[Vid] A tour to Kinokuniya

Last week our group had a tour to Kinokuniya bookstore on George St, opposite the QVB. Although this is just a short clip, we hope through it you can have one more point in your list of paradise. :">

[Review] No.6

Note: Once again, I swear this is shounen-ai despite the fact that it is not listed in genres. :v

1. Background information

Genres: Action, Sci-Fi

Type: TV Series

Number of Episodes: 11

Airing year: 2011

Website: No.6 Wiki

Summary: No.6 is known as a perfect city rebuilt after most of the world was destroyed due to war. Shion is an elite student and have a high IQ growing up in No.6. When he was 12, he saved an injured prisoner who was escaping, Nezumi. After having a night together, Nezumi disappeared the later morning. 4 years later, after seeing many people suddenly died mysteriously, Shion raised his suspicion to No.6 and was captured by the Security Bureau with the reason that he had lost his loyalty to No.6. Nezumi appeared on time to rescue him and took him to the real world, the world outside of No.6 which was covered by poverty. They lived there for a while, met some people and tried to discover what exactly was under the beautiful surface of No.6.

2. Characters

Shion

Shion is the name of a light purple flower. His hair and eye colors were originally brown. This appearance was the result of the poison from the bees which had caused number of mysterious deaths in No.6.

Nezumi

His name means "rat". Shion used to say his name was strange, but he himself didn't aware of that.

Nezumi was from the Forest People, a tribe which had been ruined by No.6. That's why he always wanted to destroy No.6 as a revenge.

Safu

Shion's childhood friend. She loved Shion, but he just saw her as a friend. She was the suitable sample to wake Elyurias.

Inukashi

Inukashi means "dog keeper" in general, it's not a name. There is no exact information about this person's gender but may be I should use "she" since I have a feeling that this is a girl. She was grown up by a dog and lived among dogs in West Block outside No.6 (also where Nezumi lived). To her, dogs are even better friends than human. She run a hotel where she leased the dogs to help the customers keep warm. She also sold information collected by her dogs.

"Whether you are a dog or a human, you die and start stinking. No matter how much you struggle or cling to life, you will eventually die."

- said Inukashi -

Rikiga

He was one of the creators of  No.6 and used to be a journalist for Latch Bill newspaper and try to discover the dubious of No.6, but then he gave up to exchange a luxurious life among the poverty of West Block by "recommending" women to No.6 officials. He loved Karan, Shion's mother. So when Karan told Shion to find him for help, he tried to support and also wanted to take care of Shion.

Elyurias

The God of the Forest People and also the power No.6 tried to obtain. No.6 used its own citizens for the experiment to find the suitable sample to wake Elyurias and use her power. And to revenge for the act of burning the Forest People, Elyurias let the bees parasitize in No.6 citizens and kill them to destroy No.6.

3. "I want you to stay the Shion I know"

Note: The story is quite complicated so I will just focus on Nezumi and Shion. For the whole content, watching the series will give you a complete enjoyment. For more details, I recommend the manga if you have time since there are some content shortened in the anime so it's a little bit hard to understand.

Nezumi and Shion first met each other in a stormy night when they were both 12. At that time, Nezumi was on the way escaping from Correctional Facility and Shion carelessly let the windows open which created an opportunity for Nezumi to break into his house.

Nezumi's first intention was to bully Shion but after seeing Nezumi's injure, Shion voluntarily helped him take out the bullet in his arm and bandaged it. Shion also gave him food and let him stay at his house one night despite the fact that he was a prisoner.

Their first night, holding hands and falling asleep together.

The day after that, Nezumi left. The Security Bureau found out Shion had covered a prisoner. They revoked all of his special privileges. He had to move to Lost Town and lived a normal life with his mother. For years later, he worked as a normal employee of No.6 with the job of managing the park. After gaining suspicion for No.6, he was caught by the Security Bureau and was took to the Correctional Facility. On the way, he was rescued by Nezumi.

Nezumi showing Shion the West Block, the real world out side No.6

Shion is not a simple person, I think. There may be something behind which was not showed in the anime. That's why I think it would be better to read the manga.

Shion appeared as a naive child with the ideal of peace. While Nezumi always thought of destroying No.6 to revenge, Shion tried to find a way which does not harm anyone. He came up with the idea of breaking the wall around No.6 so that there would not be No.6 any more.

Nezumi at first really objected the way Shion tried to protect No.6. But then, when Shion became strange and not the one he had known anymore, he kept reminding Shion the idea of breaking the wall.

Shion did not only show his strangeness at the end of the series but also at some points during the series.

This is in their first meet with Rikiga. When Rikiga offered Nezumi a job as a prostitute, Shion got angry and jumped to beat Rikiga while he was normally a good child and never wished to injure anyone.

The second time is when Shion suddenly touched Nezumi's neck. He was so fast that Nezumi didn't have enough time to recognize or gain vigilance. For the first time, Shion scared Nezumi. Since that time, Nezumi had knew that, Shion was not simple as his appearance.

"How dare you... do that to Nezumi?"

And this is the climax when Nezumi was shot by a soldier in Correctional Facility. Shion, without any fear, shot that guy until death. Nezumi burst into tears and kept blaming himself for taking Shion to the Correctional Facility despite the knowledge that that place would change his Shion.

"What you see from here on out may change you. I may even come to know that I've never understood a thing about you. But I don't want you to change. I want you to stay the Shion I know."

- said Nezumi to Shion before they entered the Correctional Facility -

I want you to stay the Shion I know, even though that Shion is so naive that he pissed me off countless times.

(This is what I understand from what he said :v)

4. Conclusion

Although my review only focus on Nezumi and Shion, the story is great itself. There are few characters but each one plays an important role.

To talk a little about Safu, I actually don't like her since most people don't like the third wheel. But I don't hate her as well. After all, she was the one who sacrificed her life and save Shion from death. Some people said that Elyurias was the one who save Shion, not Safu, but it is clear that it was Safu's love for Shion and her wish to save him that Elyurias did that.

Although the open ending of the series does not satisfy most of its audiences including me, it's still better than a sad ending. More open, more hope, more imagination. :))

Two kiss scenes for bonus. This is the reason why I said that it's shounen-ai. XD

Their good-night kiss...

And their good-bye kiss.

Discover No.6 and enjoy your time~ ;)

Writer: Gin

Reference sources:

• No.6 Wiki
• KissAnime
• Some images found through Google.

[Review] Deadman Wonderland

Deadman Wonderland

Deadman Wonderland is a manga series written by Jinsei Kataoka and illustrated by Kazuma Kondou, who also wrote and illustrated the Eureka Seven  manga, and published in Shonen Ace since 2008 Tokyopop acquired the licensing rights to distribute the manga in English and released the first 5 volumes of the manga before the company shut down its North American Publishing division in 2011. On July 7, 2013 Viz Media announced that they licensed the series for English language release in North America and will release the first volume on February 11, 2014, with new volumes releasing every two months. An anime adaptation aired between April and July 2011, pulling content from the first 21 chapters of the manga. The anime is licensed byFunimation Enertainment and aired on Adult Swim's World newly revived Toonami block.

Plot:

A massive anomaly ravaged Japan's mainland and destroyed most of Tokyo, sinking three-quarters of the city into the ocean. Ten years later, the story shifts to Ganta Igarashi, a seemingly ordinary student attending Nagano Prefecture's middle school. As an escapee, a survivor of the great earthquake, Ganta has no memories of the tragedy and has lived a normal life. This all changes when a strange person covered in blood and crimson armor floats through his classroom windows. Grinning madly, the 'Red Man' massacres Ganta's entire class but instead of killing him, embeds a red crystal shard in Ganta's chest. Within days of the massacre, Ganta is subjected to a kangaroo court as a suspect and is sentenced to death at Deadman Wonderland, a massive theme park-like prison. What awaits him in the prison is only for you to know.

Highly recommended and critically acclaimed this anime packs all the punch for gore anime theme lovers. With surprises around every corner this anime will hook you up that you cant get enough.

By Eyepatch69 (Sushant)

[Review] Hotarubi no Mori e

"Into the Forest of Fireflies' Light"

Story

Hotarubi no Mori tell the story of a six-year-old girl named Hotaru Takegawa, who gets lost in a forest inhabited by a yamagami, or mountain spirit, as well as yōkai (strange apparitions from Japanese folklore). She is found by a mask-wearing, human-like entity named Gin, who informs Hotaru that he will disappear forever if he is touched by a human. Gin then leads Hotaru out of the forest. Hotaru returns to visit Gin in the forest over the next few days and they become friends despite the limitations on their interactions. Although at summer's end she must leave Gin to return to the city and her studies, Hotaru promises to return to visit him every summer holiday. As the years go by, Gin hardly ages while Hotaru physically matures and grows closer to his apparent age. Upon reaching adolescence, Hotaru begins to struggle with their budding romance and their uncertain future together, while Gin wishes he could touch and hold the young woman that Hotaru has become. When Hotaru reaches high school, Gin takes her on a date to a festival in the forest hosted by the spirits. The night ends in tragedy when Gin mistakenly touches a young boy who sneaked into the spirit festival, though before he disappears, he and Hotaru embrace and confess their love for one another.

Gin

Gin's parents abandoned him in the forest when he was just born. He was wailing in the forest, attracting the attention of the Yokais that lived there. When the forest lord (Yamagami) place a mask on baby Gin, he would stop crying. Seeing that Gin was a harmless soul, the Moutain God decided to save his life by casting a spell on Gin that would maintain his body and that he would age a quarter slower than a normal human would. However the spell comes with a cost- whenever Gin comes into physical contact with humans, the spell would obliterate, causing his body to disappear.

Hotaru Takegawa

While visiting her Uncle's house during Summer, Hotaru got lost in the forest of the Mountain God. Alone and afraid, she started crying, attracting Gin who was a spirit living in the forest. Hotaru learnt that Gin was a spirit that cannot be touched by human, if not, he’ll disappear. Even though Gin was a spirit, Hotaru showed no fear towards him.

Year after year, they both spent summer time together happily. Gin watches her grow up. Hotaru also get dressed into her school uniform each time she moved up grades to show Gin. At one point, Hotaru realizes that she was starting to like Gin, and starting to grow to his height.

Gin starting disappear

The first and last hug....

I stumbled upon this anime by pure coincidence while I was searching for something similar to Mushishi. Since it had only one episode, I thought to myself: I will give it a go. Needless to say, I was not dissapointed. It is truly great, but extremely sad. I cried like a baby during the last 10-15 minutes. Seriously, it is devastating. From my point of view at least. It is about love that can never become reality because even the slightest touch by a human will make him disappear. The story is simple, the characters are well thought out, but it is really so sad. Being so close together, yet so far apart. Is is a story so bitter-sweet it really made me appreciate life more...


-by Lyn-

[News] Tokyo Ghoul Resurrection

New Update: Tokyo Ghoul Resurrection

When-will.net stated that the sequel to the original series, "Tokyo Ghoul:re" will probably be the story of "Tokyo Ghoul" season 3.

According to the website, "the story will revolve around Kaneki who is now an amnesiac and is now known as Haise Sasaki, a rank 1 investigator and the leader of a special unit of investigators at the Commission of Counter Ghoul called Quinx Squad.What a twist in the plot. All the members of that unit underwent similar surgeries as him, allowing them to obtain the special abilities of ghouls in order to fight them, but still being able to live as normal humans." 

For those who are new to the series, "Tokyo Ghoul" is a highly regarded Japanese manga series by mangaka Sui Ishida. The manga series was serialized in the Weekly Young Jump between September 2011 and September 2014 and was compiled to 14 volumes in August of 2014.

More bood more violence, the blood lust continues...

By Sushant

http://www.kpopstarz.com/articles/187303/20150327/tokyo-ghoul-season-3.htm

[Review] Meitantei Conan

Case Closed, known originally as Meitantei Conan (名探偵コナン, lit. Great Detective Conan, officially translated asDetective Conan), is a Japanese detective manga series written and illustrated by Gosho Aoyama. The series is serialized in Shogakukan's Weekly Shōnen Sunday since January 19, 1994, and has been collected into 84 tankōbon volumes. Due to legal considerations with the name Detective Conan, the English language release was renamed toCase Closed. The story follows Jimmy Kudo, an amateur detective who transformed into a child while investigating the Black Organization.

By Strawhat

[Review] Naruto

Naruto (ナルト) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto. It tells the story of Naruto Uzumaki, an adolescent ninja who constantly searches for recognition and dreams to become the Hokage, the ninja in his village who is acknowledged as the leader and the strongest of all. The series is based on a one-shot manga by Kishimoto that was published in the August 1997 issue of Akamaru Jump.

By Strawhat

[Review] Fairy Tail

Fairy Tail (Japanese: フェアリーテイル Hepburn: Fearī Teiru) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hiro Mashima. It has been published in Weekly Shōnen Magazine since August 2, 2006, and has been published by Kodansha in 48 tankōbon volumes; the individual chapters are being published in tankōbon volumes by Kodansha, with the first released on December 15, 2006, and the 48th volume released on March 17, 2015. Fairy Tail follows the adventures of Lucy Heartfilia, a teenage wizard (魔導士 madōshi), who joins the titular wizards' guild and teams up with fellow guild member Natsu Dragneel as he searches for the dragon Igneel.

By Strawhat

[Review] Fushigi Yuugi

Hi guys, are you getting tired watching shoujo anime this lately? Do you think their story line is way a bit too predictation with boring concept? Today i will introduce you one of my favourite anime which is Fushigi Yuugi.

Story's plot

The series describes the various trials of Miaka Yuuki and Yui Hongo, two Middle-school students. While at the library one day, Miaka and Yui encounter a strange book known as The Universe of the Four Gods. Reading this book transports them into the novel's universe in ancient China. Yui is transported back to the real world almost immediately, but Miaka finds herself the Priestess of Suzaku. Miaka is destined to gather the seven Celestial Warriors of the god Suzaku in order to summon Suzaku and obtain three wishes. She falls in love with the Celestial Warrior Tamahome, who eventually reciprocates and Miaka's desire to use a wish to enter the high school of her choice begins to shift towards finding a way to be with Tamahome. Yui is also drawn into the book when she tries to help Miaka to come back to the real world; becoming the Priestess of Seiryuu, working against Miaka out of jealousy over Tamahome and revenge for the humiliation and pain she had suffered when she first came to into the book's world.

                                            Characters

Miaka Yuuki: the main character of Fushigi Yuugi, and the Priestess of Suzaku. Along with her friend Yui Hongo, she is one of the last priestesses to go inside the book.

Tamahome: the first Suzaku warrior Miaka meets and has the character "Ogre" on his forehead. He appears to be obsessed with money, but only wants to use it to support his family. Tamahome is a very single-minded individual for the most part. At first his drive is his family - they are all encompassing to his attitude to life and everything he does is for their benefit, even to the point of making himself appear something of a penny pincher to a confused Miaka and company to begin with. Despite his altruistic reasons for needing money, Tamahome is also very proud and he doesn't ever divulge why he needs the money or even tells Miaka and the others about his family at all.

Yui Hongo: Miaka's friend, who become the Prietess of Seryuu. Unlike Miaka, she have been suffered bad experience when she entered into the book that explain why her personality change later on

There are lots of more characters as well but there is the 3 main characters that build a triangle relationship in the story.

Have to tell when I first watched this on TV (year 2000 maybe) I really hated Yui. She tried to steal Tamakins from Miaka and she believed the lies of Nakago instead believing her best-friend's sincerity of saving her. But when I re-watched it (year 2008, anime+OVAs) I finally realized the pain she'd gone through, and I kinda understand how she felt during those times Miaka wasn't there to rescue her. And since i understand Yui-chan, i just love her so much, luckily, in the end, through all the pain and sorrow that she have been suffered, she was ended up happily as she and Miaka start their friendship once again.

                                               By Lyn

[Review] Anohana

Do you still remember your childhood's friends? Do you still keep in touch with each other? 

The story is about friends who were together all time in their childhood. They even had a secret base. And they called each other by nicknames. However, the heroine, Menma accidentally died. Time goes by, everyone fight for his/her own dream and never keep touch with each other. One day, Menma revived, but among the five friends, only Jintan could see her. She said she has a wish that must be done with the friends together...

Yadomi Jinta(やどみ じんた), he was a leader of his 5 childhood's friends, and his the only one who can see Menma.

Honma Meiko (ほんま めいこ)，nick name is Menma (めんま). she died accidentally in her childhood. after 10 years, she shows up and bring her 5 friends together.

Anjyou Naruko (あんじょう なるこ), nickname is anaru (あなる),  Jinta's classmate. she admired Menma's long straight hair.

Matsuyuki Atsumu (まつゆき あつむ), nickname is yukiatsu(ゆきあつ). he is good at study. But as Jinta was better than him when they were young, he traded Jinta as his competitor.

Tsurumi Chiriko (つるみ ちりこ),nickname is Tsuruko(つるこ). she is yukiatsu's classmate,and she is good at study as well. 

Hisakawa Tetsudou (ひさかわ てつどう), nickname is bobo (ぽっぽ) he is the youngest one of 6 friends. after give up high-school study, he became a world traveler.  










                           
<~secret base~after ten years.>

now, maybe it is time to contact with your old friends...

by kako

[Review] Nabari no Ou

Note: It isn't said in the genres, but it is really shounen-ai! XD

1. Background information

Genres: Action, Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Supernatural

Type: TV series

Number of episode: 26

Airing year: 2008

Website: Nabari No Ou Wiki

Summary: Nabari is a hidden world of ninja existing along with the modern world in Japan. People of Nabari living in modern world as normal citizens, they may be teachers, doctors, businessmen, or even politicians. Rokujo Miharu is a normal highschool boy, growing up in modern world. One day, he realises that inside him there is a forbidden art call Shinrabanshou - unlimited knowledge - with huge power that can do everything including making a person immortal, However, this art is dangerous and can kill its owner if he does not have enough ability to use it. Therefor, Tobari and Kouichi, Miharu's teacher and friend, also affiliated ninja from Nabari, try to protect Miharu from Kairoushou, a group of people who try to find the way to use the power of Shinrabanshou for their ideal. Miharu himself at first did not care about this as if it is not related to him, but after he met Yoite, he has changed his mind...

2. Characters

(I will leave my beloved to the end <3)

Tobari Durandal Kumohira

Miharu's teacher, ninja of Banten village, possess Engetsurin - Banten's secret art scroll - which Kairoushou is looking for to research the use of Shinrabanshou. He knows Miharu's childhood very well as well as what will happen if Shinrabanshou is activated. So he always objects using that dangerous art and try to destroy it. His ideal is to make Miharu become king of Nabari without using Shinrabanshou.

Aizawa Kouichi

Miharu's friend and ninja from Nabari. He is immortal as a result of Shinrabanshou. Suffering the pain of the inability to die, he also want to destroy Shinrabanshou. But when Miharu shows his attempt to use it for Yoite's sake, Kouichi does not think he can stop his friend anymore.

Shimizu Raimei

Miharu's friend, come from a destroyed samurai family in Fuuma village of Nabari. She has a samurai pride and is on the way looking for Raikou, his brother and also the one kill all her family when she was a child, to revenge. She also knows about Shinrabanshou and support Tobari and Kouichi to stop Kairoushou.

Fuuma Kotarou

Leader of Fuuma village. He seems to know many things and acts as an experienced "old man" with great support for Banten. Tobari's group find him reliable, but sometime he looks like he is covering something. After all, he is quite dangerous since no one can understand what he thinks. Ah, also, he has some weird hobbies that make me think maybe he is not mentally normal. :))

Hattori Tojuro

Leader of Kairoushou. In modern world, he is a politician. Having been living in the war period, his purpose to use Shinrabanshou is to create a world where everybody is the same, no feeling or thinking, easy to control, so that there will be no war anymore.

Ichiki

Hattori's assistant. She used to be a nurse serving in the army during the war, got blind as a war injury and was saved by Hattori back then. She has the same ideal with Hattori about the world and has caused many troubles to Banten as well as Miharu and Yoite.

Kazuhiko Yukimi

Serve for Kairoushou, is responsible for taking care of Yoite. In modern world, he is a novel writer. Despite of being a ninja, he is good at using guns rather than other traditional weapons. There were many times he was ordered to bring Yoite back when he escape with Miharu, Yukimi always tried to not hurt him and got worried when his condition was bad.

3. Happy ending, but not for us

a) Yoite and Miharu

Rokujo Miharu

A normal highschool boy. He always wears an emotionless face as if he does not care anything around him. But actually, he is quite mischievous. When he wants something, he will pretend to be cute or vulnerable to persuade others, and mostly, no one can refuse him. His most popular victim is Tobari. Being the Shinrabanshou owner does not move him at all, but just an eye contact with Yoite, he soon makes up his mind. He said that, Yoite has the same eyes with him, and he wants to do anything to save that person.

Yoite

Serving Kairoushou, Kira user. Yoite is not his real name, that's the name Hattori gave him when he was brought to Kairoushou. He always says that he want to disappear, so Hattori told him to obtain Kira. Kira, like Shinrabanshou, is a forbidden art which destroys the user body slowly from inside. But Kira seems to kill the user rather than make them 'disappear'. Yoite turns to Miharu, asks him to use Shinrabanshou to erase his existence on this world, in exchange, he will protect Miharu since Kira is a really strong art which can kill people from distance.

Yoite do not have memories about his past before Hattori took him to Kairoushou. What he is obsessed is the image of a woman trying to use a knife to kill him and said that he was not needed, no one needs him, or he is an unwanted child. With that obsession, he starts to have the same thought and think that it would be better if he did not exist.

One abandons the world.

One is abandoned by the world.

I can't stop myself from thinking that, they were meant to each other.

But...

In the end, he still was erased....

Nothing left to remember...

Only memories in mind...

"I will never forget you, Yoite."

- said Miharu -

b) Raikou and Gau

Shimizu Raikou

Raimei's brother, serving Kairoushou. Shimizu clan has a rule, that is 'not concern to modern life issues using Nabari arts' to keep the balance between the two worlds. When Raikou was in secondary school, one of his classmate was in trouble but he couldn't help her due to the family rule, that led to her death the day after that. Raikou's uncle objected this rule and ask Raikou's mother to give the leader position to him. After being refused, he killed Raikou's parents. Raikou then killed his uncle and the reactionaries who were almost the clan except Raimei. After letting Raimei think that he was responsible for the whole family death so that Raimei could still think her family are good people, he joined Kairoushou. Here, he accidentally killed a normal man from real world to save Gau.

Meguro Gau

A normal highschool boy saved by Raikou three years ago. After that, Gau has seen Raikou as his idol and accompanied him in the job of Wakachi, a group with the mission of punishing Nabari's citizens harming people from real world. Since he couldn't fight, his main job was paper work like collecting data and writing reports. He is the one who know about the truth of Raikou's past and reveal it to Raimei.

To stop the sibling fight of Raikou and Raimei, Gau got injured and lost his consciousness, fell into dangerous condition. He then was saved by Yoite with the Kira technique. From that time, Raikou felt that he owed Yoite and decided to betray Kairoushou to help Yoite and Miharu. In the fight with Hattori, Raikou was killed and the earthquake after that buried his body.

Once again, nothing left to remember...

4. Conclusion

This is a sad story even when it has a happy ending.

First, there is no real negative character. Everyone has their own reasons for their actions. Kairoushou is not wrong. Hattori and Ichiki has suffered too much from the war, and that makes them loose their belief to an emotional world. An emotionless world may be a world without happiness, without love, but at the same time, it is also a world without sorrow and tears.

In any battle, there are always people who sacrifice. Raikou's death is so sad, but it is understandable. But, how about Yoite? Right when people thought that they two could be together forever, he suddenly disappeared! This is unacceptable! Ah~ I was crying so much when he died~ I even cried more when I listened to the ending song and read the lyrics. It was like... 'keep smiling, keep holding hands, keep walking side by side, despite the fact that there is no tomorrow for us'.

I won't talk too much. Now listen with me, watch with me and cry with me~

Lyrics (English translation)

I lost sight of myself in the pouring rain 

Failing to be recognized, I'll resign myself to futility

Let's stretch these hands out and not look back

I want to be near you 

My wish is to be near you 

As it is, just like this, I can keep living like this 

Surely if I hold that hand I'll be able to fly anywhere, right? 

If it's with you, even far away, just like this

Writer: Gin

Reference sources:

• Nabari No Ou Wiki
• Nabari No Ou | Vietsub
• Anime Lyrics dot Com
• Some images were found through Google