Cardcaptor Sakura

Growing up I came across many different anime series that are now long heralded as anime classics. Sailor Moon is considered by many to be the epitome of the “mahou shoujo” sub-genre. However, as much as I remember loving Sailor Moon, I remember loving Cardcaptor Sakura just as much. There is really nothing to dislike about CCS except the “monster of the week” theme it has which is completely understandable. The 90’s was filled with shows of all kinds showcasing weekly villains, and anime was not left untouched. Aside from that, CCS proves to be a timeless classic.

The story is very straightforward. After starting her day and arriving home from school, Sakura Kinomoto stumbles upon a strange book in the basement. This book contains a set of strange cards of which end up escaping. It turns out the cards are magical, and the keeper of the book, Kerberos or “Kero-chan” assigns Sakura as the “Cardcaptor” to seek out all of the escaped cards created by an incredibly strong magician named Clow Reed. Thus, Sakura’s long journey hesitantly begins. Along with her best friend and cousin Tomoyo Daidouji, Kerberos, and Syaoran Li, Sakura tries her best to deal with her personal life and her mission to stop the “Clow Cards” and return them to normal.

CCS is a nice big ball of emotions. Most of the time you will be in a happy mood, others you will be sad and comical. I couldn’t help but feel happy for Sakura when she became the “true” master of the cards, but was also mad about how much stuff she was put through despite being such a young girl. Overall id say the character development was quite slow, but necessary. Sakura remains cheerful and naive for most of the first half of the series, but starts maturing later on. She still retains the traits that make her lovable but its nice to see her more mature by the end of the series. The second movie for sure showed what an improvement she made. Her best friend and cousin Tomoyo provides some comical relief with her never ending quest to capture Sakura on film when shes doing something important. I swear, Tomoyo could make a movie with all the action shots she’s gotten from Sakura’s fights. She is the backbone Sakura needs, and is always looking out for her. Next would be Syaoran. Coming from Hong Kong to steal the cards away from Sakura, he starts out as a tough and overall more fit “candidate” for sealing away the cards. He seems to heavily dislike Sakura at first, but slowly softens his heart as they fight together. He seems to be… “confused” romantically for the first half of the anime, but later learns why that is, and is set on a different romantic path, one that ends up bridging most of CLAMPS series together in a series called Tsubasa later on.

Sakura’s older brother, Toya, is a rather strange character as he seems to have magical powers himself, but never really uses them. He obviously loves his little sister but chooses to pick on her, providing some funny moments now and then. Why he has powers to begin with is never explained. Hell, why Sakura has powers is never explained either. Why a 10 yr old (age at the beginning of the show) is chosen to seal away all these cards and face so much danger is beyond me. I’m not complaining, but you really have to wonder about these things when they aren’t explained.There’s some other things that were never explained, such as who was taking care of Yukito financially (Sakura’s crush for the majority of the series, and best friend of Toya) since his family is never seen. Yukito has a secret revealed by the end of the second seaon, but that secret still doesn’t explain much about anything when you really think about it.

I re-watched this series in glorious 1080p. The art is considerably better than my DVD counterpart. I suggest everyone watch it in HD if possible. Back when CCS aired it had good artwork for its time, and with HD it shows. The music is a hit and miss. Because of the nature and style of the show, most of the tracks and re-used over and over. Now and then a new track will be used for a special setting. At the very least the first season’s OP is probably one of the best I have ever heard simply because it captures the overall theme of the show quite accurately. Each other OP captures the essence of each season, which is great if you ask me.

Move past whatever misconceptions you may have, move away from the stigma you may face for watching a “girly show” (I’m a guy btw), and move past the fact this show is from the late 90’s. CCS is a gem among the 90’s anime that swept the world off its feet. It’s an anime that is called a classic for a reason, and it’s an anime worth watching if you want something heartfelt, with a good story, and with lovable characters.

Score - 8/10

V/H/S

My god, I haven’t been so creeped out from a movie in years. V/H/S is  not your typical “found footage” movie, no, it take things a step further.

The entire movie is basically 5 mini movies withing the “actual movie”. The mini movies share no real connection. They are standalone movies with their own characters, story, and location. The characters from the main movie are hooligans who make money through unconventional means. On an assignment, they are asked to retrieve a VHS tape from an old house supposedly inhabited by an old man. Upon searching for the tape they encounter the old man dead in front oh his TV and with piles of VHS tapes mounted on his desk. The team splits up to find the tape among the mountains of tapes around the house. The one guy that stays with the old man begins watching the tapes already there. Each tape watched in that room is each of the 5 mini movies. One by one each of the guys in the house watch a tape.

Like I said, the movies share no connection with each other. There is no real higher meaning about the meaning like one would expect. Its meant to be scary, and scary it was. My only complaint was the lack of a proper story but I guess the movie was built to be like that. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and will watch its sequel “S-V/H/S” when it comes out.

Score - 8/10

Jormungand: Perfect Order

Picking off where the first season left off, Koko Hekmatyar continues her duties as an arms dealer. At first glance not much is different from the first season honestly, its the good old gang back once more; kicking ass taking names like always. But things are escalated to a much grander scale. The viewer starts getting hints at what the main plot of the second season really is, and the revelation is more surprising than anything you could have imagined. New villains emerge, and old villains lurking in the shadows make themselves known.Tensions rise, and relationships get strained. This was the driving force of the season season.

My only gripe with this season is that it left the ending open. The series ends right before Koko starts her “plan” and ends right then and there. True to its ways, the anime leaves the viewer wanting more.

Overall I really enjoyed this sequel. Seeing the characters again and the crazy action that goes on wherever they go is always enjoyable. I recommend watching both seasons of Jormungand, really good series.

Score - 8/10

Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun

Main characters in a slice of life anime like this tend to be one dimensional and seek pity beyond pity. I found the lack of one dimensionality refreshing in this anime. Sure there are characteristics that define each character, but the word stagnant becomes oblivious.

Mizutani Shizuku is a bookworm with no time for a social life. No, the thought of mingling with humans seems like a waster of time for her. Something happened to her when she was young, and this led to her reasoning. She remains solitary and undeterred with her decisions. One day while delivering homework to the school hooligan and heavily (understatement since hes crazy beyond belief lol) misunderstood Yoshida Haru, she realizes she made a terrible mistake in her use of words. Haru now believes Shizuku is his friend, and decides to attend school again with this belief. As such, Shizuku has no choice but to start socializing and juggle with her emotions as this misunderstood hooligan becomes part of her every day life.

Shizuku and Haru, make up a hilarious dynamic duo. They are both socially awkward. Combine this with the fact that they have no earthly idea of how a relationship works, and you have a story that avoids all the generics in your typical relationship cycle. Every anime, hell, every form of Japanese media we are all familiar with has the typical cycle we are all used to seeing. Both characters defy these rules, and instead opt to express their feelings about anything, anywhere, with little to no fear of the consequences. Yes, things like “I love you” and “I hate you” are blurted out as if it was the most normal thing to say on earth. The dynamics these characters portray make the onscreen interactions interesting, to say the least. Unfortunately, the friends they make are not defiant opposers to the typical rules of Japanese media. I guess this makes Shizuku and Haru stand out, but I would have liked more characters with such a dynamic personality as them. Instead we get the typical girl (Natsume) hated by the other girls for getting the males attention, and we get a baseball player with little to no distinctive personality that separates him from everyone else. I honestly consider Sasahara a side character, that’s how little his importance to the series is. Yamaguchi, a “side character” I would prefer to have as main, is another story. He’s awesome.

The anime deals with the struggles of being accepted, and does a damn good job at it. As a viewer, and more importantly as a human being, I couldn’t help but identify with certain situations the anime presented the characters with. By no means is this anime a life changer, nor does it dwell in hidden psychological meanings we pick up as we watch. But it does make one think, and it makes one want to keep thinking, which is always good. Some things are never resolved, but I suppose that’s where a second season would come in. The art is a bit different, I would call it slightly abstract at times, but still looks like your typical anime. Very nice color pallets, the character designs are great, and the soundtrack is top notch.

My only complaint is the lack of resolution near the ending. Sure, this paves the way for a second season, but what if a second season never happens? Countless anime have been left forgotten, so I hope this anime gets a second season and continues the story of my new favorite couple in anime.

Score - 8.5/10