It’s Been A While!

Six months to be exact, well it will be six months in two days. My last post was in December 23rd. Whew. Doesn’t seem like that. How’s everybody been? Alive, well? Pondering your very plain of existence? Totally know the feeling. In any case many of you, I hope, may be wondering about The Haphazard and all of its lovely content, or me, whichever.

In any case, I ended up watching a lot of TV shows, anime, movies. I also found a wide array of new music, some older, some newer. From some wicked heavy metal to some cool chillstep.

Needless to say, I should’ve been updating more and more often. I apologize indeed.

Somehow, I am going to try to update much more frequently. Both my video channel and my little real estate of space, right here on WP.

For now, you can expect at least a blog entry per week. There will probably be one or two extra, who knows.

Again, I apologize for the long lapse in content. I hope those of you who continue to visit my site will continue to read my blogs and do enjoy you days.

I’ll see you all soon.

Wolf Children – Rain and Snow, Both Will Bring You To This Movie

Its always nice when a show takes an unexpected turn, its even better when the story seems so generic. Wolf Children may sound like a boring expose of a really messed up set of humans/wolves, but its a lot more than you’d expect. Wolf Children was a wondrous journey through the mindset of children and their mother alike. From the normal growing up and learning to live like humans, but also the struggles of both the human and the wolf worlds as they collide viciously through each character arc. Wolf Children was a delight to watch and like most animated films, they always leave you with a thought provoking ending.

A little back story about why I ended up watching this movie. As most of you all who reads this blog, would’ve known that I love any anime related content. I’ve always heard about Studio Ghibli, but I’ve never heard about Studio Chizu and as I was wondering around the studios info, I noticed that Wolf Children was being released on Blu-Ray. After looking it up, I saw that Yoshiyuki Sadamoto did the character designs for this movie, most notable for his work on Neon Genesis Evangelion. Being a huge fan of Evangelion and the character designs, I thought I’d give the movie a shot.

Wolf Children (also known as The Wolf Children Ame and Yuki (おおかみこどもの雨と雪 Ōkami Kodomo no Ame to Yuki) in Japan) is a 2012 Japanese animated film directed and co-written by Mamoru Hosoda. The film stars the voices of Aoi Miyazaki, Takao Osawa, Haru Kuroki and Yukito Nishii. In Ame and Yuki, Hana falls in love with a Wolf Man. After the Wolf Man’s death, Hana decides to move to a rural town to continue raising her two wolf children Ame and Yuki.

Via Wikipedia

After securing my copy of the show (in glorious High Definition, I might add), I can plainly say it was well worth it. The show was absolute joy and it didn’t really waste any time introducing the story. As most of the story takes place after the death of the Father of the Wolf Children, it is wise to note that the story was still progressing rather well. However once that part was over, the show began to crawl slightly slower than I’d like. However, as the show slowed, more and more character development began to take place. The Wolf Children themselves were simply an adorable joy on screen. Constantly shifting between their two states (human/wolf) they would manage to brighten your day, even though your going to have a lot of questions (Like a lot of questions).

The story itself, was without any real action. Honestly, I didn’t know why that surprised me. I supposed I expected a fight of some kind. It was much nicer watching Hana (the Wolf Children’s Mother) learn to take care of human/wolf hybrid children as she also learns how to live a tiny village. The show finally culminates in a a massive storm as it rips apart the family, only to bring them closer.

The character development was rather amazing throughout this movie, though it did lag here and there. Hana, having to drop out of university to care for her children, learns not only about herself during the course of the movie but also learns to be somewhat self-sufficient. Her intentions were always pure right from the start, never truly wavering. She constantly was forced to get random odd jobs, including being a wild life ranger. All to ensure her children goes to school and lives as comfortably as possible.

The two Wolf Children were written rather well. I would expect so, seeing as the story is about both of them. Ame and Yuki were lovely characters until they started to be divided across their lineage. While Yuki wanted to be more human, her brother opted to be more wolf like. This was rather expected seeing as how their characters were developed initially.

Yuki was a high-energy child who constantly ate and ran around every she got the chance. She would change over to her wolf form more than her brother and she would do it involuntary most of the time. This leads to the children’s being kept back from attending school at an earlier age. As Yuki was the older child, she learned to control her change quicker. She eventually decided to not change at all and live as a human with her human friends as she went to school.

Her brother on the other hand was always shy and closed off from the world. He remained like this most of the early part of the movie, until a near death experience changes him giving him the confidence he needed. Ame would eventual drop out of school to live on the mountains, learning from one of the older animals of the mountain.

I liked the character development of this movie, it was nicely paced, though it could’ve been better here and there in regards to particular events. But overall the characters weren’t the same as they were in the end. They each grew into their respective personalities rather well.

Now on the most interesting part of this movie. The animation. Being an animation junkie, I am always looking to check out some interesting art styles. While Wolf Children didn’t have a wild or bizarre art style like some other shows, it was a much more calmer and laid back art style. The art and animation was crisp and clean and brought a feeling calmness to the show. There isn’t much to say about the animation but it was rather well done.

Wolf Children was an amazing show and certainly isn’t one to pass up. Despite being almost two hours long, the show really brings to life these characters and this setting really well, I’d recommend it.

Power Rangers Megaforce – A Mega Show for Mega Fans!

Saban returns this year with the adaptation of TOEI‘s Tensou Sentai Goseiger, in the form of Power Rangers: MegaForce. After officially rebooting the franchise with Power Rangers: Samurai and Super Samurai in 2011 and 2012, respectively, Saban is gearing up for a similar status with Megaforce and thus far it is delivering full on.

I may have over done that title. Either way, I’d say it fits. So I recently got time to get caught up in Saban’s latest iteration of Power Rangers and honestly I’m quite pleased. After Power Rangers Samurai and Super Samurai, both of which I enjoyed quite a great deal, I was unsure how the new Megaforce would play out, seeing as Megaforce is also where the Great Legend War arc happens. However in this universe (the Saban Universe) it is called the Mega War.

Every time we get a new Power Rangers, we get a whole new cast filled with antics, this time around we get some pretty interesting characters. In Megaforce we have Andrew Gray as Troy Burrows, the Megaforce Red Ranger, John Mark Loudermilk as Noah Carver, the Megaforce Blue Ranger, Christina Masterson as Emma Goodall, the Megaforce Pink Ranger, Ciara Hanna as Gia Moran, the Megaforce Yellow Ranger, Azim Rizk as Jake Holling, the Megaforce Black Ranger.

Honestly while I cannot comment on their overall character arcs and development as only eleven episodes have aired while I am writing this article, I can say the show, while feels more kid-friendly than Samurai, has quite and interesting approach to character development and building. The actors do quite an impressive job with their respective characters and their characters in-show attributes. A notable event I’d like to mention is the fact that, the rangers out of battle and out of ranger form abilities come into play, while I know there is probably evidence of this outside of Megaforce, I missed a couple seasons here and there but regardless its quite a nice addition to characters as a whole.

I’d also like to point out that Megaforce Black Ranger (Jake) has a crush on the Megaforce Yellow Ranger (Gia) (which I may or may not be shipping hard).

The production value of Megaforce is higher than I expected. Usually Saban (and previously Disney) would use alot of footage from the original Super Sentai, this time around I’ve noticed a lot more original footage is being shot for Power Rangers. The even more interesting thing I found was the fact that, this original footage is in places where you’d expect to have Super Sentai  footage. There are instances where you can plainly tell that its two different footage sets, but its much better than previous incarnations.

Aside from the actual Power Rangers, the show’s allies and antagonists are quite something. I personally do not like Tensou, honestly nobody can replace Alpha, so don’t even try, but Tensou’s pretty cool. Also Gosei who is basically Zordon, although Zordon trained him. So Points to Zordon. I like Gosei though, something about him. I supposed its the way he kinda echo’s Zordon.

The show’s antagonists are pretty freaking cool. I mean come on, Admiral Malkor, Creepox and Vrak. Just listen to those names, they should insight fear into you! Apart from that though, I like the villans, they have an impressive production value (like all Toei’s Villans)  and they all are pretty bad-ass when you think about it. I personally like Vrak, he just seems so laid back and chill you know. Their weapons are very impressive (blades, scythes etc.) and this time around they attempt to use more than brute force to destroy the Power Rangers. (I know its been done before, I just like it.)

The Zords used in this version is almost just like the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers version. The dragon is even the same and all the particular colours all line up just like they did before, for the most part. However, I like the fact that the Zords can also be used as part of the Rangers weapon, I thought I didn’t like it, but as it turns out, I do in fact like it. The show also uses similar 3D CG versions of combining and calling for the Zords.

Despite what you may think of Power Rangers: Megaforce, its quite a good show, even though its made for children, I can guarantee any fan can enjoy the show. With the rest of season currently on its way, it looks promising, both on the action side, the character development arcs and much more. I can’t wait for it to reach the Mega War.

Power Rangers Megaforce: Admiral Malkor

Power Rangers Villains: Creepox

Power Rangers 20th Anniversary

Power Rangers Allies: Robo Ranger

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Power Ranger Villain: Vrak

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Power Rangers Megaforce Power Clip

Power Rangers Mega Pose

Power Rangers Villains: Loogies

Power Ranger MegaForce Screencap

Power Rangers MegaForce Cast

See The Power Rangers: MegaForce Image Copyright Information.

[Review] The Garden Of Words – The Garden Of Beauty

The Garden of Words, Kotonoha no Niwa, is a feature film done by CoMix Wave Flims which was released on 31st May, 2013. Garden of Words is truly a remarkable and beautiful film. It is easily the most gorgeous piece of cinematography I have ever seen. With the backing of a very touching and unexpected plot and its following twists, Garden of Words is sure to please even the most stubborn of film fans.

I’ll start off simple, the pictures. Garden of Words is quite frankly, absolutely gorgeous. This Production Studio has truly outdone anything I have ever seen and seeing as this isn’t the first time one of their productions has blown me away (Voices Of A Distant Star), I can safely say, whatever it is that they are doing, I hope they never stop.

The animation was 100 percent fluid and well crafted. Each scene immersed you into this world and kept you on your feet with regards as what to expect, visually that is. A lot of the scenes in this movie was inspired by real life photographs, also in some places real life photographs where also imposed onto the film and then rendered. However, it was done so well that it felt as though it belonged in that world and not this one. Another major point is the rain. This movie centers around the rain, and the rain was just spine chilling. I mean when you see those droplets of water flying across the screen and falling in puddles of water and the artists were able captivate a real life-like motion for the water droplets, I feel as though it is able to really make you question a lot of what you think you know. Its just that good.

On the basis of character animation, again, brilliant. Each character was splendidly brought to life by the production and art teams. They were crafted so well, I honestly aren’t really sure how much more I can elaborate, just how amazing the quality of these drawings are.

Onwards to the actual story. The plot of this show was quite simple, on the surface.

Takao Akizuki is a 15 year old student who lives with his melodramatic mother and adult older brother. He yearns to be a shoemaker, having being enraptured as a child by a pair gifted to his mother, though his immediate friends and family think little will come from his goal.

One morning commuting to school during the rainy season, Takao opts to skip his first class and head to the park to sketch shoe designs, and encounters Yukari Yukino, a well-dressed young woman drinking beer in the early morning drizzle. They do not speak to one another, but as the rain clears she notes the school crest on his vest and decides to bid him farewell with a tanka, leaving Takao puzzled as to its origin and meaning.

[Via Wikipedia]

The truth is, this is only the tip of the ice berg. Both characters are posed with very traumatic past experiences and if the opening of this show is any indication, they are in for a lot more.

When it comes to character development, I really commend this anime. I wasn’t quite sure how they manged to get me so quickly invested in characters I hardly even knew. After all, they both were keeping secrets from the world, from each other and from us, the viewers. I really liked how quickly Yukari’s character developed. I mean for some people, it may not have appeared so, but for those who noticed the slight ticks that was evident during her conversations with Tako and the few spoken words she uttered to herself and to others throughout the show that drove her character to the point where it needed to be and it was quite a sight.

The show also feature quite a nice score. It wasn’t over powering, but it was just right. This isn’t an action oriented anime, in any way, form or shape. The nice and light pieces of music that accented the nature like sounds was just the right atmosphere. This isn’t always very easy to pull off, so the mere fact that it blended so well together was really a testament of how serious this studio takes even the simplest and subtlest matters.

I honestly don’t want to give up too much about the show, because I honestly want you all to check it out. Its a really nice heart warming story, it had the perfect ending for what was going on and how they were dealing with their issues. It couldn’t have ended any better.

I really enjoyed this show, I came for the drawings and animation, stayed for the masterpiece that was A Garden of Words. I urge you all to check it out and push this show down everybody you knows throat. Because this was a really good show. I am sure you’ll enjoy it, long time fan of anime and just some random person in the interwebs. You’ll love it.

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See Copyright Information: Garden Of Words – Image Copyright Information

Related articles

• Review: The Garden of Words (Kotonoha no Niwa) (mahoutofu.wordpress.com)
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Orphan Black – BBC America Has Struck Gold!

For those of you who are following me on Twitter, well you wouldn’t have seen anything, because I didn’t actually tweet about it, but never the less. I’m sure by now, a lot of you must have heard about Orphan Black, one of the newest shows to hit airwaves via BBC America. Typically I don’t watch BBC America shows, I watch a lot of BBC shows, (Doctor Who), however I wasn’t sure what to expect when I heard about this show. To tell you the truth, I didn’t expect much. Boy was I wrong.

Orphan Black is a Canadian science fiction television series that stars Tatiana Maslany as several identical women who are revealed to be clones. The series focuses on Sarah Manning, a woman who assumes the identity of her clone, Elizabeth Childs, after the latter commits suicide. The series raises issues about the moral and ethical implications of human cloning and its impact on issues of personal identity.

[Via Wikipedia]

Orphan Black follows Sarah Manning, who upon returning to the city, discovers her identical clone, Elizabeth Beth Childs, as she commits suicide. She assumes Beth’s identity while she fakes her own death. However all is not peachy, as upon her assumption of Beth’s life, she discovers that she is not alone. There are many other clones across the world who are identical to her. The story progresses as we encounter more and more version of her, most notably Allison Hendrix (A soccer mom) and Cosima Niehaus (a biologist), in an attempt to discover the meaning behind her existence. However, even upon discovering their creators, the clones are still unsure of who to trust, as so many lies have been woven together that they no longer truly know what’s real. With their lives all falling apart and the continuous lies spat out by those they trust, the clones are still up in arms about what to do and who to trust.

Basically that’s the story, I left out a lot of other stuff that upon watching will clear up any questions that you may have. The show is by far one of the best shows I’ve ever seen to date. From the writing to the directing to the acting and the production crew, everything is pretty much top notch. I know many will find flaws, but after seeing what this entire cast and crew is capable of, I have no worries.

I’ll start off with the acting. Tatiana Maslay who plays Sarah Manning and all of her clones. Yeah you heard me, she plays all of her clones. There are no extras, other than stunt doubles, she plays ALL of her versions and she does so quite convincingly. Now I don’t mean just some carbon copy clones. Each one of the clones, has their own ticks, tricks and behavior (body language) as well as their accents, hair and makeup. I can tell it was quite a challenge for Tatiana Maslay, but she was outstanding. I couldn’t even imagine another actress doing what she does in this show. Honestly I don’t know how much more I can complement her, because she was really outstanding, and if you let me I’d continue to talk about her acting indefinitely.

Another portion I must commend her on is when she is pretending to be her clones. If she is currently playing, say for example, Sarah and she has to pretend to be Allison, she is able to. However, she will not fully act as though she is Allison. In these scenes you can plainly tell who is who, and who is pretending to be who in the show. I know its quite mind boggling, but its true and its pretty bad ass.

The rest of the cast is quite incredible as well, though she is pretty much the wickedest and coolest. They each compliment each others acting capability  and the interaction between them are quite impressive. You can feel the emotions that run thin throughout Sarah’s interaction with Mrs. S, Felix and Art. In addition the way each character gets into the roles is quite astounding, I’ll tell you this, it was amazing acting. Every character has their own story and they all pretty much truly become their roles.

The writers, directors and production team needs massive props for their work as well. I mean, when Sarah was fighting her clones it felt like two people fighting, the angles were right and you couldn’t tell if she actually cloned herself to do the show. It was that spectacular. The writers, they need some awards as well, well everybody needs awards in this show, because I couldn’t predict anything really in this show and I can usually predict a lot of shows.

This show blew a lot of the other shows out of the water and with good reason, it isn’t everyday that you manage to put together such brilliance, so brilliantly. The show constantly has you guessing, questioning the actions they take and questioning who to trust. The show really plays on your emotion and kills it truly.

All in all, this is an amazing show, a really original show, with brilliant acting, excellent production, amazing directors and writers. All around this show delivers. Now all I can say to you, is to check it out! I Honestly can’t express how much of an amazing show this is. Seriously, check it out.

Images Via BBCAmerica

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Orphan Black – Cosima Poster

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Orphan Black Wallpaper

Orphan Black Screencap #1

See the Copyright Information: Orphan Black – Image Copyright Information.

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• Why You Need To Watch BBC America’s ‘Orphan Black’ (screenrant.com)
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[Review] Parkway Drive – Atlas – At Their Finest Hour!

I’ve been following Parkway Drive since their Horizons album. I had found them through KillrBuckEye who does guitar covers. (that guy is pretty wicked, check him out.) From the first time I heard Five Months, one of their tracks off Horizons, I’ve been hooked on their music. Their interesting blend of metal, metalcore and a bunch of others you can hear, but aren’t sure what it is, has truly been quite a pleasure for the ears. Late in 2012, Parkway Drive released their forth full length album, Atlas. The album has since been received well by their fans and many critics alike.

Parkway Drive is an Australian metalcore band from Byron Bay, New South Wales, formed in 2002. As of 2012, Parkway Drive has released four full-length albums, Killing with a Smile, Horizons, Deep Blue, and Atlas, two DVDs, an EP, entitled Don’t Close Your Eyes and two split albums.

I had been egarly await Atlas, since their previous offering, Deep Blue, which was in fact an amazing album, filled with riviting breakdowns, spine chilling guitar solos unlike traditional solos and raw unmatched vocals. Parkway Drive has been masterful since their early days coming out of Byron Bay in Australia.

This time around the band took a similar approach to this album as they did before, with Horizons and Deep Blue. Infact this time around one can aruge that Atlas is alot heavier than their previous album. At times I feel like this isn’t true, but that doesn’t deter it from being an enjoyable experience. While their songs follow a traditional song structure, it is quite easy to get lost in them, negating the traditional song structure. However, at times they simply just throw this sturcture out the window and go with whatever feels right.

Previously, Parkway Drive had stated that they had alot of punk influence, which while listening to many solos and melodies throughout this album you can hear that influence. Maybe not as much as previously, but it still nice to know that Parkway Drive hasn’t changed who they are since their signing to Epitaph Records. The band also included scattered use of orchestras as well as scattered use of electronic elements and their signature acoustic riff throughout the album.

Now on to the actual band itself. On vocals, we have Winston McCall, who again develivers right on the money. In fact I would argue his vocals have gotten even better than before. This time around Winston McCall hit lower register with more melody giving an already melodic  song even more melody and even more of a raw feel to it. In songs such as “Dark Days”, the first release off the Atlas album, his vocals are spot on, and really accents the raw sounds of the guitars. In addition, “The River”, another song off Atlas, shows off Winston’s more lighter heavy vocals, giving the song a stronger, more emotional atmosphere, something that has become well-known in each album. For Horzions, it was “Carrion”, for Deep Blue, it was “Home is For The Heartless” and this time around “The River”. Songs such as “Sleight Of Hand” and “Dream Run” create a much more driving metal vocal feeling which is quite well received if you asked me.

For the lyrical aspect, its no secret that Parkway Drive has had some impressive lyrics over the years, dealing with everything from Heartbreak to war to things truely unknown. This time around Parkway Drive tackles issues such as the destruction of the environment to the World’s problems, everything from dealing with age to how society wants you to perceive something as well as corporations who lie and such. As with all Parkway Drive’s lyrics, its quite an earful if your willing to listen.

Jeff Ling, Luke Kilpatrick and Jia O’Connor are the bands guitarists and bassist. The rawness of the tones of the guitar was brilliantly done in addition to their little runs of scales throughout each song. The solos where incredible, the riffs where hardcore and it all blended perfectly. Again songs like “Sleight Of Hand”, “Dream Run” and “Wild Eyes” feature some of the heaviest riffs in the whole album though “Dream Run” is more melodic and driving than a hardcore riff. The guitarist where able to create an atmosphere that brought out a great sense of emotion, even without the use of vocals. This is evident in songs such as “The Slow Surrender” and “The River”. Overall the guitarist did one hell of a job on this album and there isn’t much else I can say. Once you listen to the album and you’ll know what I am talking about.

Ben Gordon’s attack of drums was pretty wicked. In addition to the scattered use of electronic drums here and there for additional effect, the drums were hardcore and quite amazing. Everything was fitted perfectly with all of the elements that the band used. It was all a perfect sequence of drumming on Ben’s part. I must say it all added a truly hardcore atmosphere for the entire album, even when the song was slower filled with acoustic guitars and ochestras, Ben Gordon’s drums still mange to create something that was still driving and something you would rock out to.

Overall this album was incredible, and if you’re a Parkway Drive fan this is a must have. If you’re not, fear not, you won’t be disappointed. There wasn’t a really let down of a track in this album, each song you can rock out to and really feel what the band is trying to portray. This is an album you should check out.

Parkway Drive Guitarist – Luke Kilpatrick

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Parkway Drive – Vocalist – Winston McCall

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Parkway Drive – Atlas Cover

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Parkway Drive – Guitarist – Luke Kilpatrick

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Review – Bleach: Hell Verse

I’m a big fan of Bleach and over the years I’ve tried my best to keep up with all the latest Bleach-related stuff. Recently, since the discontinuation of the anime, I came across a very good copy of Bleach: Hell Verse as well as the other movies, but the others really aren’t worth mentioning. Bleach: Hell Verse was the best Bleach movie to ever come out of the anime studio. That’s it.

Its worth mentioning that all the other Bleach movies were nice offerings, but to me, they all lacked something that Bleach: Hell Verse somehow manged to get right. Among those things, the fluidity of the animation was impressive, though similar to previous, it was actually much better than the others, but on the more important things.

The plot line for this movie felt more like an entire arc rather than a singular movie. At times it felt like the plot was moving fast, but seeing as the studio had to pack pretty much an entire arc into a movie, it was pretty understandable. With respect to the plot feeling like a arc, I believe this was a right move for the sake of the movie. It took what was great about the Bleach anime, the glourious over the top fight scenes, the inclusion of violent monsters, additional power sets. As I said before the plot of this movie was jaw dropping, how it was put together, how the scenes progressed from one to next.

Character development was much better than the previous movies and personally, I’d like to say thank god, Rukia actually did something this time around. The movies before she didn’t do much, so that was a nice addition. As with the actual anime, Ichigo‘s personality took dive and he came back out with some serious formation of thought after, like he usually does. The development of the character interaction between Ichigo and cast was very good. You could really feel it this time around. Since the movie feels like an arc, this would actually be very well done.

This time around the fight scenes got a major overhaul and by that I mean, we actually get some insane fighting. We’re talking until death fighting. Well seeing as there in hell and all, that’d be expected. The fight scenes were crafted well, not only for Ichigo, but also for his friends, Rukia, Renji and Ishida. Each got their own opponent and their own chance to prove themselves. Just like in the anime they also got a big theatrically finale for each of their individual fights, much like those in the anime.

By now you can clearly see that this should’ve been made into an arc, rather than that stupid Bout arc. However from just watching this in my own home, I would’ve loved to actual sit in a cinema to watch it.

As for the soundtrack for this movie, I love it. From the hardcore stuff from the man TM Revolution himself to the brilliantly done orchestral pieces, Bleach has become known for.

At this point you fully understand that I am endorsing this movie to the fullest. So if you can’t watch it, well watch it. Seriously, I really do recommend this movie, to both Bleach fans and anime fans across the board. This is truly an eye opening, well thought out offering the studio, that I am sure everyone will love.

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Bleach: Hell Verse Blu-Ray Cover

Dusk Maiden Of Amnesia (Tasogare Otome × Amunejia) – What A Maiden!

For those of you following me on twitter, well you’d know nothing, considering I didn’t tweet about this particular anime. Dusk Maiden Of Amnesia (Tasogare Otome × Amunejia) was a better anime than I expected. It was filled with a lot of heartbreak, weird angles, and most importantly, tons of horrifying moments, despite the anime being mostly funny and romantic. Indeed what a maiden was this anime.

The anime is about a high school student, Teiichi Niiya, who while exploring, discovers a girl by the name Yuuko Kanoe who reveals herself to be a ghost. The entire anime (twelve episodes) revolves around Teiichi attempting to find out more about Yuuko’s past and why she remains on earth, oh and Yuuko has Amnesia and forgets a lot of stuff all the time.

The anime itself, is quite well done, the original manga was published by Square Enix and serialized by Monthly Gangan Joker and the anime Adaption was done by Sliver Link.

The anime while only spanning tweleve episodes, was packed filled with many twists and turns. Despite any movie-goer or anybody who watches tv, being able to decifer the entire story line by episode 4 or 5, the anime still manges to keep you hooked on it. The anime was able to portray a very uneasy tone throughout the series, which was quite odd since most of the anime was revolving around Yuuko and Teiichi’s romantic interest in each other and Teciichi over coming his shyness to admit his feelings for Yuuko and eventually willing to do anything it takes to be with her.

Throughout the anime you would get these thirty or forty seconds of pure terror being fed into you, which is then immediately juxtaposed by a very loud, over the top, comedic gesture by the anime’s cast. These can be attributed to amazing directing and production on the part of the anime studio. Not many studios can emulate such fear into the viewer so quickly and then disperse it even quicker. This was amazingly well done, such scenes would creep up on you without so much as a warning, or a how’d you do, for that matter.

The anime also shows how people attribute ghost stories, how quickly rumors spread and how it is changed.  The anime debunks alot of ghost stories despite it being a ghost story. Needless to say the ghost stories inside of this ghost story is, I believe, a parody of most ghost stories.

The entire cast is constantly four people, Teiichi Niiya, Yuuko Kanoe, Momoe Okonogi and Kirie Kanoe. Each person other than Teiichi and Yuuko played an important part in developing the character of Teciihi, to the point where the plot required him to. Momoe, is a very wild sprite, despite her inability to see any ghosts (Yuuko in particular), she is actively responsible for finding out more about rumors and stories that may pertain to Yuuko. Kirie shares quite a connection with Yuuko, despite Kirie also being able to see both Yuuko and something else in the school.

One of the biggest flaws I had with this, was the love interest of the entire cast. All of the females in the anime seem to be fixated onto Teiichi, despite knowing of his interest in Yuuko. I honestly felt like this wasn’t very good to the character of Teiichi or to any of the girls, though  I understand that by doing so, the writer was able to show the real connection between Yuuko and Teiichi.

As for the actual plot, it was simple, but very intriguing. You could’ve figure out the entire plot from just a few episodes, I found as though there weren’t enough plot twists and it was pretty linear. You knew exactly where everything was heading towards. Despite this however, as you approached the very end of the series (the last couple episodes) a couple interesting parts of the plot keep you invested. Also there was a couple of different things that each character goes through that could be very important. (Actually it is, and it is a spoiler so I stop here.)

The anime felt casual at a lot of places, yet at the same time it felt very deep, I honestly believe you can classify this as some sort of psychological thriller, or something along those lines. It had a lot of scenes that were pretty unbelievable. Again I draw reference to the fact that this anime pretty much fucks with your senses throughout the show, sending you down roads that go no where but then end up somewhere.

Overall the anime was well done, it had a lovely sense of romance and a brilliant terrifying atmosphere that gave the anime creditability. The connection between the leads where quite well established and it was truly felt in the shortness of the series. For anyone who loves a good scare and some good romance, this one is quite a pick up, I can be sure you’d enjoy it.

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GrooveShark – Groove To The Music, Groove To The Shark

For quite sometime I have been using this music provider, primarily because it is free and because it is actually available in my country (Thanks VEVO), plus the quality is awesome.

GrooveShark is basically a music streaming site, which allows you to stream as much music as you want for free from your desktop. You can select from millions of songs already, followed by your own music, if you are a musician. This is truly pretty awesome and can help aspiring musicians get their music out there.

GrooveShark has also been partnering with other companies to help up and coming Music acts to promote and generate revenue from their music.

Sam Tarantino

I always knew there was a team of people behind GrooveShark, like there always is. However, I recently read the Mashable article about GrooveShark . I had expected that the CEO of GrooveShark (Sam Tarantino)  to be having a fun time, because I hadn’t previous heard GrooveShark fighting any legal battles, nor had their site went down at any point, that I can remember. Boy, was I wrong.

During that period, the music streaming service was essentially hit with back-to-back-to-back blows. Google pulled Grooveshark’s mobile app in early 2011, after Apple had done the same the previous year, effectively snuffing out its potential on mobile. Spotify launched in the U.S. in July, 2011 with the blessing of the major record labels and started stealing away Grooveshark’s users. And then came the knockout blow: Universal Music Group filed a federal lawsuit against Tarantino and his employees for uploading copyrighted songs. Sony Music and Warner Music Group joined the lawsuit the following month and EMI filed a lawsuit of its own in early January, meaning that all four major record labels were simultaneously suing the company.

Honestly, I have never payed much attention to the business and legal side of GrooveShark.  GrooveShark has continued to offer their services for millions of users across the globe during this time, despite all these lawsuits. I could’ve sworn that they wouldn’t have survived. But surely they still exist.

GrooveShark has been making waves with its newer features, and their user base is continue to expand back to where they once where. GrooveShark is definitely making a comeback in 2013.

GrooveShark recently redesigned their site, and I must say it was quite a nice surprise. They also added in support for users to create their own mini radio station inside of GrooveShark. This feature is something I have been doing, using other sites. It is nice to know I now can do this using effective methods with High Quality music and a higher level of social interactivity.

In addition to all of these redesigns and new features, with GrooveShark’s attention to details and customers. It would seem that all other streaming sites may have to watch out. Sam Tarantino believes GrooveShark’s Radio BroadCast feature can compete with Pandora.

Considering Pandora isn’t available in my country. I’d give my backing to GrooveShark.

GrooveShark ensures that users have the experience the company set out to create initially. For That GrooveShark, Thank You.

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Introducing: Terracide – Metal With A Twist!? – Free Primordium EP Download

For those of you all who have realized by now, I like heavy music, I like pop too, but I like heavy music as well. So I am always on the hunt for some pretty badass music to rock out to. It just so happens that one of the musicians I am subscribed to on YouTube, decided that he would like to rock the world, with a badass metal band. Yeah, and guess what? He does it pretty badass.

Terracide – Daniel Tidwell – Vocals/Guitar

For those of you all who don’t know, Mr. Daniel Tidwell (metaldaniel03), is a guitar musician. He performs original music as well as doing remixes of some many Video game classics such as the Casltevania  sound track, MegaMan stage tracks and much more. He also did many metal remixes of classical Pieces such as Fur Elise, just to name one.

As of now, Mr. Daniel Tidwell (metaldaniel03), is currently pursuing a band type structure rather than a solo type structure, his band as of now, is Terracide. And I quote:

Terracide is an assault of aggressive grandiose melodic metal. An aural feast of energy and emotion. Terracide has arrived. And we come bearing gifts for your auditory systems.

That would be the description of Mr. Tidwell’s band. After listening to the currently released for free, (ACT NOW PEOPLE),  3-track EP, Primordium, I can safety say this is not an EP to go unnoticed. I have seen and heard many bands release and re-release EP (myself included), that was not the best, but Primordium, is absolutely brilliant. Produced by Mr. Tidwell himself.

Currently the band’s line up consist of Daniel Tidwell (Vocals/Guitar), Josh Winn (Guitar), Wayne Courtright (Bass) and Mike Lumer (Drums).

Terracide – Mike Lumer – Drums

From listening to this EP (LINK), I can see a great amount of potential in the band themselves. The music flows nice, each instrument does not try to overpower each other, rather they compliment each other. The guitars possess this complex flow that, if you had been watching Mr. Tidwell’s YouTube channel, would noticed that it has since become something of a signature. Drums were excellent and pretty much the entire ensemble felt well in tune together, blending and meshing together quite well together.

Terracide – Josh Winn – Guitar

When I listen to the tracks, I can hear some of the (death) metal or another sub genre of it. It is not a bad thing at all, as the clean vocals meshed very well with the harsh vocals, something many bands are unable to emulate. The vocals while harsh at times, isn’t unbearable as you would think. The harsh vocals has amazing melody once again complementing the entire piece. I’ve pointed out this, because many bands just have harsh vocals at one register (for lack of a better word) and are unable to carry it across, but not Terracide.

Terracide – Wayne Courtright – Bass

I believe this band can go places, and if you love heavy sounds or amazing guitar solos and playing, Terracide got the stuff. It would be in your best interest to give them some support. As this is pretty wicked stuff. You can check them out at here:

• http://terracide.net/
• http://facebook.com/terracideofficial
• http://terracide.bandcamp.com/
• http://twitter.com/terracidemusic
• https://soundcloud.com/terracide
• http://www.reverbnation.com/terracide

DOWNLOAD THE PRIMORDIUM EP!

Terracide – Primordium EP