, to defeat a level boss by themselves. For the most part, this part of the story was generally likable, tragic, and quite touching. The anime ended on a brilliant bitter sweet note with a good message to be had. Awesome!

Characters - 8/10

Step aside Kirito, and say hello to the new stars of the show. Zekken, also known as Konno Yuuki, is the most interesting character to have been in the SAO franchise. I remember when her character was first revealed, and it made some pretty big waves. She was fleshed out, likable, and like Sinon, has had a harsh childhood. That's all I'll reveal for now, but I can almost guarantee you that Yuuki will bring life to every scene she is in, and bring out feels that you didn't know could exist in SAO.

On another note, I also want to say that I think it was quite a brave step to show the 'OP' Kirito get beaten by Zekken (aka Yuuki) In a way, it humanises him and makes him seem less like the badass, godlike player he was portrayed to be in season 1 and GGO. It doesn't give him any better or worse, but it does manage to knock him down from the pedestal that most characters seem to have placed him atop off.

Asuna finally, finally becomes more like the Asuna of the first season, and god am I happy to witness it. Her dynamic with Yuuki is a delightful one, and there are definitely some yuri vibes between the two ladies. Those moments were decidedly cute and endearing, and it made the Yuri fan in me squee with unsubtle delight. But despite me saying this, I think that their relationship would probably never delve into the romantically involved type of relationship for obvious reasons, but hey. It would make a good fanfiction I guess?

All in all, I was very pleased by the character development in the second arc, and would be right to say that it surpassed my expectations.

Animation - 8/10

One thing about ALO, is the absolutely gorgeous scenery. It did a good job in improving the atmosphere of the anime, it was bright and cheerful when need be and dull and melancholy when it wasn't. I wouldn't have expected less.

The opening and ending for this arc did not impress me much, but it was probably because it wasn't my type of music. The final ending song though, did hit me particularly hard. But that was also the by-product of the last episode so I can't really comment much on that. I think I still much prefer 'Ignite' and 'Startear' from the GGO Arc.

Recommendation - 3/5

As a whole, SAO 2 doesn't break any barriers like SAO. But, it was extremely entertaining and deserves credit for being a decent sequel. If you didn't like sword art online, I doubt that the second season would change your perception toward it, but SAO 2 is a definite must watch for fans.