Brandon Varnell's Blog, page 5

Signed Copy of A Fox's Love is being given away!

That's right. I am giving away a signed copy of the new and revamped A Fox's Love. With an improved cover:



A more awesome back cover:


And better grammar:

Her Cupid’s bow lips parted, and from that deliciously shaped mouth came a single word, one laced with so much sweetness that Kevin could’ve sworn he was in an anime; one of those romantic comedies where the female falls in love with the main character at first sight.

It's a fan service-y romantic comedy filled with all of the things that healthy young men and women - and perverted old men and women - enjoy! Get a signed copy of this book by going onto Goodreads while the giveaway is still going!

P.S. Because of how much it costs to ship anything across the sea right now, the giveaway is only happening in the US, Canada, and Mexico. I know. It sucks. Sorry about that.


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Goodreads Book Giveaway A Fox's Love by Brandon Varnell Giveaway ends April 01, 2016.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads. Enter Giveaway

Strike the Blood, Volume 2

Strike the Blood, Vol. 2: From the Warlord's Empire by Gakuto Mikumo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I'd just like to say, starting out, that this light novel series is clearly of the magical harem high school variety. While it never outright says this, you can tell from the way the story progresses. I know that's a turn off for some people, but I enjoyed it. I guess that's because this is one of my guilty pleasure genres.



This story starts off simply enough. It's an average day in the life of one Kojou Akatsuki, who has to deal with Yukina Himeragi, his watcher and a Sword Shaman from the Lion King Agency. Once more, I thought their interactions were very cute. They remind me a lot of a married couple. They bicker and argue, but they also have fun together and feed off each other's personalities. One thing I enjoy is how everyone else seems to see the romance between them, but they're both oblivious.



"How would she get back at a bunch that had deigned to make her work for free."

Of course, while Yukina is an asskicking sweetheart, the true show stealer is definitely Asagi Aiba, a high school student who, in her free time, works as a programmer/hacker for Itogami Island and many franchises stationed there. Known as the Cyber Empress, we learn a lot more about this particular female who seems to like Kojou - though we have yet to learn why she has a thing for him. I am hoping that will eventually be explained.



The series is one that introduces two new characters to the caste, while also bringing back the characters from the last novel; Sayaka Kirasaka and Damitrie Vatler. Both bring a new dynamic to the series. Damirtrie is an ancient vampire who's come to quell the boredom brought on by immortality, and Kirasaka is a War Dancer and Yukina's best friend - who apparently harbors an intense love for Yukina and a hatred for Kojou.

As expected for a light novel series like this, book 2 starts off on a high note and ends on a high note. The writing is decent, a few mistakes here and there. The story is enjoyable, if a little predictable. The characters are fun to read about. And the artwork is nice. I actually think that this series is one of the better illustrated ones. While some might call it simplistic, there's a certain charm to the more basic and professional line art of Manyako. Now, while I wouldn't call this the series of the century, all in all, I felt like it was an entertaining read.

View all my reviews

Food Wars! Anime Review

I am kicking myself in the butt for not reviewing this sooner. I blame it on this anime getting 24 episodes instead of the average 12. Yes, I am in no way responsible for being negligent. Ahem! That aside, the reason I'm so shocked is because Shokugeki no Soma is one of my favorite anime to have hit online streaming sites this season. It has everything that I like in anime - well, almost everything. It has enough things that I love that the other things don't matter.

This anime is ridiculous. It's over the top, epic, and just plain epically hilarious. You wouldn't think that an anime about cooking could be so damn intense - until you watch the first episode of Shokugeki no Soma. This is like taking Hell's Kitchen, mixing it with typical shonen antics, and cranking up the fan service to 9,000. Awesome doesn't begin to cover it. I had so much fun watching this anime, and it's surprisingly educational, too! I've actually tried making some of the dishes they have in this anime, which you can actually look up as the recipes are provided in the manga. Sure, my food doesn't turn out nearly as good looking, and no, I have yet to have anyone orgasm from tasting my food, but that doesn't mean I didn't have a blast. Another enjoyable aspect was how accurate the information found in this anime is, which makes sense, as Yuki Morisaki, a Japanese chef, provided all of the recipes for this series.

Look at this rice omelet. Do you see it? Can see you see the steam as it rises from the surface? You can practically smell the rice and spices mixed in with the omelet, can't you? Doesn't this make you hungry? All of the food in this anime looks gorgeous and tasty, but it isn't just the food. The anime itself is really impressive. The character designs are well thought out, and the animation is really quite pretty. I didn't notice many flubs during animation sequences, which is impressive considering this has a surprising amount of action despite no epic battles taking place - unless one wants to count war with food as epic battles.

One thing I'd like to bring up here is the fan service. It's prevalent in this anime. Very prevalent. While some people might be turned off by this, I thought it was hilarious. It gives the "Oh, my God! This food is so freaking good!" aspect of the show a whole new meaning. Watching people as they burst out, moaning about how good something is as their clothing randomly bursts into fabric particles never failed to crack me up. Just so you all know, if Hell's Kitchen had this sort of fan service in it, I'd have started watching it ages ago!

The fan service is also very gender equal. For anyone who's going to complain about this show being sexist because women get naked, I'll tell you right now, men also get naked. One of the ways this show avoids not only becoming a cliche, but also avoiding the typical problems that stem from fan service, is how both men and women seem to suffer from food-gasms every time they eat. By doing this, it lets you know that, no, the fan service isn't just here to give horny teenage boys something to fap to. There's a reason for it - the over the top humor that makes this series so funny. This is a series that gets its rocks off by presenting over the top, extremely exaggerated, fan service-y humor, and the way that service is presented is surprisingly original. There's no "accidental boob grabbing" here. I find that refreshing.

Artwork: 10/10
Animation: 8.5/10
Sound: 10/10
Characters: 9/10
Story: 9/10
Personal Enjoyment: 10/10
Total: 9.4/10

The New Chapter 1 for A Fox's Love

Yes! It is the new, improved, revamped version of A Fox's Love! For those of you who've bought A Fox's Love on kindle, you can upgrade your current version for free! If you bought this on paperback, then you can download the kindle version for Free! I'm not gonna have you pay for something that you already bought. Now, please read on, and I hope you enjoy the improved version of A Fox's Love!Chapter 1
Paper Route
Have you ever experienced one of those life-changing instances? An event so momentous that, years later, you’re still marveling at how it changed your life?

Kevin sat there, on the floor, his hands behind his back, acting as support so he didn’t fall over. He stared up at the person before him, dazed, shocked, and on the verge of freaking out.

She stared down at him from beneath a curtain of shimmering hair. It was reminiscent of fire. A vibrant red that glistened in the afternoon sun. Beautiful. That was the only word he could think of, yet even that word seemed incapable of truly describing the gloriousness of her hair—or, indeed, of describing her at all.

I had one of those. It happened a while ago. Even to this day, through all the changes that have happened, through all the experiences that I’ve been through, I still can’t believe how this one moment changed my life forever.

Her appearance would have made angels rage in jealousy. It wasn’t just her hair, which was long enough to descend past her thighs. Vibrant emerald eyes gazed upon him with a joy that took his breath away. Lush red lips, the kind that any hot-blooded male would have loved to claim with a kiss, curved in delight, making his arms wobble. Her body, which seemed to have been crafted by the devil himself to represent lust, threatened to steal Kevin of his consciousness.

No matter what came after, our first meeting is something that I’ll always remember.

Her Cupid’s bow lips parted, and from that deliciously shaped mouth came a single word, one laced with so much sweetness that Kevin could’ve sworn he was in an anime; one of those romantic comedies where the female falls in love with the main character at first sight.

Especially since, at the beginning of this tale, I thought she was nothing but an ordinary fox with, unordinarily enough, two bushy red tails.

“Beloved…”

Life; it hits you when you least expect it to.

***
The Swift residence was situated inside of the Le Monte apartment complex located in Phoenix, Arizona.

It was a nice place to live, all things considered. It wasn’t very ritzy, but the grass was green, there were two well-maintained swimming pools—among other amenities—and all of the apartment buildings were clean, modern structures with red roofing and white stucco walls. There were definitely worse places to live.

The apartment belonging to the Swifts was modest in size, possessed two-bedrooms and two-bathrooms, contained a moderately sized kitchen connected to a living room, and an office near the master bedroom. Despite not being very large, it had all the comforts one would expect to find in a well-loved home.

Lining the walls were pictures within frames of various sizes and styles. The images were of a pretty young woman who didn’t look a day over twenty, and a boy who grew throughout each picture. In one, he was a small baby that looked like a tiny ball of fat and pudge, as all babies do. In another, he was a young boy no older than one with a head full of peach-fuzz hair. In another, he was a preteen with short, spiky hair and a large grin, holding a soccer ball in his hands while standing next to an equally grinning girl with boyishly short blond hair. All of the pictures showed the boy as he grew up, and the young-looking woman, who was obviously the boy’s mother.

The apartment was mostly empty of inhabitants, save for one bedroom where the boy in the pictures peacefully slept―

BEEP!

BEEP!

BEEP!

BE—CRUNCH!

―Or at least, where he was sleeping, until the alarm clock went off, ruining a wonderful dream. Couldn’t it have beeped just ten seconds later? He had been just about to share a romantic kiss with Lindsay!

Blearily sitting up in bed, and pulling his hand off the now abused alarm clock, Kevin Swift blinked weary blue eyes, striving to come to terms with the fact that he was now awake. He ran a hand through his tousled, medium-length, light blond hair, brushing several stray bangs out of his eyes. As his mind became more alert, he absentmindedly stared around his room.

It was a pretty average room for a 15-year-old boy. Lining the walls were posters of all his favorite bands and sports teams, along with a number of posters showcasing his favorite anime and manga characters like Lala Satalin Deviluke, Erza Scarlet, Spike Spiegel, and Train Heartnet. Sitting against the wall was a large book shelf, which was filled from top to bottom with his favorite anime and manga.

Surprisingly enough, there were no pictures of bikini models, hot actresses, or half naked women in his room. That they weren’t sharing Kevin’s bedroom was because of his innate shyness when it came to women. To put it simply, he couldn’t talk to girls to save his life. Any time a girl came up to him, he would freeze, his mouth unable to move, and his mind unable to think. It was an affliction that affected him in more ways than one, and it was the main reason that he still couldn’t ask Lindsay Diane on a date, despite the years they’d known each other.

Thinking on it, Kevin believed that the reason he couldn’t talk to women was because he’d watched one too many shōnen love comedies?

After taking a shower and getting dressed, Kevin made a breakfast of eggs, toast and a glass of milk. Upon finishing, he placed the dishes in the sink and brushed his teeth. Once he finished his ritual, he was awake and raring to go.

Stepping out of the apartment he shared with his mother, who was currently in France for her job, Kevin locked the door and walked over to his bike.

It was one of the nicer cruisers, which had cost him a good deal of money to buy, but he considered it an investment. When out on the road, comfort was of paramount importance. The last thing he wanted was for his butt to fall asleep while on the job.

He undid the padlock, grabbed the bike, rolled it down the stairs, then took off, pedaling his way out of Le Monte apartment complex and onto the main street.

As he rode in the bike lane on the left side of the road, Kevin mused that even in the wee hours of the morning, it was still hot as hell in this state. Seriously, Arizona had to be the hottest place in the United States, especially during the summer.

Well, technically summer was nearing its end. Just a little less than two weeks and it would be September, but Kevin had never been one to bother with such semantics. It certainly wouldn’t stop him from complaining.

Mentally complaining about the heat, he continued to pedal down the bike lane, all the way to his job.

Kevin’s job was delivering the morning newspapers to the houses along his route. He didn’t like relying on his mom for money, especially since she was rarely ever home. He had started doing this two summers ago, when he was in eighth grade, and had decided to continue doing so after he entered high school.

Since summer was almost over, he would only be delivering the Sunday morning newspaper. He just didn’t have time on weekdays now that he had school, homework, and after school activities. It meant he would make less money, but at least he would still make something, so he couldn’t complain too much.

The newspaper building wasn’t much to look at. It was just a moderately-sized, one-story, rectangular building composed of drab gray bricks and a flat roof. It looked boring, and the manager who owned it wasn’t much better. Actually, Kevin preferred looking at the building as opposed to the manager. Thankfully, the big boss wouldn’t be there this early in the morning. Kevin supposed there was some kind of silver lining to that, but he couldn’t see it.

Jerk gets to sleep in while I’m stuck riding in this heat.

Kevin didn’t bother locking up his bike. He set it against next to the front door, which he then unlocked with the key he’d been given.

When Kevin first started this job, the manager had actually woken up every morning to unlock the door. He would then proceed to watch Kevin like a hawk, while a young Kevin loaded newspapers onto his bike. It had actually been pretty creepy, being watched like that. After nearly six months of this treatment, the manager finally decided that he didn’t need to show up every morning and gave him a key to get in.

Kevin found his papers sitting by the front door, as usual. The box was heavy, but he managed to lift and carry it to his bike. He had grown pretty strong since he had started. Back then, he’d been forced to make six trips, which had totally sucked.

Once all of the newspapers were on his bike, Kevin was off to do his newspaper run.

The paper route he took had him traveling through two different neighborhoods. All the houses were large and nice and imposing in their ostentatious magnificence. Many of them were two-story homes with white plaster walls and red-tiled roofs. The front lawns were all manicured to perfection, with neatly trimmed hedges, perfectly cut trees, and a large variety of cacti. From time to time, Kevin would see expensive cars parked in front of garages.

He shook his head at the wasteful use of money. Maybe it was his mom’s influence, but he just didn’t see the point in buying such extravagant vehicles. They looked nice, sure, but they cost more than they were worth, especially since most of them were custom models that required constant maintenance to keep them at peak performance.

The trip through both neighborhoods took him a little over two hours. By the time he got back to the newspaper distribution building, it was around 4:30 a.m..

He probably could have finished sooner, but Kevin had decided to make a game of trying to hit cars with a newspaper. More often than not, he failed. Kevin wasn’t a basketball or baseball player. He had no talent in throwing anything unless it was a Frisbee, and even then, he couldn’t do so very well.

Kevin re-parked his bike by the front door, went inside, and headed down the first hall on the left. He didn’t have to walk far. The hall was short, and the room he needed to enter was the first door on the right.

The room was a standard office. It contained all the items that were expected of an office: A desk, a chair, and a file maintenance cabinet. This particular office was very spartan, possessing only the bare necessities and nothing else, not even a single picture hung from the walls. There was nothing in this room to indicate that it was being used—other than the large stack of papers sitting on the desk.

Well, that, and the very large man sitting behind the desk. And by large, Kevin didn’t just mean big. He meant gargantuan, like sumo wrestler large. Kevin wouldn’t have been surprised to learn that this man had been a sumo wrestler at one point in his life. He was that big.

The man in question was his boss, Davin Monstrang. He was a beefy man, with a head of short brown hair, two small brown eyes, and a girth that made it look like he could eat six cows and still be hungry. He had no neck, somewhere around ten chins, and fat that practically rolled out of his ugly, khaki colored, button-up shirt.

“I finished my newspaper route,” Kevin informed the man.

Davin grunted, still not looking up from whatever paper he was working on. “And I suppose you want your paycheck?”

“Yes.”

Another grunt was the answer he received. Davin wasn’t one for words.

The chair creaked ominously as Davin rolled it away from his desk. Kevin actually wondered how long the chair had before it broke under the strain of keeping that man seated. Rummaging through his drawers, his boss eventually pulled out an envelope and slapped it onto the desk, which shook from the force.

“Here. Try not to spend it in all one place, brat.”

Kevin resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the man. Even after all this time, his boss still seemed to think the worst of him. He wasn’t like those spoiled rich kids, who spent their money frivolously on extravagant garbage he didn’t need…

… Okay, so maybe he didn’t need all those anime, and perhaps the 600 volumes of manga he’d collected was excessive. But, at least he didn’t spend it on drugs like a lot of kids at his school did. Surely, that had to count for something.

Grabbing his paycheck off the desk, Kevin thanked Davin and hurriedly left. He didn’t enjoy being in his boss’s presence any longer than necessary.

It was all that fat. Whenever the man moved, his fat seemed to come alive. It made Kevin feel like he was staring at some kind of eldritch horror that might eat him if he stayed too long.

HP Lovecraft has nothing on those fat rolls.

Grabbing his bike, Kevin was just about to leave when a noise caught his attention. It was muffled and difficult to make out, but he would recognize that sound anywhere.

That’s the whimper of a pained animal!

His eyes widened.

Kevin had two weaknesses, one well-known, the other not so much. The first was a weakness towards women, which everyone and their mother knew about, and all of his friends endlessly teased him about.

His second weakness, one known only to his best friend and crush, was his love for—no, his obsession with—animals. Kevin had loved animals ever since his mom had first taken him to the zoo when he was five. He’d gone into the petting pen and played with all the animals there. They seemed to like him, unlike some of the other kids who’d been bitten, and he’d had a great time. That had been the start of his animal obsession, which rivaled his anime obsession.

Back when he was younger, he would occasionally bring strays or even wild animals home with him. It had caused a lot of problems with the people in charge because of the apartment complex’s no pet policy. After he’d brought home an injured bobcat cub, his mom had put her foot down and made him promise to stop bringing animals home.

Since then, he hadn’t brought a single animal into the apartment—except for this one time when he’d found a stray cat. He hadn’t been able to help himself then. It had just been too cute!

I should go. I should just grab my bike and leave.

His mom would be upset if he brought an animal home.

That’s right. Just ignore the sound, Kevin. You don’t want to cause anymore trouble.

Another whimper resounded out. Maybe it was merely his imagination, but it sounded almost like whatever made it knew he was there.

Oooh! I can’t do this! It sounds like it’s hurt!

His decision made, Kevin rushed around the corner of the building, which was where the whimpers were coming from.

He stopped.

His eyes widened.

“Oh-my-gosh-its-a-fox!”

Kevin squealed in a manner that was eerily reminiscent of a fangirl who had just bumped into her favorite pop idol. Of course, there was no pop idol here. However, lying near the dumpster was something far cooler.

It was a fox with bright red fur.

Less than a second after letting loose with his “inner fangirl,” Kevin slapped a hand over his mouth.

Idiot! What the heck is wrong with you? Squealing like some kind of prepubescent little girl?

Worse still, he had squealed in front of a fox! It was a well-established fact that foxes didn’t like humans! They shied away from human contact and would bite whatever frightened them!

If he wanted to have any hope of even getting near it, much less petting it, then he would need to be quiet. Quieter than Elmer Fudd when he was “hunting wabbits” quiet.

Luckily, the fox didn’t seem to have heard him. It hadn’t even moved from where it lay.

Calming himself down, Kevin prepared to sneak up on the fox. He would become one with his surroundings. He would blend in with the shadows. He would be like a shinobi.

Nin nin.

Making a weird sign that looked like a cross with his fingers, Kevin slowly creeped toward the fox. As he did, he wondered how it got into the city. There were foxes in Arizona, of course, but they all lived in the desert, far away from any human habitat.

Although, with the recent expansion of city limits, the fox’s natural habitat was getting smaller. Maybe it had been forced to come here because it had nowhere else to go? Kevin scowled at the thought. No one seemed to care about how people were destroying the natural habitat of animals like this fox anymore.



As he neared the creature, he observed its appearance. The fox was very small, nothing more than a tiny kit that could easily fit in the crook of his arms. It had a flattened skull, upright triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned muzzle, and red fur that looked like an ardent flame.

He recognized the species, a red fox, which was the most common type of fox. Strange, he didn’t think red foxes lived near Phoenix. Their habitat was supposed to be the northeastern portion of the state, up in Flagstaff.

As he neared the fox, Kevin saw something else that was unusual. It had more than one tail. Lying limply behind the tiny critter were two bushy red fox tails with white tips.

How unusual. Kevin had never seen a fox with two tails before. He was pretty sure that foxes weren’t supposed to have more than one tail.

Could it be a government experiment?

He couldn’t see why the government would experiment on a fox to give it two tails, but there were always conspiracy theories about the government committing inhumane experiments on humans. Why couldn’t they do one on a fox as well?

Another whimper escaped from the fox’s mouth, and Kevin remembered that it was injured. Also, while he hadn’t noticed before because its fur was so red, a more in depth observation caused him to notice that a portion of its thick fur was slick and shiny, like someone had splashed liquid on it. It was most definitely blood.

Now that he noticed it was injured, he also saw the expanding pool of blood underneath it, along with the carnelian trail that showed it had dragged itself to this spot before collapsing.

Kevin dropped all sense of subtlety and sneakiness and rushed toward the fox. It must have been horribly injured not to notice his approach. Foxes were supposed to possess keen senses. Even injured, he would have expected it to try to run away the moment he made too much noise.

Kneeling beside the injured animal, Kevin realized why it hadn’t run away from him. It was unconscious. Growing even more concerned, Kevin gently scooped the small fox into his arms and stood up. A small whimper escaped from the tiny animal as the movement jostled its wounds.

“Sorry,” Kevin whispered, even though he knew the fox couldn’t hear him.

He rushed back to his bike and, after a moment’s thought, divested himself of his shirt and used it as a makeshift pillow for the fox.

Placing the fox into the basket along with his shirt, Kevin took off toward his apartment, his thoughts focused solely on helping the small creature suffering in front of him.
If you haven't bought A Fox's Love and are interested, then please click on this link!

Blood Lad Manga Review!

Blood Lad Omnibus, Vol. 1 by Yuuki Kodama
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

My review as of chapter 63.

Blood Lad is the story of an otaku vampire, and it is awesome! America can keep their sparkly vampires and shirtless werewolves. I'll take Staz over those losers any day of the week! This manga is one of the most entertaining that I've read in a while. There's so much about it that's pure awesome! It's got:

Otaku Vampires!



A big-breasted human-turned-ghost!



Super Epic Battles!



Romance!



Bunny Girls?! O.o



In all seriousness, this is one of the few manga that has a combination of all the things that I like, where none of the aspects are overbearing. It's humerus, action-packed, romantic, and mildly fanservice-y. If you're looking for a good diversion to get yourself through the day, look no further!

View all my reviews

Monster Musme Manga Review

Monster Musume Vol. 1 by OKAYADO
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

My thoughts as of chapter 38.

Monster Musume is an NYC best seller, and while this manga is not for everyone, I can say that I have enjoyed the series so far. This is why:

Interesting character design



It's funny



Characters may be trope-y, but that's why we like them!



Miia is adorable



Rachnera is a badass



No, this manga is not for everybody. Yes, this manga has a lot of fan service and nudity. If that turns you off, then that is fine. However, for those who like this particular genre, it won't disappoint you. It has all of the aspects about the harem genre that people who are into it will like, and it spices things up in ways that keep it interesting.

View all my reviews

Shimoneta

Before we start, please note that everything written in this post are my own thoughts and opinions. You neither have to agree nor approve. I normally don't do this, but due to the oddly political and societal nature of this anime, I felt adding this little addendum up top was important.

Shimoneta, known in English as A World Where the Concept of Dirty Jokes Doesn't Exist, is an anime that will have parents up in arms. This anime, which is set in a dystopian Japan that has brainwashed the masses into believing that dirty jokes and sexual arousal is wrong, has managed to take a rather serious issue and turn it into a joke - a very funny joke that makes me shit bricks because I laughed so hard.

The story starts off with our main character, Okuma, journeying on a train and nearly being arrested by the purity police (patent pending) for stopping a woman who was trying to exploit someone for money by using the no-lewd acts policy. He is then rescued by Blue Tundra, who later in the series is called Blue Snow. Blue Tundra is a woman who hides her face behind a mask... which is actually just a pair of panties. Yes, this chick where's panties on her head. She also wears a cloak... and nothing else. We never see it, but she is apparently butt naked underneath that cloak. Through a series of highly unusual events that are filled with absurdly lewd dialogue and sexual references, Okuma becomes a terrorist alongside Blue Tundra to fight against the evil government who's banned everything dirty.

"What's the point of dirty jokes anyway if they aren't 'wrong'? They're appealing *because* they are wrong. They excite us *because* we have to be secretive. Because they're devilish, they shine. Because they're twisted, they entice us. That is why I vowed to become the 'devil' to crush this boring world where the concept of dirty jokes does not exist!" – Kajou Ayame.

This quote here defines the series. While this show is hilarious, stupid, dumber than the dumbest American slapstick ever conceived, it is also surprisingly witty. I'll be honest here, I think dirty jokes are hilarious. It's like how children always laugh at fart jokes. Are they wrong? Maybe. I'm not here to debate the morality of jokes and sexual innuendo, but I would like to state, for the record, I don't think there's anything wrong with dirty jokes. While they certainly aren't for everyone, people shouldn't feel ashamed of enjoying a good dirty joke either, which is really what this series is all about.
There's also a hidden message here, which is that you shouldn't be ashamed of your own sexual desires. I'm not one for talking about politics, religion, and morals. However, I do feel like this is a good message. Since this anime doesn't take itself seriously, like, at all, the message it tells is mired in humor, but I think it's one that people can learn from. I know so many teenagers and younger people who are ashamed of their own feelings because parents and other people tell them that being aroused is wrong. You go on facebook and read some of the stuff written, and it really is kind of appalling. While the message in here applies to Japan more than other countries - Japan is currently going through a recession and birthrates have hit an all time low because people in Japan are no longer interested in procreation - I think everyone can take a bit of a lesson in accepting the parts of others that people might find shameful.
Political and message machinations aside, this story isn't much more than that. In fact, I'm almost positive that the director was so caught up in delivering his message that he forgot to properly develop his characters and story. While the series is funny, the characters in it suck - and not in a sexual innuendo kind of way. They're just bad. Underdeveloped. If this anime was lacking in anyway, I think it would be the main characters, who often have a very flat feel to them. You could have replaced these two with anybody else, and it would have been very close to the same anime that it is now. Oddly enough, I feel like Anna, the sort of antagonist of this series, got way more development than either of the main characters - even if that development consisted of her going full yandere and becoming an insane nymphomaniac. And like the characters, the story is also lacking. Again, I feel like the director became caught in the relaying of his "people shouldn't feel ashamed of dirty jokes" message that he forgot to further his plot. This is supposed to be about a couple high school kids fighting against a massive government... so why have we not seen any of that in this anime? The government barely gets any time in this, and it feels more like this anime is about Okuma trying to halt Anna's yandere sexual advances.
So, to put this series into perspective, while I personally thought it was funny, I would not recommend this to everyone. If you are easily offended, then you should not watch this anime. However, if you do appreciate a good dirty joke and don't mind absurd amounts of lewdness, then I'd recommend watching this series.
Artwork: 7/10
Animation: 8/10
Sound: 9/10
Characters: 5/10
Story: 6/10
Personal Enjoyment: 7/10
Total: 7/10

My Plans for the 2016 Anime Expo

I just bought a premiere pass for Anime Expo 2016, which is located in Los Angeles, California. The Anime Expo starts on July 1st and goes on through the 4th. Since I bought a 4-day premiere pass, I plan on staying for the entire duration of the expo.

For those of us who have been to conventions, we all know how places like this are. Packed full of people. Cosplayers left and right. Exhibition halls filled with awesome artwork. Panels. Booths. Concerts. Events. The works. Anime Expo is like that and more. For a fan of anime, going here is like stepping into the halls of heaven - if heaven was filled with a bunch of chicks dressed in skimpy cosplay. While calling this place heaven might be misleading - there are no golden toilets here, after all - it doesn't change the fact that the Anime Expo is the largest anime convention in the USA. While I've been to Phoenix Comicon, this will be my first time traveling to a convention outside of Arizona, and it will be the largest convention that I've ever gone to. I'm excited and nervous at the same time.

However, while I fully intend on enjoying myself here, I'm not just going to Anime Expo for fun, games, and looking at sexy women in cosplay. I would have bought a simple 4-day pass for that instead of the premiere pass. No, my reason for want to go to the Anime Expo is much deeper. The panels. For those of you who've been to a comicon, you'll know that there are panels where famous people, artists, authors, animators, movie directors, etc. etc., talk about their plans and what they want to do. I want to get into one of these panels and speak directly with someone who works in the anime industry. The premiere pass grants me early access to panels, and I plan on abusing that ability to get into a panel early and hopefully speaking with people who work in the anime industry. The reason I want to do that is simple. I'm hoping to figure out what I need to do to turn the American Kitsune series into an animated series.

It shouldn't come as a surprise, but many anime have been adapted from light novels. The Irregular at Magical High School, A Certain Magical Index, Absolute Duo, Toradora, Baka and Test, The Pet Girl of Sakurasou, The Devil is a Part-Timer. Even as far back as the late 80s and early 90s, there have been numerous anime that were originally light novels. Some of you might know of the anime Slayers - a series about a powerful sorceress named Lina Inverse and the crazy shenanigans that she gets into. Yeah, that was a light novel before it became an anime. What about Vampire Hunter D? It's a tale that follows D, a dhampir who travels across a post-nuclear Earth. Technically speaking, it's a novel series and not a light novel series, but even so, it's a 26 volume book series that eventually got its own anime adaptation. While a lot of anime snobs complain about light novel adaptations, the fact is that adaptations based on light novels have been around for decades. While some of these anime haven't been very good (some people can debate that Infinite Stratos was a good anime, but I have never liked it or Maken-Ki), the same can be said for every anime, whether it was adapted from a light novel, a manga, or is an original animated series. Good and bad is not conducive to the source material, but to how well the anime was directed.

I'm sure some people will make fun of me for wanting to turn my book series into an animated series, but I think there's a lot of potential to make this a good anime. American Kitsune is like a parody of all the anime that you've ever seen. If I had to say what sort of anime this would be, I'd say it would be like taking Gintama and combining it with To Love Ru and Rosario+Vampire. Much like Gintama, this series parodies many other anime, but it still maintains it's own unique story. Like To Love Ru, it is filled with fanservice and slapstick humor - and boobs. Lots and Lots of boobs. And, just like the Rosario+Vampire manga, the story evolves, taking a stereotypical protagonist and slowly developing him into someone who isn't quite so stereotypical of the shonen harem series.






Also, for those of who you who are going to tell me that Tsukune Aono is a pansy, please read the manga. While anime Tsukune is, indeed, a pansy of epic proportions, manga Tsukune becomes a Badass with a capital B. The second season of the manga is so much more incredible than season 2 of the anime that I have honestly tried my best to erase the anime from my brain. I'm honestly disappointed in how the anime butchered their second season, turning what should have been an epic battle between Tsukune and his girls versus Fairy Tale into a boring comedy that re-used the same jokes from season 1. I might have enjoyed the first season, but that doesn't mean what worked in season 1 will work in season 2.







Anyway, there you have it. I'll be going to the Anime Expo this year. I don't know if I'll dress up yet, but since I'm gonna be there for four days, I'm thinking that I probably should cosplay at least once. If anyone is going to be heading there as well, drop me a line. Maybe we'll see each other!

K Return of Kings

A part of me is beating myself up for not doing a review of K Missing Kings sooner. I loved the first season, K Project, and was super excited when we learned that there would be another season. However, I think the biggest reason that I wasn't as enamored with the idea of writing a review was because I didn't want to write anything bad, and, most unfortunately, I have mostly bad things to say about Missing Kings.

The first issue with the series is the distinct drop in animation quality. While still better than the vast majority of anime, anyone who's seen K Project will be able to tell that the animation in Missing Kings is nothing compared to the original. Where once there had been seamless animations that combined 2D and 3D artwork, now you can actually see the difference. Where before, the fight scenes showed flawlessly smooth animated transitions that allowed us to really see the flow of combat, now a good majority of the fights seem almost half-assed. The production quality of Missing Kings dropped considerably, and in an anime like this, where we expect beautifully made animations due to their previous history of excellence, seeing such a hefty decline is disappointing.

The second issue that I had are with its characters. K Project's first season focused heavily on developing the dynamic between its three main protagonists; Shiro, Neko, and Kuroh. While it still showed us enough of the other characters to give us a good sense of who they are, these three were the primary focus, which thereby made them the most likable and relatable characters of the season. Unfortunately, it looks like GoHands has decided to ignore all of the developing they did of these three in favor of introducing a whole new cast of characters and focusing on K Project's side characters. This was my biggest disappointment. I was expecting to see the awesome dynamic between these three come back into play, but they only had a few scenes in the entire season. Instead of the humorous and heartfelt moments with them, we were introduced to a whole slew of new characters that never got enough development for me to even care about them.

My last issue was shoving aside good character development for fanservice. Now, I like fanservice. I really do. There's a reason the harem genre is my guilty pleasure anime. However, I dislike it when an anime has fanservice for fanservice's sake, especially when it means that none of the characters are going to be properly developed because the director decided that making these boobs bounce and jiggle was more important. Season 1 had great fanservice. It wasn't absurd and it didn't detract from the story. The fanservice in season 2 is just obscene, and it does detract from the story. Sometimes I would be pulled straight out of a serious because a serious moment filled with tension was suddenly derailed by a pair of boobs being shoved into my face, or because the blond chick suddenly leaned over and we're given a panty shot for no reason.

Now, despite my complaints, I did still enjoy season 2, but I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as season 1. I guess I raised my expectations to be too high. I was expecting an anime with the same or better quality than the first season, with an amazing plot and a return of my favorite trio. What I got was an okay anime with better than average animation and way too many side characters.

Artwork: 9/10
Animation: 9/10
Sound: 10/10
Characters: 3/10
Story: 5/10
Personal Enjoyment: 5/10
Total: 6.8/10

A Certain Magical Index Review, Volume 5

A Certain Magical Index, Vol. 5 by Kazuma Kamachi
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

What is there to say about A Certain Magical Index, Volume 5? Well, I liked it, but I didn't like it as much as the other books of the series. I think that's because this particular series felt a little out of touch with the other stories. It didn't seem as linear. However, that doesn't mean that this wasn't an enjoyable tale.

This volume is split between two separate stories. One is about Accelerator, the strongest level five esper of Academy City. The other is about our resident Happless Hero, Toma Kamijou. These two stories don't intersect at all, and so it's almost like having two different stories combined into one volume. Of course, each story is really short, so even though this is two stories, they only last about two chapters each.



So, first things first, Accelerator is one of the most badass anti-heroes of all time. I've always liked anti-heroes, and this dude is quite possibly the physical embodiment of anti-heroism. In this volume, we learn a lot about his background, and while I don't think it condones what he did in the previous volume (no spoilers for those who haven't read it), I do think it allows us some insight into his psyche, which helps us understand why he did what he did.

We also get to see a softer side of Accelerator in this volume. In Volume 5, he meets a young girl called Last Order... yes, it's an odd name, but if you read the story, it'll make sense. Anyway, Last Order is the annoying little sister type of girl who jabbers on and on. In it, Accelerator seems really annoyed by her, but at the same time, I feel like he enjoys her company - after all, she's still alive.

Accelerator's side of this story seems to be about redemption beyond anything else. While I don't necessarily think Accelerator was redeemed by any means, I do think that the insight we're given, and the actions he takes in this volume, show off that he's not really a bad person - just batshit insane.



The second person this story follows is, of course, our resident hero, Touma Kamijou. I didn't like this side of the story as much. I think the reason for this is because Touma's story felt a lot like filler. There didn't seem to be any purpose to this story other than to have Touma in it because he's the main character. He was simply there to fill in the extra space, not because he was doing anything particularly important.

Overall, while I have to say that I did, indeed, like this volume, and there were many good aspects about it, I didn't enjoy it as much as previous volumes. However, I believe the next volume will be better, since we're getting back to the main story.

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