Darker Than Black

Darker Than Black is the story of those with supernatural abilities called contractors. An event happens that creates two spot on Earth that are called Heave's Gate(South America) and Hell's Gate(Tokyo), where strange occurrences happen. Anybody that trespasses into the area is never heard from again. At that same time the sky was replaced by a sky full of false stars, which represent the life of a contractor. Contractors are those who have abilities develop which range from controlling gravity to materializing items and even controlling weather. Contractors can use their abilities but must pay a remuneration (a payment of sorts) that is usually strange. Some have to break their own fingers, drink beer, eat cigarettes, etc. They have also lost all emotional reasoning which is replaced by pure logical reasoning. As a result, many contractors work as assassins and the like. This story revolves around a chinese contracor named Hei. Hei is slightly different since he does not have a remuneration for his abilities. Hei works with a girl named Yin that is a "Doll." Dolls have zero personality and act as support for contractors. Each doll has an affinity for an element or substance, that when they are in contact can project themselves to any other place that substance might be. Hei also works with another contractor named Mao that had the ability to  transfer his consciousness into animals. But at a period in the past an incident occurred and he lost his real body. He now prefers the body of a black cat. Their team also has a human contact who was once a police officer by the name of Huang.  Huang is the contact for the organization they work for and hands down missions for Hei to complete. Over the coares of the series it becomes obvious that Hei is not a normal contractor, most obviously because he has no remuneration. But also because he does not always follow logic and at times he is very driven by emotion. I would recommend this to those who prefer supernatural abilities. This series gives a different kind of feel and variety to the genre. It does its best to show as much character development as possible while still leaving a sense of mystery. Making you want more and more. There is also a second season to this along with some OAV's to fill in between the first and second season.

YuYu Hakusho

Yusuke Yurameshi is a delinquent punk who nobody believes to be worth anything until he sacrifices his life to save a little boy from being hit by a speeding car. As a ghost he begins to see that his life had more importance than he first thought. He is given the opportunity to come back to life since his death was completely unexpected by the spirit world. Needless to say that he is once again alive, but is then told that heis the spirit detective of the living world. He has abilities above the normal person and is given cases to solve involving demons and other strange phenomenon.  He starts learning from a renowned psychic named Gen Kai, who instructs him on the ways of controlling his immense amount of spirit energy. His primary weapon using his spirit energy is his spirit gun. Basically he concentrates his energy nto his finger and releases it like a bullet. He also learns a similar method of releasing his energy called the shotgun, it’s the same idea only it is a more spread focus shot.  Eventually Gen Kai endows Yusuke with her spirit orb, a massive amount of spirit energy that he takes within himself that has the risk of tearing his body to shreds. He uses this power to fight against some very powerful demons, and in the process of the thought of the loss of his friends discovers his inner strength. Later he meets the spirit detective that came before him who has the goal of destroying the barrier between the living world and demon world. Yusuke once again finds himself dead and discovers that he is the descendant of a very powerful demon.  Several generations prior to Yusuke, a muzaku demon fell in love with a human and shared a night with her. The trait allows a muzaku to pass on his dna to a descendant powerful enough to control their power, is known as the atavism of the muzaku. At this point Yusuke has become the most wanted person in the living world with a warrant for his death from the spirit world. He travels to demon world to see his so called demon father and while there learns to harness his demon powers. There are three  rulers of the demon world and one just happens to be his demon father.  The three rulers are at war and when Yusukes father dies, he makes a trip to see of the other rulers and proposes a tournament to decide the ruler of the demon world. By doing so he gives the opportunity to all demons to be the ruler. As a result of the tournament, none of the rulers end up being in charge, because they all faced each other prior to the finals and as a result the ruler became somebody that never could have taken power by force. He declared that demons were not to kill humans and in the end there was an understanding between the three worlds(spirit, living, demon) that there would be peace. Okay, so a lot of people don’t like this anime. I’m not entirely sure why, maybe it got a bad rep or something because it looked a little childish, but I love it. For it time the animation is awesome, character development is outstanding, and the storyline kicked ass. I’m just going to recommend this to everybody! Enjoy!!

Katekyo Hitman Reborn

Sawada Tsunayoshi  is a lazy, clutz of a 10th grader with the nickname ‘no good Tsuna’  until one day he finds out he was getting a home tutor. When the home tutor shows up Tsuna is shocked to find out that it is a baby by the name of Reborn.  Reborn explains that he was sent by 9th head of the Vongola mafia family, to train Tsuna to become the 10th boss. Tsuna absolutely refuses to have anything to do with the mafia however one instance after another causes him to be drawn deeper and deeper into it. He begins to develop trusted friendships and underlings that he can trust with his life.  His right hand man is Gokudera Hayato, and along with the rest of his subordinates, they show that they are the true owners of the power of the sky rings and heirs to the original Vongola.  Tsuna gradually learns of his internal abilities the reason why he was chosen to become the 10th. Through his adamant refusal to follow the ways of the mafia he shows that he is the only one who truly has the original intent of the 1st. Who’s intent was to protect the ones that could not protect themselves. There are many adventures and side stories throughout this anime that make it one of my favorites and this time I am going to avoid any spoilers and just suggest that you watch this anime. It took me a while to get into this one because it starts slowly and seems kinda ridiculous and childish at first but slowly starts to pull you in. Any Naruto fans know what this is like. Having to put up with the stupid fillers and storyline in order to get to the good main plot. But it is worth it. Watch it and don’t judge it to early on. I would also recommend reading the manga as a follow up where the anime ends. Enjoy!

Last Exile

Claus Valca and Lavie Head are vanship pilots who work as sky couriers delivering messages and packages. This story takes place on a planet with technology that is both advanced and outdated. A vanship is a flying vehicle that flys with the aid of a specific and expensive mineral, an advanced flying vehicle by our standards yet the means of communication are that of couriers and signal lights. Claus and Lavie are children whos parents were vanship couriers that lost their lives during a 10 star mission. Sky courier missions are given a star count based on their difficulty level. One day Claus and Lavie are in the middle of a vanship race when they notice a fellow sky courier who is in need of help. They promise the pilot that they will complete his mission just before he dies, only to realize that they took on a 7 star mission. They complete their mission, which is to transport a young girl to a certain destination. As they are handing the girl over to the recipients, they notice that the people they are handing her over to are the crew of an unregistered battleship feared by the military of both major nations on the planet. Claus and Lavie decide to follow them and inadvertently get involved in what will become a greater adventure than either of them ever expected. I was a good fan of this series and think it is a good one for anybody to watch. They did just recently come out with a sort of sequel to this with different characters, however I could not get into it. It showed more of a cartoonistic style if animation and just seemed ridiculous to me. Whether or not those that might have seen the recent release of Last Exile or not liked it, I still believe many would prefer the original. Check it out, and if you don’t like it at most you might have wasted a few hours. Enjoy!

D.Grayman

D.Grayman is the story of Allen Walker, an exorcist who was born with a parasitic type anti-akuma(anti-demon) weapon as his left arm. The exorcists are a group of people fighting with their anti-akuma weapons which are really what is called innocence. Innocence resonates and synchronizes with certain people(exorcists) and gives them abilities out of the ordinary. They use these abilities to fight the Millennium Earl, a man who turns people into akuma. He preys on the suffering of loved ones to manipulate them into bringing their lost loved ones back to life as demons, who in turn follows the Earl's orders to kill the one that brought them back and take over their body. As a young boy Allen did this to his father figure, Mana. As punishment, Mana cursed Allen's left eye, the result of which was being able to see the tortured human souls of akuma. After Allen's are instinctively killed Mana, because he had become an akuma, Allen was taken in by General Marian Cross. Cross then trained Allen to become an exorcist. From there the story follows Allen and a few other exorcists along their journey to defeat the Millennium Earl. I would recommend this to those interested in anime based on fantasy, action and the acult(kinda.) I didn't really like the entire religious aspect of it, but it is none the less one of my favorites.

Gundam Seed Destiny

Gundam Seed Destiny starts a couple years after the first season ends. Please don't read if you have not seen the first season yet! As the first season ends with a truce between the earth and the plants, Destiny starts with Athrun as a bodyguard for Cagalli.  While on guard as she visits one of the plants, it is attacked by a group making an attempt to once again steal suits. Athrun is drawn back into mobile suit combat in order for him to try to bring an end to conflict. Kira is then also drawn back into the Freedom in order to protect Lacus when an unknown group of professional assassins tries to eliminate her. The Arch Angel and the Freedom set out to find the truth, engaging in fights with both the Earth Forces and ZAFT. A new disgruntled ZAFT fighter named Shinn Becomes deluded by the PLANT chairman Gilbert Durandel into thinking that the only way to end war is to eliminate those that pose a threat to his Destiny plan. A plan that would have everybody's DNA examined to determine their place in society. This is a very good sequel, as sequels are considered. By itself it would have been a decent series, but as a sequel to the original SEED its is great. It has even better animation and is only lacking in the fact that it tries too much to bring too many characters into development. Without the existing character development from the first season it would have been greatly lacking. However, first season considered, it only adds to the existing character development. I would recommend this only to those who have seen the first season. But I do GREATLY recommend it to those people! Enjoy

Gundam Seed

I will keep this fairly short because I could probably right a full story just describing a Gundam series. Gundam Seed is the story of coordinators and naturals. Coordinators are those that before birth had their genes altered in one way or another. Naturals, as you've probably guessed, have not had their genes altered. Hence the term 'naturals' is used. The main character in this particular gundam series is Kira Yamato, a coordinator. The ultimate coordinator! One day Kira is simply going to school on one of the plants(space colonies) when it is attacked by ZAFT, the coordinators military service. They attempt to steal a series of mobile suits, the Gundams, developed by the Earth forces. In the heat of everything Kira ends up piloting one of the prototype suits and re-writes it's operating system in a matter of seconds in order to save his friends lives. The story continues as Kira decides to continue fighting to protect those he cares for. Athrun Zala is introduced as a ZAFT soldier and childhood friend of Kira. They end up fighting each other in an attempt to make each other realize their point of views. Later on it is discovered that Kira is the result of experimentation to create an ultimate coordinator, however, Kira wants nothing to do with it. This is so far my favorite Gundam series. I do like quite a few others and Gundam Wing and Gundam 00 probably tie for second. This series has a full second season called Gundam Seed Destiny that is also quite good and I will soon write a review for it as well. The character development is almost always amazing in a Gundam series, and as always it has many complexities about it. That is one reason I enjoy them. The animation is also very good and I would recommend this to anybody who has ever liked a Gundam series or any other mech genre! Enjoy!!

Naruto

Naruto is the story of a young ninja from the village hidden in the leaves, Konoha. Naruto Uzumaki is a child who has one of the 9 great tailed beasts sealed within him. As a baby the fourth Hokage sealed the nine tailed demon fox, the Kyuubi, within him in order to save the village from destruction. The story starts with Naruto being a mischievous boy causing trouble in order to gain some attention. However all the grown ninja have told their children to stay away from Naruto in fear of the demon fox that is sealed within, actually thinking that he is in fact the fox itself. Naruto's gift is his determination to follow his will. He befriends anyone who he comes in contact with. He is placed in Hatake Kakashi's team 7, along with Sasuke and Sakura. They go on missions and undergo training to become great ninja. Along the way Sasuke deals with his past and hatred for his brother and Naruto deals with controlling the fox within. They have a brotherly relationship: Naruto always trying to best Sasuke because of his natural talent as a ninja. They act like they don't like each other but in fact feed off each other in order to gain strength and confidence. Until one day when  Sasuke leaves and turns his back on the village in order to gain even more strength in the need to fulfill his vengeance for his clan. Naruto makes an oath to bring him back, never giving in to peoples attempt to get him to give up on his friend that he joins one of the 3 legendary sannin. He travels for three years training and learning how to control his abilities. The story continues as Naruto Shippuuden in this way as Naruto has adventures and continues his training and battles to obtain his dream of becoming the Hokage and returning his friend to his life. All the while fighting off the Akatsuki( a group with the goal of controlling all tailed beasts.) I would definitely recommend this anime to anybody. It is a long running anime and not for those who lose interest quickly. There are some very annoying parts and pointless filler episodes but the ultimate storyline is worth putting up with these.

Claymore

The silver eyed witches with yomi powers. Claymore is the name given to those who have been purposely infused with a yomi. Yomi are demons with a hunger for humans. This story is about a claymore by the name of Claire and a human boy named Rocky. Claire is a little different from the rest of the claymore, she is only 1/4^th yomi. She was infused with the flesh of another claymore by the name of Teresa. Teresa was the former number one, but Claire is ranked number 47. The claymore are ranked by their abilities and are numbered 1-47. It becomes unclear later on that Claire does not necessarily deserve the worst ranking however. She is given it because she does not fight in the standard manner; instead of using primarily her eyes, she senses the yomi power of the other fighter. She is very adept at this because it was Teresa’s specialty. The problem is that she has trouble transitioning from defensive maneuvers while sensing to attacking. The biggest fear the claymores face is not the yomi they fight, but the risk of awakening. When a claymore uses too much of the yomi power they start to transform into yomi themselves. It is a difficulty for them because the power is so seductive and as a description I would use orgasmic. Each claymore is able to handle a different amount of power and once that threshold has been passed they become an awakened being. Awakened beings are severely more powerful than regular yomi and have the same hunger for flesh. A certain number of claymore realize that they might have already passed that threshold but pulled themselves back, including Claire. They learn that they can control the awakening and become even more powerful without losing control. I find the boy Rocky very annoying in this series, however I do greatly enjoy watching it. The ending was changed quite drastically from the manga making it nearly impossible for a second season, which was disappointing. But I think they handled it quite well, sort of… The animation is very decent, but aside from the main characters, the character development is almost non-existent. All in all, it was a good one to keep me entertained. If you’re trying to find something to keep you busy for a while, or like quick anime series, check it out. I prefer the manga with this one though, it could have been better and lasted at least another season. 

Chrome Shelled Regios

In a desolate world there are mobile domed cities called Regios that battle each other in contests for control of the devices required to operate the cities. The cities exist because the atmosphere is polluted to the extent that it is unlivable. There are also creature called Filth monsters or contaminoids that live in the polluted world and are drawn to the cities. Among one of the cities exists an elite group of fighters known as the Heaven’s Blades. Among them was once a young boy by the name of Layfon Alseif.  A very powerful young man who decides to go to a different city to study, after having been banished from the Heaven’s Blades. On the day of entrance he save another student from being injured and gains the attention of the student president. The student president is in control of the city and put Layfon into the military arts program and grants him a full scholarship, against Layfon’s wishes that is. Layfon doesn’t want to fight anymore so he makes an attempt to hide his true abilities from his platoon. Although it doesn’t last for long because there becomes a need for his strength and he must defend his friends and city. The fighters  use an internal power known as kei to enable weapons known as DITE. They transfer their kei energy into the DITE to use them as a weapon. The only problem is that Layfon’s kei is so powerful that normal DITE cannot handle it. He destroys DITE very quickly when he releases his kei into them. The DITE mechanic  for his platoon creates special DITE for him to use, but the only weapon that can handle his kei so far has been the heaven’s blade that was once his. I loved this anime, and wished it had further seasons. The animation, character development, and all around storyline are incredible. If you are a fan of fighting, magic, post-apocalyptic, or any similar genre, I would definitely  recommend this series.  Enjoy!!

Busou Renkin

This is the story of arms alchemy. One day a normal high school student is killed while trying to protect a girl from a homunculus, not knowing that she was completely able to protect herself. Feeling responsible for his death, the girl revives him using a special medallion made from alchemy. The next day he thinks it was all a dream until he sees another creature. Over time he realizes that he has the ability to fight with a weapon formed from the alchemic power of the medallion. It has been quite some time since I watched this series, however I think I will soon be revisiting it. From what I know the manga is far better than the anime, going into far greater detail on every aspect of how the alchemy works. It is on my list of manga to read if I ever get the time. Please feel free to add any details you may feel are missing and important if you’d like. Enjoy

Blood+

Blood+ is the story of a girl named Saya. She is raised by her adoptive family until one day her adoptive father is killed. He is killed by a creature known as a chiropteran.  The chiropterans are creatures with different class levels, those that are pure bloods are the female queens.  They can turn a normal person into a chiropteran by giving them their blood, these are known as a chevalier and will follow the one who turns them until their deaths. And then there are the schiffs which are an artificially created chiropteran.  Saya learns that she is a chiropteran queen and that only she can effectively fight against other chiropterans. She meets her chevalier who she created long ago, before losing her memories, and fights alongside him. Saya also ends up turning her adoptive brother into a chevalier in order to save his life, because the blood of a chiropteran has many attributes which includes accelerated healing.  She has one other adoptive brother who stands and makes it his place to fight by her side. She uses a katana with a blood grove meant to hold her own blood, because the blood of two different chiropteran queens cannot mix without disastrous effects. This is why she is the primary weapon on the side of Red Shield, a secret military force comprise specifically to battle chiropterans.  They do battle against Saya’s sister Diva and her group Cinque Fleches. Forgive me if I made any small mistakes or left anything pertinent out, but it has been a few years since I last watched this one. I enjoyed this anime very much at times and less as much at other times. To me it seemed to go up and down, but in the end it was one I stuck with and am glad I did. I would have regretted not following through with this one. I would recommend to those who like vampire, monster, action, science, drama, and sword fighting. Any hardcore fans (there are a lot out there for this anime) feel free to fill in some blanks, without spoilers please. Enjoy!

Bleach

My first review is going to be about one of my favorite anime, Bleach! Bleach begins with a teenage boy named Ichigo Kurosaki living in Karakura town, who has the ability to see spirits. One day he meets a shinigami(soul reaper) by the name of Rukia who is hunting a hollow. Hollow are spirits that have been consumed by hatred or despair and refuse to move on. It is the job of the shinigami to purify the hollow with their zanpakuto(not sure on that spelling but its the sword of the soul reaper.) Ichigo's family becomes threatened by a hollow and in order to save them he takes on the powers of a shinigami. From then on the stories become fairly complex at times and are used to reinforce each other. There are many different arcs that become inter-mingled, stopping one and starting another before the other has finished. I personally cant stand this. They do eventually return to finish the one that was interrupted, however it is annoying to be forced to wait until a new one is over. Many are simply filler arcs that put a little distance between the manga and the anime. Some are decent and watchable others can just be skipped. Despite some of the annoying tendencies, I find the main storyline one of the greatest I have ever seen in an anime! The character development is very well done for most characters, however there are a few side characters that aren't very developed. The quality of the animation is great. It started out good but has become very well put together over the years. My recommendation is to try this anime if you are into long lasting story lines and not just the simple one season anime.

Ao No Exorcist

Ao No Exorcist is the story of Rin Okumura, one of two twins born from a human mother and Satan as a father. Rin is a trouble maker and not particularly good at anything. However he has the urge to protect his brother and prove himself, all the while he is quite self loathing. The two brother's mother died during child birth and they were taken in by a priest. He raised them as his own children and taught them the best he could. One day Rin discovers that he is the son of Satan and loses control. The priest, being a the highest class of exorcist a Paladin, is the only one capable of withstanding being possesed by Satan and ends up losing his life as a result. Rin then swears an oath to kill his father Satan and become a Paladin himself. He joins True Cross academy and begins learning what it means to become an exorcist. Rin battle both demon and humans who want to see the son of Satan die. I find this anime very interesting and like the fact that someone took a different approach to the theological genre of anime. It is good for both entertainment and a storyline to follow.

07 Ghost

Teito Klein is an orphan slave of the Raggs Kingdom, who is now attending the Barsburg Empire military academy. He was chosen as a child after the war between Barsburg and Raggs, by the head of the academy.  At the academy, the students are taught how to use zaiphon. Zaiphon have many uses but basically are the ability to bring form to words, kind of like spells. Teito is exceptionally gifted at it but he also has some problems. He is looked down on, because he is a slave, by everybody except his friend Mikage. On the day of their graduation exam, Teito regains a memory of his past (btw he has amnesia) when he see a commander who has come to see the exams, by the name of Ayanami.  Out of nowhere, Teito tries to attack Ayanami. Teito ends up escaping and being taken in by three bishops who will change his life around. While at the church, he learns the ways of being a bishop in order to uncover the mystery of his past like why he is the chosen vessel for one of two all-powerful objects and why he has forgotten his past as the heir to the Raggs Kingdom. As I have stated before, I’m really not that into religious anime. However I think this one is very unique. I started out with this one on the anime then went back and read the manga. I have to say that the anime had potential up until the end where they changed too much to continue the story. The manga is still ongoing and I look forward to every release because I got hooked on the storyline. My only other complaint would have to be that the anime had this tone to it that didn’t match up with the manga. I guess you could call it a light heartedness, or maybe think of it as if they dressed Lou Ferrigno up in one of those huge, frilly Queen Elizabeth type dresses. On this one I would say to go ahead and watch the anime if you’d like, but I think everybody would enjoy the manga quite a bit more. Take it or leave it. 

Lets do this!

I will be sharing my favorite and not so favorite anime with you. I will give you a synopsis and briefly give you my thoughts on it. First few soon to come!