Archive for the ‘Anime’ Category

Cute Bacteria?

Posted by shiera on May-16-2008

A colleague told me about the anime Moyashimon (もやしもん). Tadayasu Sawaki, the main character, is a freshman at an agricultural university. Tadayasu can see and communicate with microorganisms. The anime is really funny and educational as well. In here, you can see the cutest bacteria ever:


The opening theme is very cute, too. I am actually planning to buy one of those stuffed microbes. :D

Inuyasha Genius

Posted by shiera on May-9-2008

I’ve taken an Inuyasha quiz and here’s what it said:

The inuyasha Test -- Make and Take a Fun Test @ NerdTests.com's User Tests!

I know that cute giant dog beside me is not from Inuyasha. At least it’s a character from the anime I am currently watching. Do you know him? Yep, he’s Sadaharu from Gintama.

Inuyasha

Posted by shiera on May-8-2008

One of the main reasons for my absences from the blogging world is Inuyasha (犬夜叉). Yes, I’m gaga over this anime. The story’s not yet finished but I’m done watching all of the 167 episodes and the 4 movies.

Inuyasha, the main character of this anime, is a hanyou (half-demon, half human). His father was a great warrior and a human-loving demon who died when Inuyasha was still a baby. Later, Inuyasha’s mother died also. As a hanyou, Inuyasha was subjected to discrimination, both from the humans and demons. With the longing to find his place in the world, he sought to be as great as his father.

Then he met and fell in love with Kikyo, a powerful miko (priestess) who guarded the Shikon no Tama (Jewel of the Four Souls/Sacred Jewel). However, Onigumo, who was a paralyzed criminal who was in the care of Kikyo, wanted the Sacred Jewel for himself so he offered his body to a horde of demons. That horde of demons became one and formed Naraku, the main villain of this anime. Naraku then deceived Inuyasha and Kikyo. At that time, Inuyasha and Kikyo agreed to use the Sacred Jewel to turn Inuyasha into human. Naraku took in the form of Inuyasha and tried to kill Kikyo. Because of this, Kikyo went after Inuyasha and fought with him. Inuyasha felt betrayed so he tried to steal the Sacred Jewel. Unfortunately, Kikyo caught up with Inuyasha and sealed him by pinning him with a sacred arrow into the Goshinboku, a tree believed to withstand time. With the fatal injury she got from Naraku, Kikyo died. Before her death, Kikyo ordered Kaede, her younger sister, to burn the Sacred Jewel together with her body.

In the present time (500 years later since Kikyo’s death) , Kagome lived an ordinary 15 year-old schoolgirl life. Her family takes care of the old shrine where the Goshinbuko still stands, and where the Bone Eater’s Well is located. The Bone Eater’s Well connects the present time and the Sengoku period (Inuyasha’s time). One time, Kagome and her brother followed a cat near the Bone Eater’s Well. Kagome fell into the well where a centipede demon attacked her and tried to take the Sacred Jewel which was inside her, while dragging her to the Sengoku period. Trying to escape from the centipede, she came across Inuyasha who had been pinned into the same tree for 50 years. To defeat the centipede, Kagome was left with no choice but to free Inuyasha.

Inuyasha was still determined to get hold of the Sacred Jewel, so to keep him from doing mischiefs, Kaede magically put in the Beads of Subjugation into his neck. With Kagome’s “osuwari” (sit) command, Inuyasha plunges to the ground, pretty much like a dog being forced to sit down.

Then a bird (kind of) demon stole the Sacred Jewel. Trying to retrieve it, Kagome shoot the demon with arrow, killed it, but at the same breaking the Sacred Jewel. Sacred Jewel shards were then scattered, even into the place of the dead. Kagome has the ability to sense a Jewel shard and Inuyasha has the strength to fight, so they teamed up to gather again the jewel shards. In their journey, they met Shippo, a fox demon, Miroku, a cursed monk, and Sango, a demon slayer whose brother was possessed by Naraku. They all have one aim: to find and eliminate Naraku.

I want to enumerate why I love this anime but I think I babbled a lot already. :)

Fullmetal Alchemist

Posted by shiera on Sep-30-2007

Image from Wikipedia
“All is one… One is all”
You’d definitely know what this means if you have watched Fullmetal Alchemist. Yes, it’s an addition to my anime favorites. ^-^

To those who are not familiar with this anime, here’s a brief overview:
(Note: The anime’s story is different from that of the manga’s)
In this anime/manga series, alchemy refers to a technique used to transform one material into another (referred to as a transmutation).

The main protagonists are the Elric brothers, Edward (Ed) and Alphonse (Al). I still don’t know what happened to their father (about 20 episodes more to go ^-^) but their mother died when Ed was 11 and Al was 10 years old. Determined on bringing their mother back to life through alchemy, both became apprentices of an Alchemist (forgot her name).
When they tried to revive their mother, the attempt backfired, resulting in Al losing his body, and Ed his left leg, as well as bringing to life something inhuman. To save Al’s soul, Ed sacrificed his arm and bound Al’s soul in an armor suit. Ed then got himself artificial metal arm and leg. The story focuses on their quest to find the Philosopher’s Stone, a medium that could help them regain their normal bodies.

Sorry, that’s the best introduction I could come up with. I recommend Wikipedia for more details. Better yet, watch the anime… you won’t regret it. ^-^

The fight scenes are great but not as exciting as that of One Piece, Bleach, or Naruto. So, why am I really hooked into this anime? It’s because of brotherly love. ^-^

The bond between Ed and Al is really amazing… and heartwarming. Ed is really bent on protecting his younger brother, and Al wholly trusts Ed. So far, Al never blamed Ed for what happened to him. Of course they have some serious disagreements but the strong bond between them is their ultimate weapon against those who try to harm them.

And I thought animes were just for exaggerated stories and jaw-dropping fight scenes… ^-^