I have recently read a fantastic book: A Long Way Gone. This isn't the review of the week that I promised, but I had to write an in-class essay about it for my Comparative World Cultures class, and I thought that I'd share it with you guys, especially because it seems as though all of my book reviews have been incredibly negative recently. If you want my rating for it, I give this book a 4.75 out of 5 stars, and a recommendation to read it. The review for the week will come out when I'm able. Hope you enjoy!
Question: What are the essential experiences of Ishmael Beah’s life that give him the resilience to recover from being a child soldier and the reasons for writing his memoir?
A Long Way Gone, a memoir written by the former child soldier Ishmael Beah, tells a story of a child soldier whose life had been seemingly destroyed. Rebels began to attack Sierra Leone, killing innocents and burning down villages, causing Ishmael to lose his family, his sense of purpose, and every aspect about him that made him human. Then a hollow shell, Ishmael was taken in by the Army to train as a child soldier, and began to learn how to commit morbid acts without as much as a second thought. However, his situation began to change when he along with other child soldiers were taken in by UNICEF® in order to be rehabilitated. Ishmael Beah’s story then takes a different route, turning from a story that seems to be devoid of hope to a story of resilience and perseverance through the most difficult of times, and it is that ability to perseverance that made Ishmael want to share his story with the world.
When arriving at the UNICEF compound, originally Ishmael and his fellow “inmates” were rather hostile, not changing much from when they were in the war. However, once Ishmael began to go through withdrawal from the drugs that he took during his time as a child soldier, he began to have violent flashbacks of all of the horrible acts that he committed. He then began to feel incredibly guilty about them, nearly sinking into depression. Fortunately for him, there were aspects about UNICEF that caused him to want to change. Nurse Esther, for example, acted as a motherly figure to him during his rehabilitation, reassuring Ishmael and encouraging him to live. Being cared for by another human being is something that Ishmael had not experienced in quite some time, but it helped him regain his humanity. Later in his rehabilitation, Ishmael learned that his father’s brother was still alive, and eventually began to live in a real family again. In short, what truly caused Ishmael to be resilient throughout his rehabilitation is the love and care of another human being, causing him to regain his humanity and be able to forgive himself.
A story about surviving through a harsh situation is something that an audience has seen many times before, whether they are true or fiction, but people never seem to get tired of them.. People read these stories about hardships to obtain some sort of lesson. It is why tragedies like Oedipus The King and Antigone are still read today, and why the best stories seem to be the ones that either act as a denigration of human nature or a display of it. The main reason why Ishmael Beah wrote his memoir is to alert the world about the hardships of the child soldier, and how the world needs to step in to change that. It is to teach readers around the world that inhumanity exists and is forcing children to fight their battles. The memoir’s purpose is to show how humanity can still survive in the most dreadful situations, and that a little kindness to even the most detached human being alive can go a long way.
So apparently, The Terminator is getting a reboot next year. Hollywood, are you deaf, blind, tasteless, and stupid? The Terminator Movies don't need any fixing! I mean, sure, number 3 was awful and number 4 is something that I don't consider to actually exist, but the first two movies were amazing! YOU DO NOT NEED TO FIX SOMETHING THAT WAS NEVER BROKEN TO BEGIN WITH! *sigh* I'm going to get a glass of water.
Hello to all of my followers! I am going to be rather busy for the next few months, so I will not be able to post a review every week anymore. The review that I scheduled for Sunday will still be out then, but otherwise I'm not promising that the reviews will follow a normal schedule. I'll see you guys on Sunday!
After watching a whole ton of action anime with complicated plots, I sometimes like to cool down and watch a calming and emotional slice-of-life anime. Normally I would look to Key to deliver an anime like this, but this time around I decided to look at another anime directed by Tatsuyui Nagai, the director of the very famous emotional anime Anohana: The Flower That We Saw That Day. The deciding factors that made me choose to watch Waiting In The Summer before Anohana are the fact that one of my favorite anime reviewers, Holden, highly recommended it, and it was the anime that interested me the most out of the two. Don’t worry, I’ll watch Anohana eventually, as I have also heard spectacular things about it. Also, for those who would’ve preferred that I use the Japanese title, Ano Natsu De Matteru, my personal preference is to use the official English title of an anime whenever available, and it’s also a lot easier to type Waiting In The Summer than it is Ano Natsu De Matteru. So, did Waiting In The Summer disappoint? Sit back, relax, and read on as I review Waiting In The Summer.
The Setup:
The problem with describing the setup of this anime is that the first scene is pretty much a spoiler. So, this section will not be as detailed as I normally am with a setup, but due to liking to avoid spoilers as much as possible, this section is going to be relatively short. Waiting In The Summer takes place in the Japanese countryside, in a small town. Our main character in this anime is Kaito Kirishima, a freshman in high school who loves using his video camera to film the world around him. With summer fast approaching, he and his friends Kanna, Tetsuro, and Mio decide to make a video together, but with the arrival of the new transfer student Ichika (who also happens to be an alien from another planet; who would’ve guessed?) and joined by Remon, a senior in high school, their summer will be something that none of them will ever forget. Yeah, it sounds extremely corny, but stick with me here.
Over the summer, a group of friends decided to get together and create a video, with a chance encounter with an alien of course.
The Characters:
Primarily being a slice-of-life anime, this anime needs to succeed in the character department more than your average anime because it is the characters and their interactions that carry the story. Well, In The Summer does not disappoint, though to be perfectly honest the best aspects about the characters are how they interact with each other. I was surprised by how realistically they portrayed adolescent love, and how confusing it can be. If I had to choose one word to describe this character cast, it would be human. Every character feels so realistic, and I could tell that talented writers put a lot of effort into this anime to make the characters be like that. So, onto the characters themselves. I am very happy to say that Kaito is not your generic main character, as I was so very afraid that he would turn out to be one. He’s a kind of dorky boy who wears glasses and isn’t very good at expressing his feelings. He loves filming the world around him using his grandfather’s old video camera, and spending time with his friends. While not the most complex character, Kaito is identifiable among a sea of generic main characters, which is a lot more than I can say about the majority of main characters out there. Ichika, the red-haired alien, is a very kind person who doesn’t know how to express her emotions very well either, making her the perfect foil for Kaito. I really liked how we see Ichika adapt to the lifestyle as a human, and being an alien from another planet that didn’t want to see our race get destroyed. It was fascinating to see her develop relationships with the other characters, and while we’re on the subject of relationships, I think the romance between Kaito and Ichika is the best I’ve seen since Clannad, maybe even better. There’s a steady progression and you see the two get to know each other and fall in love. It isn’t a “snap They fell in love!” relationship, of which I hate seeing used over and over again to justify a romantic relationship between two characters that we barely got to know. The creators let Kaito and Ichika’s personalities grow and intertwine, to the point of which you can see why these two would make a fantastic couple. Moving on, next we have Kanna, the debatable tsundereof the group, to which I would argue against. Kanna is probably one of the perfect examples of a more believable tsundere, or one that doesn’t go around beating up the protagonist every time a misunderstanding happens see Naru from Love Hina and Asuna from SAO, though not to the same extent. Kanna is a girl who can get very emotional and allows it to cloud her judgment at times, but for the most part keeps a cheerful and rather upbeat demeanor. She’s actually one of the strongest female characters that I’ve seen in a while, at least emotionally-wise. Not to give anything away, but she had a crush on Kaito, and near the end of the anime she has to go through some emotional torment and learn that sometimes, in order to make those she loves happy, she will have to make some sacrifices. Speaking of which, our next two characters, Tetsuro and Mio, have already learned that lesson. Tetsuro is an outspoken guy who on the outside is rather lax and carefree, but deep down he’s one of the more emotionally tragic characters. He’s had a crush on Kanna since forever (the two were childhood friends), and has made it his goal to get Kanna and Kaito together so that he can see the one he loves be happy, even if he himself has to suffer for it. Mio is a shy and timid girl who has a crush on Tetsuro, but because she wants to see him be happy, she hasn’t admitted her feelings for him yet. I’d also like you to keep in mind that none of this is ever flat-out told to us; it’s all implied through watching the characters interact with dialogue and showing their emotions. That is a feat. However, as complex as this web of emotions is, there is one person who seems to know it all, and that is Remon. I have got to say, I find girls within the same general personality type as Remon’s, which is sly, mischievous, and always looking strangely happy, to be hilarious, and Remon does not disappoint. I guess the most prominent aspect about her is her love for capturing memories of the group of friends through video recording, even if it can sometimes be a bit stalkerish. Also, her laugh is both creepy and hilarious at the same time:
I guess finally there’s Rinon, but I’m not sure if it technically counts as a character because it’s main job is to be adorably clumsy and the show’s mascot, so I guess you can judge whether or not it’s a character.
From left to right: Mio, Tetsuro, Kanna, Kaito, Ichika, Remon, Rinon
The Story:
The story of Waiting In The Summer is generally a character-based one where you watch the various situations that the group go through and see them create their movie, but it’s not always like that. Near the end in about episode 7-8, some science-fiction elements regarding who Ichika really is are mixed in along with an actual story, which if I may admit felt kind of rushed. Not that it was bad or Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works rushed or anything, but they could’ve used maybe one more episode to flesh out all of the science-fiction stuff going on. Characters seemed to be this anime’s strong point, and considering how this is, at its core, a slice-of-life story, I do think that the anime achieved its goal in that regard. Then there’s the ending to talk about. Without spoiling too much, this ending is rather controversial within the fans of this anime. Personally, I liked how this anime ended. I believe that it really highlighted the main theme of this anime and got its point across perfectly, even if it does make you want to cry your freaking eyes out. If you do decide to watch this anime, keep a box of tissues with you while you’re watching the ending. It’s pretty darn heartbreaking.
The main story deviates from its original slice-of-life story later on, but for the most part that's exactly what the anime is
The Animation/Sound:
Produced by J.C. Staff, Waiting In The Summer’s animation is above average. I really loved the landscape shots, the fluid animation, and the unique character designs, but nothing really stood out to me as amazing. I did like how it made me feel like it was really summer, which was rather well done. I guess my only real issue with it was that, especially in the first few episodes, there’s some unnecessary fanservice. Granted, it isn’t horrible and probably won’t turn you away from watching the show, but it’s still rather annoying. As for sound, the OST was nice, calming, and fit the anime really well, but there wasn’t a standout track or anything. The opening of this anime is rather nice, but the real gem in terms of music is the ending song. I almost always skip the ending songs to get to the next episode, but this song is so good that sometimes it would play during the emotional climaxes while the anime was still going and before the ending animation showed up, making it even more memorable.
Finally, should you watch it in Japanese or English? Well, as of this review, Waiting In The Summer has no English dub, and to be perfectly honest I’m kind of glad it doesn’t. I’ve mentioned this before and I’ll say it again, with the exception of a few I am usually not very fond of Sentai Filmwork’s dubs because they always get the same people to play the same roles over and over again, and I’m afraid that Blake Shephard will voice Kaito. I’m sorry, he’s just the most bland voice actor I’ve ever had to listen to! He ruined Tarou in the MM! dub, he ruined Yumeji in the Dream Eater Merry dub, but to be fair he was okay as Otonashi in Angel Beats!. So, Japanese is your only option, but do not be afraid of it, because this Japanese dub is very well acted and is worth listening to.
Animation is basically average, but it does contain some beautiful scenery
Final Judgment:
Overall, I think Waiting In The Summer does its job as an emotional pick-me-up anime perfectly. It’s hilarious, dramatic, has fantastic characters, contains some creative science-fiction elements later on, and it just overall a great show. It’s worthy of Key in my opinion, which is something that I do not say very lightly. I give Waiting In The Summer a 3.5 out of 5, and a recommendation to watch it. But, like always, it shouldn’t be up to me to decide what your opinion is; that’s your job. ScoreCard:
I may not have seen it, but it seems very similar to Waiting In The Summer in the sense that they’re both emotional anime with well-rounded characters. They also happen to share the same director, so check it out. I’m going to eventually.
Clannad
Since Waiting In The Summer is worthy of Key, might as well recommend a Key anime, right? This anime also features a fantastic romance, likable characters, and will most likely make you feel emotional. Go watch it.
Book review next week! Here’s the hint: Under that sky, I’ll never be seen.
Announcement: Those who have been following my blog for a while now have probably noticed that this review isn’t very new; in fact, I deleted the original post due to how messed-up the format was and fixed some aspects about it that I wasn’t very fond of. I hope you guys don’t mind, and the same anime review as planned will be out on Sunday. See you guys then!
I think that we can all agree that the most popular genre of anime is without a doubt shonen. All of the over-the-top powers, obsessed fanboys and fangirls claiming their favorite anime to be the best anime ever, never-ending episodes and manga volumes going into the triple digits…yep, that’s the shonen genre. I’m personally indifferent towards it. Sure, I’ll watch it, but for the most part I’m one that likes to stay away from “tards” as much as possible because I believe in the right of having your own opinion. I do realize that some might call me a hypocrite because both of my favorite anime of all time, Fullmetal Alchemist and Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, are in fact shonen action series. To that I say, “Just because I’m indifferent towards the genre as a whole doesn’t mean that I don’t love specific entries of the genre, see Blue Exorcist and Attack On Titan.” So, is Soul Eater an anime that stands out among its peers? Sit back, relax, and read on as I review the popular shonen anime, Soul Eater.
The Setup:
Soul Eater takes place mostly in Death Academy, where the Grim Reaper himself is the headmaster, and the students have to hunt down “keishan eggs”, or evil souls. Students are divided into two categories: the meisters and weapons. The weapons are students who have the power to turn into weapons, and the meisters are basically the wielders. When a pair obtains 99 keishan eggs and 1 witch soul, the weapon becomes a death scythe. Even though this sounds like the typical setup for a shonen anime, Soul Eater doesn’t actually follow this story pattern, giving the story a different type of structure completely throwing the original setup out the window. So, even though I did enjoy Soul Eater for what it was, I would’ve liked for them to intertwine this original setup with the actual story, but it doesn’t, thus destroying your original interest in the story and giving you something completely different. I’m not entirely sure if this is a flaw or not because it really is up to the opinion of the viewer of whether it bothers them or not. Call it a nitpick, if you will.
In Soul Eater, each meister has to obtain 99 Keishan eggs and 1 witch soul to turn their partner into a Death Scythe…for the first few episodes.
The Characters:
The characters of Soul Eater aren’t something to write home about. Our main protagonist is Maka, who is probably one of the least interesting main protagonists in existence. I feel like she’s a combination of your typical shonen protagonist a la Yumeji from Dream Eater Merry and your bookworm character, aka Kitomi from Clannad. The only difference is the fact that she can get pissed of at Soul really easily, and it is pretty funny at times. The next character is Soul Eater, our title character. He doesn’t get much development beyond being the “cool” guy, but he was a good friend to everyone else, so he’s okay. Next there’s Death The Kid. GOD WAS HE ANNOYING! Seriously, his OCD was so extreme that he almost got himself along with his other weapons Liz and Patty killed! Not only does this make him look like a complete idiot, but this also makes him look like a spoiled brat! And you know what the worst part of it is? He doesn’t get better! You know, if his OCD were played more subtly and was resolved by the end, he would have been tolerable, but instead the anime didn’t think that was a good idea. The only redeemable quality about him was his character design, which is awesome. The other two characters worth mentioning are Black Star and Tsubaki. Honestly, Black Star was my favorite character. He was the only character who really got development throughout the story, and for those fans that hate Black Star, I did originally hate him too. I thought he was annoying as all heck when I first saw him. But my impression of him changed once we got to the episodes where he was chased out of the village because of his heritage. After learning his backstory and watching him get beat up protecting Tsubaki, I respected him completely. And, unlike some other characters I’ve seen, he can back up his arrogance to an extent. Tsubaki was also my favorite female character, for seeing the good in Black Star that no one else really could. There’s also Death, my second favorite character after Black Star. I never thought Death could be so welcoming and cheerful, and he fit this anime perfectly. He just had this likable charisma about him that I find rare in most leaders in anime, and I also really like his character design. Then there’s Excalibur…um...I don’t think I’ve ever been more confused as to what to think about an anime character before, but if there’s one thing that’s certain, his confusing dialogue just makes him irritating. Finally, there’s Crona, who may have more fangirls than Death the Kid. Honestly, I don’t get it. Call me heartless, but there was something about Crona that kind of pushed me away, and I couldn’t really feel sorry for him. I think it may have to do with just how I couldn’t figure out his gender, despite the anime saying he was a boy, and confusion and sadness don’t always occur at the same time for me.
From left to right: Patty, Liz, Death The Kid, Soul, Maka, Black Star, Tsubaki
The Story:
As stated before, the story deviates from the original setup, so talking about the actual story would probably spoil the anime. I will say that the first season is paced really well, and really exciting. I was actually convinced I had seen my new favorite anime after the first season ended, but then I watched the second season. Three words: The pacing sucked. It began to drag on so much that I literally felt like I was forcing myself to watch it, and the icing on the cake is that the ending is probably one of the most clichéd and contrived things I’ve ever seen, and that’s coming from someone who sat through Guilty Crown and liked it. And yes, I do know that the manga’s still on-going, but I don’t read manga so it’s just really disappointing.
Despite a mediocre second half, Soul Eater's story was overall pretty good.
Sound and Animation:
Studio Bones animated Soul Eater, and it is insanely good. For those who don’t know, these are the people behind both Fullmetal Alchemist series, Darker than Black, Scrapped Princess, and Wolf’s Rain. Their animation is famous for great detail and well-animated action sequences, and Soul Eater does not disappoint. Another thing that must be acknowledged is the design of the world they live in. This would easily be my favorite anime world that I would just love to live in, mainly for just how abstract and sometimes rather creepy it is. The designs for this anime are probably some of the most creative I’ve seen, and the anime just has this cool atmosphere to it. The soundtrack is also pretty impressive. My favorites are Black Star’s theme, Death the Kid’s theme, and the OST “In his mind”, which is played during the comedic scenes. Even though none of them are on my favorite OST list, Soul Eater’s soundtrack as a whole is one of my favorites. Also, a quick mention of the first opening; IT IS AWESOME!!! Seriously, check it out:
The art and music are great accompaniments; as expected from Studio Bones
Final Judgment:
As far as shonen goes, Soul Eater is probably one of the most well-rounded out there. There’s humor, action, a touch of romance, and is overall just a really enjoyable show in the first season. The second season, however, kind of forgets its goal and just turns into a mess, complete with a terrible ending. The characters were lacking in a lot of areas, mainly falling into you typical anime stereotypes with a few exceptions being Black Star, Tsubaki, and Death. So, how does Soul Eater hold up, even with its flaws? Well, I give this anime a 3 out of 5, an average score. Honestly, some of the issues I had with this show probably won’t bother most people, and if nothing else you’ll get a visual treat. Soul Eater stands tall and solid in the shonen genre, and it’s something that almost anyone can enjoy to some degree, but it all really depends on your opinion.
If you live in America, you can watch it on Netflix too!
Further Recommendations:
Black Butler
This anime and Soul Eater both share wonderful atmospheres that set the tone and give each anime a bit of an eerie feel to them, though Black Butler is much darker than Soul Eater. Check this anime if you like that kind of thing.
Blue Exorcist
One of my favorite shonens of all time, this anime has great characters, story, animation, and it overall more entertaining than Soul Eater. Give this anime a shot; it’s a great watch.
Amazon has this nice little system where, if you have a prime membership, you can borrow a book for a month on your kindle, return it, and then get another book. Of course, this cycle continues at the start of every month. Something I’ve noticed with these “borrowed books”, however, is the fact that (with the exception of maybe one or two) they either suck or are insultingly mediocre. This could be because these are mostly independent authors, but I don’t always think that an amateur author always equals a bad book. So, with all of this in mind, how does The Defectors hold up? Sit back, relax, and read on as I review The Defectors by Tarah Benner.
The Setup:
Prior to the story, a virus began to spread through the human race, turning people into creatures known as carriers and slowly drains the host of their humanity. Zombies, anyone? So, in order to try and ward off the epidemic, a new government has taken over and forced everyone to become citizens by injecting a device into their arms that allows them to be tracked. Those who refuse the device will be hunted down and imprisoned. Our main protagonist for the evening, Haven, is packing up for a trip to move west with her undocumented friend, Greyson. However, they are caught by the drones that the government put up, causing Greyson to be arrested and for Haven to “defect”, or go against the law. She runs through the woods for several days and encounters spoiler after spoiler until she finally ends up at a farm that houses undocumented criminals, and she joins up with them. Now, when it comes to apocalypse books, I’m normally pretty lenient when it comes to a recycled story because you can always bring something new to the table concerning your setup, and I do like the idea of combining a dystopian world with one that had been struck with apocalypse. The only problem is something that I’ll bring up and talk about more in the story section, but the book doesn’t know how to balance these elements.
The Characters:
The characters in this book are incredibly stock and clichéd, with the exception of one. Haven is the prime example of a main protagonist that, while her development was nice, you learn next to nothing about. She’s your typical “sheltered girl learns how to be tough and strong” character. She’s predictable, and it’s boring. Amory, the main love interest, matches up Haven’s blandness with his own plainness as the “love interest that has a dark past” character, and nothing new is brought to the table concerning him. Every other character only has one trait to them: Roman is cold, distant, and angry; Max is the “nice guy” who loves to cook; Greyson is a character that we know next to nothing about in the beginning except for the fact that he’s Haven’s best friend. Actually, I’m going to talk about that, because that’s one of my major problems with the story. Greyson literally gets captured in the first chapter of the story, before we even get an introduction to anything concerning the book. While I’m not someone to argue against an action-packed opening, if something happens to a character that we barely know about, then why should we care? Book, that’s something you have to build up to, not shove in the audience’s face in the very beginning! We don’t even truly know what the heck is going on, let alone care about the fact that they’re being separated! And then throughout the story, his rescue is practically Haven’s goal, but since we know nothing about him, again, why should I care? You barely even established the bond between them beyond just telling us about it; this is something you have to show to the audience so that it feels genuine! Moving on, the only character I thought was truly memorable was this girl named Logan. Without veering into spoiler territory, Logan was the most interesting character in the entire book, and she would’ve been a much better main character than Haven.
The Story:
The story was relatively well paced, but had some issues when it came to world building, which leads me to talking about what I mentioned before; the story focuses too much on the dystopian aspect of the setup and practically ignoring the carriers, with the carriers only showing up a few times to create drama and tension because, psh, the characters sure aren’t going to do that on their own! For example, the book brings up the idea that the carriers might be smarter than your average zombie in the beginning of the book, but then it is never addressed again, and the next time we really see a carrier in action is when the plot stated, “We need more drama or we’re going to bore our audience more than we already are!”, with the characters arguing over whether or not the carriers are truly human. With more focus on the darn creatures, I’m pretty sure the audience would be able to make their own theories, but since they’re barely featured in the story the carriers are just another plot device and don’t amount to more than that. As for the dystopian aspect you’d think that this would at least be intriguing because it’s a lot more focused on, but unfortunately it’s just as generic as the rest of the book, with the exception of what they forced Logan to do. Then again, anything having to do with Logan was the only reason I continued to read this book, but still.
The Writing Style/Grammatical Errors:
There is one word that can describe the writing style; boring. There’s nothing special about it, and it didn’t help all of the genericness that the book had to offer. No grammatical errors that really stood out to me.
Final Judgment:
It’s BORING! Everything about it is generic and I’ve seen it a million times before. However, if you don’t mind clichés and enjoy this kind of story despite its flaws, you’ll probably like this book. I give The Defectors a 1.75 out of 5, and a recommendation to skip it unless you’re a diehard fan of this genre. But, like always, it is up to you to decide your own opinion.
