1st day of the Manga Advent Calendar of 2016

Hello, Welcome to the 1st day of the Manga Advent Calendar of 2016 and today we will be looking into the dark horse of the season, “March Comes in like a Lion”. With an anime adaptation coming out at the moment I was thinking to highlight where this came from and also draw attention to the important themes that are covered in this manga.

 

The basic premise is the tale is about Rei Kiriyama is a 17-year-old boy who is living alone and begins creating connections with the three Kawamoto sisters: Akari, Hinata, and Momo. He searches for connections with friends and his growth as a person. This deals with heavy themes such as depression and presents it in a format that people could understand through the use of imagery such as sketch like deigns which means that its better experienced rather than told about the story.The story is very well thought out and its worth a read as its fulfilling to understand that it’s not only me who feels crummy at times, we all need to live and grow as people through our lives and that’s the main take away from this manga.Down below is the trailer for the anime if you are looking for something solid to watch at the moment.

I’m also going to tell you something about myself each day, for day one I will tell you about my favourite anime childhood shows.Which for me was Sailor Moon, Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh and the choice for tomorrow which is a classic magical girl show,have a guess in the comments below on what I'm doing tomorrow and see if you are right.

I will see you all tomorrow guys

Regards Fiona   

Personal update and Manga Advent Calendar 2016 intro

Hello, Sorry I have been away for some time as I have had a lot of university work and other stuff on top of this which has made it hard for me to post, its is now December so its time for the second year of the Manga Advent Calendar "insert cool trumpets here" but first and update in what I've been doing at the moment.

 Now first and foremost I have become the president of my Anime Society which means I decide what everyone watches and also this allows some expansion into some new ideas I have been having regarding what more I can do for this and the readers.it also means that I could do a weekly anime review of our meeting per week if you guys would like to know about what it’s like to be part of the society. Which in recent weeks has been video games like Persona, Final Fantasy and the most talked about Pokémon Sun/Moon release.

PSA notice about Your Name Don’t watch the English Dub as Its poor quality and requires a remaster for it to be good to recommend by myself, overall its best in sub this is your PSA over.  

I will be doing my manga advent calendar this year as well as of tomorrow, and thus I will be also talking about my best shows each day as well to give more to you as readers.See you all tomorrow

Regards Fiona

The highlight films from Scotland Loves Anime 2016

Hello, I have been unable to write a blog post recently due to my large amount of university work and for that I am sorry, but I am writing this special article for you to advise you on fantastic movies I have seen and one was my personal favourite. One of the movies is called Silent Voice and other is called Your Name. Now probably have heard of Your Name if not just possible probably recognise the poster below. And Silent Voice was based on an incredibly interesting short manga. Let’s get this review started!

 

 

Silent voice is innovative because it highlights issues in Japanese culture regarding the treatment of disabled people as one of the main cast in this movie is deaf. Now there is a lot of stigma surrounding treatment of disabled people and the concept that they are lesser or weaker than regular people these issues are brought into the original source material, young student transfers Nishimiya Shōko to this new school and the class as student because the ranging from destruction of hearing aids to refusing to communicate via the notepad that is used. The source material is extremely upsetting and I can personal due to the concept being subdivided by not only your classmates but also lack of assistance via teachers until the closing scenes in the book. The movie is extremely expanding about main character Shoya and how he himself has suffered due to everyone blaming him for the events. He tries to make connections with people from his past and character but his insecure due to the suffering caused which causes him to have issues with self-esteem. This is the most I can get into the source material and spoiler which creates feels, so I will link the original comic here.

 

The art style was done by Kyoto animation shows the vibrancy and the colours and one of the highway art pieces is the water that is used throughout this, whether it be tears or rivers looks vibrant and colourful so that is my highlight piece of animation for this. The side characters get a lot of focus which is refreshing but also the soundtrack to this movie is exciting and very relaxing I will be listening to the soundtrack in my own time. When this film comes out on DVD which I hope it will (shout out to you All the Anime, please make this happen) I expect wonderful collector’s edition with the original source manga and the DVD and Blu-ray with a wonderful holographic design to demonstrate the fantastic art style that is used. I went into this film having expectations not particularly high one’s expectations and my expectations were absolutely smashed. This film is put in my special category for funds I think are quintessentially essential for any person who is into anime to watch I score this 10 out of 10. It was flawless in my opinion and I feel that it needs to be recognised.

 

Your Name, I had high expectations for this film since I’d been seeing it all the social media and how it smashed box office records in Japan. The one comment I can make about the story is that if you go into this film not knowing anything about it you’re more likely to witness the full experience of the movie, but at the same time I don’t know if this plot could be subsequently spoiled through the use of social media and people reviewing like myself so I am respecting the art piece and not talking about the main plot into much detail. All I can say is that it’s about a girl and boy and a change of experience which causes them to be drawn together through strange circumstances. If you think about it sounds like a basic romance anime plot will it’s very sophisticated laying out and demonstrating plot. There are some details that you find confusing when you first examine them but more plot twists are revealed through the movie you understand why those things were strange.

After seeing this film, I can understand why its crushing box office records, the animation is beautiful it makes me want to take a screensaver of almost every sky frame, the music and this is fantastic I would listen to this music on repeat whilst reading or on the box just calms and relaxes you. This film does require further watching and I do have the intention to watch again to get the fullness of the movie as the role what of references that I did not understand but I want to understand for example sitting posture and use of pronouns.Makoto Shinkai has acquired the reputation for having beautifully animated films but they may have a flaw of some kind whether it be in regards to length or detail in the plot, but this one hits all the right notes to produce “perfect movie” I’m using inverted quotation marks you because that is no such thing as a perfect movie because everyone has different movie tastes. For me I think this film scores 10 out of 10 as well.

I cannot compare these works of art because by comparing them you are criticising their flaws for which is insulting the movie itself.These are such lovely movies and it was an honour to see them in conjunction with Scotland loves anime 2016. I would recommend seeing both of these films because they bring something different to the movie experience one brings a very interesting commentary on bullying and disabled opinion within Japanese culture. The other movie brings in interesting experience that deserves to be isolated from spoilers and should be respected in that format. Both of these funds strike a chord with me and I joined them both which is why I’m telling you about them so you can find them or see them within your own abilities whether it be through Netflix physical copy etc.You need to see these films. I hope you enjoyed this review my next review will be commenting on the previous summer season and the recent fall season thank you very much.

Regards Fiona

Kita Con 2016 Post

Hello everybody, sorry for the delay as my studies are done after some massive exams and sorry for the lack of content but I would like to give you this update on how Kita Con went during the 1^st to 3rd April 2016. Now I must first explain what could to conquer about is it is a residential convention that takes place at Birmingham every year and it showcases a lot of anime related activities and merchandise. It is all are not what smaller scale than larger events that take place around the country such as MCM series of events that are related more to comic books and general fandom’s rather than aimed specifically at anime. This event was very interesting as I have never been to such a small but large scale anime event, and I shall provide insight to those of my readers who were unable to attend or are curious in case of attending next time.

 

Now first of all I must inform you that the journey from my hometown Edinburgh to Birmingham took a long time due to traffic but beside that we made excellent time. We were booked in at a nearby hotel for convenience due to it being cheaper and more affordable (the more money we save on the hotel the more money that can be spent on merchandise) so then we registered in the event and were given a wonderful con bag, which included the programme for the events that had wonderful artwork submitted by fans and map of the Leo of the building due to the size of the building it would have been hard to navigate without it and an amazing glow stick that was reusable and battery powered.

here is an example of one of the panels with the amazing team of Kita Con

 

We then attended the opening ceremony (after a quick change of course of course as I was in my travel outfit when I registered) in which the house rules and format for the event were laid out including several jokes that would become the staple of the weekend. The main joke that was the staple of the weekend was the phrase “Safe” due to the safety officers that were briefing everybody on how to correctly use the glow sticks their catchphrase of being safe and not safe became a staple joke for all attendees during the weekend and personally it was a very funny joke and made the event more community-based due to everybody having the same sense of humour. The event also was 18+ so there were various panels specifically for those of the devious nature for example there was a Yuri event etc. photo bellow are the people who  won the cosplay contest they were Mad Moxxi, Tiny Tina & Handsome Jack  from borderlands and the real people were Pinnku, Miro & JediKnight

There were also some really cool cosplays going around such as not only ones from anime but also games like Danganronpa and League of Legends which is good because it means that all types of cosplay are respected whether they were made or bought. The atmosphere surrounding the convention was very good, which overall created and memorable convention experience for myself. It also gives me a new drive into understanding the ins and outs of cosplay development, my hope is to make a cosplay for next year (I'm open to suggestions). I also did meet some wonderful vendor's who were selling their merchandise at the convention, Tofu Cute is a name of not as they were selling a large selection of snacks and cute merchandise such as the Alpacasso Alpaca. They were selling goodie bags of snacks which I could not turn down as I love surprises and snacks. There were also sellers selling figures, model kits and many other things. From what I can understand there was a lack of fake merchandise which I consider to be one of the best things about the convention the fact that they make sure to have the best things for the goers. over all it was amazing and I know im going next year so im planning next year already

 

Over all it was amazing and I have been wanting to tell you all about this. So now that this is done I can do my exam and then make more articles for you all and hopefully some craft projects over the summer. There will be a snack review coming up next as I bought £30.00 worth of snacks for you guys so im willing to get sick for the readers

Regards Fiona       

 

February wrap-up post

Hello everybody,sorry for the delay  and welcome to this wrap-up. a lot of things have happen this month and this has made this month extra amazing so without further delay, let’s go!

for anime I have watched so far this month that is new I have started watching Sankarea. I have had it on my watch list for a month and I thought it looked like a light show which I could watch in my spare time but I was wrong.  The basic story is about a body who tries to bring his cat back from the dead, but he creates a zombie girl who then he starts to look after. The show goes into all of the character’s motives and then has some darker sprinkled on top along with some real drama I can really get into. The show has some comedy elements but also shows a good story about bringing people back from death. I do hope this gets a second season as it leaves just as the story is beginning to get into the best part. I rate this show a 7 out of 10.

Another anime I watched this month is being Osomatsu-san which details the hijinks of a group of sextuplets. There is a lot of nostalgia with this show as it made a resurgent after it was a thing before my time as an anime fan, because of this new show I have gotten really into the older show. It’s a really funny show and it’s good to make me happy after a log day of doing work for my studies. There is some great comedy and that’s why I’m giving this show a 7 out of 10.

 I have watched a lot of the same anime over this month so here is a new bit for the blog and it’s a look into a box service that seen to be all over the internet these days. The one I have looked into for this month is Betoyo. So the box had a lot of cool things in the box like lots of cool keyrings 3 out of 4 are Fate series themed and one from SAO.

I also got a cool set of Sailor Moon Trading cards (I got a shiny so I’m happy). I also got some Seven Deadly Sins figures which was the stand out item for the box as I haven’t seen much merchandise for the series yet. I also there was a Naruto scroll pencil case, which I am not so keen on but I can just re-gift it to someone else.

 The presentation of the box was done really well as it was tied like a bento box including a really nice cloth (bento making is in my future with this) over all I would rate this box as a 7.5 out of 10. This score could change due to content of subsequent boxes but also I like the fact it apples to also of anime fans in the one small box. Things I would like to see in a future box would be some capsule toys or even some candy (I hear poop merchandise is popular at the moment, that a story for another time though)

As I said in the last update I am going to an event really soon so I’m super hyper for going to Kitacon Karnival. Kitacon Karnival is one of the largest anime conventions in Brittan and also spans from the 1^st of April to the 3^rd. as many of my readers are not from the UK or from areas where conventions happen I will be making a video log of my trip including taking to the vendors at the event and also meeting all of the amazing people i will run into. There will be fun, there will be games and there will be tones of stuff to see so I hope you are ready for the trip of the year. There may be some surprises along the way for some of the readers, so I hope you all look forwards to my coverage of the event. If some of you will be going to the event, I may run into you and say hello. I will also be giving you an idea of what convention rules are and how to get the best out of the day.   

               

I hope you enjoyed this wrap-up post for the month and I shall see you again soon.

Regards Fiona