Anime Review: Queen's Blade

If you are after a good story, you are probably looking at the wrong anime. If you are looking for fan service however... this anime is full of it.

Queen's Blade is a major tournament, which decides who will be the next queen. The main character of the story is Leina, who is the middle daughter of Count Vance. She is supposed to be the heir, but she doesn't want to take the position and runs off to enter the Queen's Blade tournament. As far as the story is concerned... it is pretty ordinary, and quite typical/predictable, but thats not really what you would watch this anime for =P

The other characters include;

Listy - self-claimed "chivalrous thief of the wasteland". Her primary goal is money, but it is in order to feed an orphanage. She is the first person Leina meets, and Leina looks up to her like an older sister and idol.

Tomoe - a warrior priestess from the East. After her fellow priestesses were slaughtered by an assassin clan, she vowed to win the Queen's Blade tournament in order to protect her homeland, which is in turmoil.

Shizuka - a compansion of Tomoe. She was the head of an assassin clan, but she left in order to serve Tomoe after having being defeated by her.

Echidna - an elven mercenary, who is extremely experienced in combat. She is the favourite to win the tournament. She has a very strong, but strange interest in Leina. She frequently makes comments suggesting that they should sleep together. The most bizarre thing about her, is that she has a pet snake that wraps around her groin area to serve as underwear (although it attacks her enemies as well).

Claudette - she is known as the 'Lightning General', and is Leina's adoptive older sister. She is very strong, and as her name suggests... she uses lightning-based attacks. She seems very cold towards Leina, and one of her primary aims is to bring Leina back to the castle so she can resume her duties as the heir.

Elina - the youngest daughter of the Vance family. She is the captain of the imperial guard, and has a major sister-complex towards Leina. I find her to be one of the more amusing characters, as she frequently tries to do anything intimate with Leina when given the chance, much to Leina's dismay.

Nanael - an angel from the heavens. The angels serve as 'broadcasters' of the Queen's Blade tournament, which everyone can view from the sky. She is very selfish and ambitious, so she's very amusing to watch.


There is a huge cast of characters, but these are the most prominent characters. I would say this anime is very borderline hentai. There are no actual sex scenes or anything, so it can't really be classified as hentai, but the maker of the anime/manga certainly pushes the boundaries as far as he could. I find it very unlikely that any girls would like to watch it (unless u enjoy watching these kinds of anime), but it's definitely made for the guys. I'd give it a 5/10 for storyline, and 10/10 for fan service... so an overall rating of 7.5/10.

I'll leave u with a nice fan-service pic of my favourite character, Airi. She is 1 of the 3 'demons' who serve the Swamp Witch. As suggested by the pic, she is a scythe-wielding maid, and she is also a ghost. In order to maintain her energy, she must suck the life-force out of people, which she does by kissing them (which seems pretty awesome to me =P).

Random Thoughts: How to...?

I wasn't really planning to open myself up, but I guess thats what blogs are for. Anyway, a bit of history about me... when I was in high school there was this particular girl I liked very much. I have liked many girls throughout my life, but this particular girl would probably be the first girl I fell in love with, although she didn't feel the same about me. Despite getting rejected by her, I never really got over her... and even if I were to just randomly bump into her somewhere, or am somehow reminded of her... all the feeling I had for her would just resurface and I'd just get miserable because I know nothing will happen.

So anyways, fast forward to near the present... this same girl got married very recently. When ppl hear about things like this, they will tell u that u should be happy for that person. I see this as a dilemma, in that how can I be happy for someone if their happiness is the root cause of me being unhappy? If she is happy, then sure... good for her, but I don't see a need for me to be happy for her. I'm not really sure how I should perceive the "u should be happy for them" statement, because it's not something u would say to cheer someone up, yet it seems like sometimes ppl will try to use it that way. Well thats all I got for now... peace.

Movie Review: Robin Hood

There have been many films based on Robin Hood. This Robin Hood is the latest one, starring Russell Crowe. As everyone probably knows, Robin Hood is an old English tale about a man who robs from the rich and gives it to the poor, and his accompanied by his merry band. This movie however, takes a step back and looks at Robin's story before he became the infamous outlaw.

At the start of the movie, Robin Longstride is serving King Richard's 3rd crusade against the French, as the leader of the archers. King Richard is slain in combat, and a convoy is heading back to England to return the Crown. Robin of Locksley is in charge of the convoy, but they were ambushed by the French who are led by an English traitor. Robin's group by chance, run into the ambush and help fight the French off. Locksley's dying wish was for Robin to return his sword to his father. Thus Robin Longstride takes on the name Robin of Locksley, and his group dress up as knights so that they can return to England. From there the story unfolds, as the French prepare to make their counter-attack.

There were a lot of mixed opinions among my friends and other people who have seen the movie. I personally thought it was a good decision to steer away from the mainstream storyline, and I found it interesting to see events before the actual Robin Hood story. Although, I guess I can't be sure whether that was the actual story, as there are other adaptations where Robin is actually the knight of Locksley, and not just pretending. I felt there was enough action in the movie, although others thought there wasn't enough... I don't think movies should be too overloaded with action though, otherwise it's going to have no storyline at all.

The only things I didn't like were that Robin very rarely used his bow, which is supposed to be his signature weapon, and the other thing is I felt that the final battle was a little one-sided. When you see the final battle, in all honesty... the English could've just sat there and wiped out the French with their archers... there was a very unnecessary cavalry charge. Therefore, I felt that the final battle wasn't very well planned from a director's point of view.

Overall, I think the movie was fairly good. I'd give it a 7/10 rating.

wtf

Been a while since I've made a post, but I'll try to get back into the swing of things again when I got time.

Anyways, something happened this morning that I want to get off my chest. I was driving to work and I was in the city kind of area at Parramatta. There was a car on the left hand side of the road coming out of a drive-way. He comes out despite me almost approaching him, and fully cuts me off. So I horn him for being a moron and had to brake pretty hard. Turns out the car was an unmarked cop. He swerves close to me so that his car is fairly close to me and is full yelling, although I couldn't hear him. I just kept going by my business and he buggered off.

What puzzles me is that he seems to think hes above the law and is expected to be given right of way even though he is turning right. If cops are supposed to watch out for us citizens driving recklessly, then perhaps they should do so themselves by example. If he had a siren on, that would obviously be another story... but he didn't. At that point in time, I could not believe that part of my taxes would be going to cops like him.

Movie Review: Clash of the Titans

On the weekend I went to watch Clash of the Titans with a bunch of friends. The movie is in 3D, but I didn't really notice the 3D aspect of it that much... it was more noticeable in 1 of the ads for some dancing movie that I forgot the name of.

The story is based on the Greek mythology of Perseus. I actually looked up Perseus on wikipedia afterwards and found that the storyline was amazingly accurate on most things, and I find mythology quite fascinating. However, the actual storyline isn't really that great in the movie as I felt it was a bit linear. It was pretty much "we need to go to X" then they reach it and find out that "we now need to kill Z", and its all done without any plot twists or any real dramas.

Perseus was found by a fisherman as a baby inside a coffin floating in the ocean with his mother dead inside. The fisherman raised Perseus as his own, and the story fast-forwards to when hes a young man. One day, they find soldiers knocking down a giant statue, and Perseus' father says that the soldiers are declaring war on the gods. After the statue falls into the ocean, flying demons rise out of the water and attack the soldiers. The demons then combine and form to make Hades, god of the underworld. He dives into the ocean, destroying the boat that Perseus' family is on. Perseus manages to escape, but his family are unable to escape and drown with the boat. The distraught Perseus is later found by soldiers of Argos, who take him to the palace. The king and queen of Argos are rebelling against the gods, and Hades is sent to deal with them. Hades announces that he will unleash the Kraken in 10 days, unless they sacrifice Andromeda the princess of Argos. Perseus is later discovered to be a demi-god, and the only hope that Argos has in defeating the Kraken, and thus he begins a journey to find a way to defeat it.

While the story is ordinary, I still enjoyed the mythological aspect of the movie. I would give it a rating of 7/10 for that reason.

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.