Anime Review: Fairy Tail

Fairy Tail is an ongoing anime, and relatively new. It is about a world where magic is common practice, and many guilds for mages have been created. Fairy Tail is one of those guilds, and there are many others including 'dark guilds' for evil mages. So far the episodes have been mostly introductory, explaining the main characters' pasts and a few adventures take place. It is mostly a comedy, but it adds a lot of fighting elements into it... making it quite similar to the Soul Eater anime. The story seems to have begun to pick up, with the more recent episodes based on a rival guild attacking Fairy Tail.

There are a few main characters;

Lucy Heartfilia - A cute, busty, blonde haired girl. She is a Celestial Mage, who summons spirits from Celestial Keys. The most powerful keys are the Zodiac Keys (based on the star signs). She is the newest member of Fairy Tail, after joining early in the anime. She is very cheerful, but tends to suffer a lot for comedic purposes (usually due to something Natsu, Gray or Happy does).

Natsu Dragneel - He is a Fire Mage, although he uses it as mostly an enhancement to his fighting (such as making his fists burn with fire), and some projectile moves. He was raised by a dragon named Igneel, who he learnt his fire magic from before he joined the guild. He is constantly at odds with Gray, and he also desires to beat Erza in a fight. He suffers from an extreme weakness of travelling, where he gets completely sick when riding any form of transportation.

Gray Fullbuster - He is an Ice Mage that is always at odds with Natsu ever since they were young. He has an interesting habit of taking off his clothes, which even surprises himself when someone points it out. You find out a lot more about his past and why he takes his clothes off later in the anime.

Erza Scarlet - She is an Armour Mage, with an assortment of different armour and weapons that she can switch to using her 'ex-quip' ability. Among the main characters she is the strongest, and one of the top mages of the guild. She seems to have a huge amount of authority in the guild, and is quite close to the guild master. She is the one who is consistently breaking up the fights between Natsu and Gray through sheer fear, as she is quite hot-tempered and fierce. The entire guild treads carefully around her because of this.

Happy - He is a blue cat with the ability to use magic, which so far is to create wings on his back and fly. His flying ability is the only form of transportation that doesn't make Natsu sick. He is very close with Natsu, as you find out that Natsu had raised Happy since he was a baby. He is very childish, makes a lot of random comments (some of which are stupid, but all in good humour), loves eating fish and also tends to say "aye" a lot.

There are a lot of other characters, but they are not as prominent as these 5. The show is absolutely hilarious, and I really enjoy the magic fights. The story so far has been pretty decent, but I think it will get more interesting now that things are beginning to unravel. I'd give the show a rating of 10/10, as I can not find any flaws in the show at all. If you like good comedy, you should definitely check Fairy Tail out.

Below is a pick of the main characters from left to right; Natsu, Erza, Happy, Lucy and Gray

Movie Review: The Swordsman Trilogy

This series of movies are actually Chinese movies, which I had seen a long time ago when I was young. Clearly the best of the series, and also the most popular is Swordsman II which stars Jet Li. You could probably potentially just watch Swordsman II by itself, however it would make a whole lot more sense if you watch Swordsman I (although I didn't enjoy the first as much). The series is now considered a classic, and it renewed the popularity of old-style martial arts films. The fighting is the typical unrealistic type, with people able to jump many meters and also flying through the air while being able to keep yourself afloat by merely lightly stepping on thin tree branches. People also use supernatural powers, which I gather that the idea is they expel their 'chi', and it seems like the person gets hit by an invisible force.

The first film stars Sam Hui as Linghu Chong, who is a senior member of Mount Hua Sect. He is an easy-going guy, who loves alcohol but is also a very skilled swordsman. He is accompanied by Yue Lingshan, who is also a member of the Mount Hua Sect. She is the master's daughter, and has a crush on Linghu Chong. However, her tomboy ways cause Linghu Chong to think of her as just 1 of the other junior members and he calls her 'kiddo', although in Chinese it is also referring her to be a male. They get involved in a struggle to find the Sunflower Manual. The other parties involved include a Eunach General, and also the Sun Moon Sect. Linghu Chong at some point in the movie gets saved by the Sun Moon Sect, and the current leader Ren Yingying falls in love with him, although she tries not to show it much to the amusement of Lan Fenghuang (aka Blue Phoenix) who is her deputy. Whoever learns the secrets of the Sunflower Manual will apparently become the most powerful martial artist in the world, and this is important to understanding the second movie. The first movie also explains a lot of the character backgrounds to help understand the second movie. For example; it shows the significance of a particular song that is song very often and you find out why Linghu Chong cares so much about Ren Yingying.

The second film jumps forward a bit in the timeline (to my understanding). Also the cast for a lot of the characters has changed, which is obviously evident by Jet Li replacing Sam Hui and other changes. In this movie, a character named Dongfang Bubai (aka Asia the Invincible) has taken over the Sun Moon Sect and is conspiring with Japanese pirates. He has also mastered the secrets of the Sunflower Manual, however, in order to learn the secrets of the Sunflower Manual, he had to castrate himself, and his appearance became more feminine (eventually completely becoming a woman). This is why he is played by Brigitte Lin. Dongfang Bubai has imprisoned the previous leader of the Sun Moon Sect, and Linghu Chong attempts to find him.

The third film is kind of ordinary. It is based on Dongfang Bubai after the events of the second film, yet doesn't actually continue of the storyline of what happened at the end of the movie properly. I found the movie to be pretty dodgy and not very interesting, so I would recommend simply not watching it.

I would give the first movie a rating of 6/10, second movie 8.5/10, third movie 2/10. I recommend watching the first movie purely for the story background simply because it will make viewing the second movie a lot better. To be honest, I find the ending of the second movie to be a bit vague and wished the third movie continued on from where it left off. However, the movie itself was quite good and I tend to appreciate the classic movies a lot.

TV Review: Cougar Town

Been a while since I posted, so gonna try to start doing more. I had recently finished watching Cougar Town (first season), so I thought I'd share that first.

When Cougar Town was initially released, it brought back the popularity of 'cougars' in general... with radio shows doing special cougar-related segments and also being a fairly hot topic in the news. Cougar Town is a new comedy show starring Courtney Cox, who most people will know as Monica Gellar from Friends. She plays Jules Cobb, who is in her late 30s and recently divorced. She has a son named Travis, who she raised when she was very young and had to give up her college degree in the process. She is now a real estate agent and running a successful small business, and also trying to get back on the dating scene as well as trying to make up for the time lost in her 20s that were devoted to raising Travis. The first guy that Jules dates is a younger guy named Josh, which, hence the cougar story plot.

Jules' best friend is Ellie Torres, who is also her neighbour. She is a gossip queen and loves to witness drama. She is married to Andy Torres, and they have a baby boy named Stan. She is often at odds with Jules' assistant Laurie, who has very opposing views on how Jules should spend her time. While Laurie is more of a crazy party girl, Ellie is over that type of life and prefers a quiet night at home.

Andy is the stereotypical 'whipped' husband. He is also best friends with Bobby Cobb, who is Jules' ex-husband. Again, he is the stereotypical 'sheep' who follows Bobby around doing strange things. He also has a habit of spilling any gossip he knows to his wife Ellie, and the longer he keeps things a secret... the more he suffers trying to fight off the urge to tell Ellie about it.

Laurie works with Jules as her assistant, and is the main person getting Jules back on the dating scene. She is a fun-loving party girl and tries to influence Jules into her way of life.

Travis Cobb is Jules' 18 year-old son. He is often embarassed by Jules when she does strange things quite shamelessly. They however have quite a good relationship, which is often more like friends than mother and son.

Bobby Cobb is Jules' ex-husband. He is unemployed and lives on a boat. During his marriage with Jules, he was touring as a golfer although he wasn't successful. He is very easy-going and mostly just mucks around doing random stuff.

Finally, Grayson Ellis is another of Jules' neighbours and lives across the street. He is newly divorced, which Jules pointed out when she first meets him and tries to befriend him. However, he begins to date younger women which infuriates Jules because it is so easy for a divorced man to move on, while she has to struggle to try to find a new relationship.

In a way, the show has similarities to Desperate Housewives except with a smaller cast. There wasn't much of a story development in the first season, but it seemed to be a good introduction to all the characters and provides a lot of background. My favourite aspect of the show is the character named Barb Coman, who is a man-hungry cougar. She is very lascivious and quite shameless in showing it, and pretty much hits on any attractive looking guy she sees even if they are actually taken e.g. Jules' boyfriend Josh. The show has some good comedy, so I'm looking forward to seeing the next season, but I hope there is more plot in it. Overall I'd give the show a 7.5/10, and recommend it for anyone looking for a new comedy to watch.