Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Blood+




*Phew..I'm finally done with the 50 episodes of Blood+ with an average of 1 episode per weeknight, and ~3 episodes on weekends (depending on the speed of my broadband..)



This is one bloody anime..all the gore, the spewing blood like water from a burst pipe, cut off limbs, bodies, heads, and more can all be seen during the course of the anime. Don't say you were not forewarned =P


The story starts off in Okinawa, Japan, where Saya Otonashi, a schoolgirl, lives happily with her adoptive family that consists of George, her father, a veteran from the Vietnam war; Kai, her brother who was an athlete, and Riku, her little brother. However, Saya's ordinary life is shattered when she encounters a chiropteran when she returns to school one night to retrieve the running shoes she left behind. This is when she reunites with her loyal chevalier, Haji, whom together with the gradual return of her memory, learns about the tragedies in her past. She too learns about her twin sister, Diva (whose blood is being used to create the monsters), Diva's chevaliers and that only her blood is fatal to Diva and co., while similarly only Diva's blood can kill her. Otherwise she and Diva are almost immortal, having lived longer than everyone else, always going through the cycle of waking up for a few years and then sleeping in a cocoon for the next 30.


Saya soon embarks on a journey to rid the world of chiroptera and stop her sister along with her family and Haji. She is also assisted by members of the Red Shield, an organization founded by Joel Goldschmidt, the original man that discovered the sisters, and whose diary helped Saya remembers her lifetime before and how Haji became who he is now. The war against chiroptera takes the group around the world, from Okinawa to Vietnam, to France, to Russia, to New York, to London, and finally back to Okinawa. Throughout it all, blood and more blood are spilled, lifes of loved ones are lost, new friends (in the form of artificial chiroptera, known as Sif) are found, new lifes are born and most of it all, million tears are shed. The love for Saya also caused Solomon, one of Diva's chevalier to turn against his Queen towards the end of the anime.

I must say Blood+ has a nice storyline and one can really get addicted to it, what with cliffhangers at the end of most episodes..The ending is appropriate too after the rollercoaster ride of emotions we go through. 50 episodes of ~30mins each is worth it..at least to me ;)




My rating:

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Nice Song, "Nice" Style

My cousin sis introduced me to this song by Phantasmagoria, and suddenly I'm opened up to the world of VKei or Visual Kei, Japan's latest style craze (which my cousinz are very much into). Not my kinda style though with all the dyed hair, heavy make-up, black/red nails, ear/nose/lips studs, and especially the dressing..male/female alike. Watch the clip and you'll know what I mean.


Yup, they are all guys, and they aren't the only band out there. With names like Phantasmagoria, Dir en Grey, Gazzette, Alice Nine, etc., they are definitely not everyone's cup of tea. This particular song "Eternal Silence" is nice though, love the music. So if you ever see ppl in Malaysia (Sg. Wang area, I believe) that looked like they got dressed in the dark (no pun intended =P), you know where they got their ideas from..


P/S: Let me know what you think ;)



My rating: (only for the song..lol)

Friday, June 01, 2007

Old Skool Game Refreshed...

I'm sure all the 80's babies out there would recalled playing Arkanoid, a game where you needed to deflect a ball using a bar to clear rows of colored bricks, & getting powers along the way..

Well, the old skool game is back - in 3D this time around! Yup, its none other than Magic Ball 3. Packed with stunning graphics and 80 over levels to complete, one can really get addicted to it, eager to complete each level to see what kinda scene comes up next.

There are 4 themes of 20 levels each, starting from pirates, moving to Halloween, Wild West after that, and finally Medieval. From sharks circling pirate ships to witches having a party, to cowboys, to princess and castles, each scene is eye-catching, humorous even. What makes it even better is the effect when your ball hits them. Instead of the conventional disappering bricks, see pirates ships break, sharks split in half, castle tumbles, animals fall, exploding fireworks..cool animations that sure have our inner devils smiling with glee.

Not to forget the various power-ups in the form of lasers, machine guns, inflated ball, spiked ball that will most definitely speed up any destructions. Also, natural disaster power-ups such as lighting & meteor strikes, earthquakes, strong wind, all lending a hand. Of coz there are some negative powers that will caused your spaceship-like bar to break into pieces, and also one that turns day into nite, making it harder to see.

All in all, its a great way to spend time and having fun while you're at it. Just don't get too engrossed and ending up sitting in front of the PC the whole day like I almost did =P ....


My rating: