Anime Review 1-24-19

I realized it's been a while since I talked about the shows I watched, and since I started subscribing to Crunchyroll, I've beeen watching a lot of anime, so I thought I would start there, at least with a couple of things I am watching.

First, there is Bleach. *****POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD*** My daughter Sarah and my friend Angela are both huge fans of the series

Bleach is about a young man named Ichigo, who accidentally becomes a Soul Reaper, thanks to a girl named Rukia. I just watched episode 23, so I have quite a ways to go. Ichigo lives with his father and two sisters, Karin and Yuzu, who run a clinic. Ichigo has the ability to see the dead, but becoming a Soul Reaper takes that to an all new level. Besides Ichigo and Rukia, there are a lot of interesting characters, including Orihime, Chad, Uruhara, Ishida, and a cat named Yoruichi, among others. The interesting thing about this anime is that just when you've decided someone is a real asshole, something happens to change your mind. In other words, character development!

I thought Ishida was a real dick. He's a Quincy, and although his goals are similar to Soul Reapers,

the results are not the same, and he holds a grudge against all Soul Reapers. He even tries to destroy Ichigo because he's such a fanatic.
But as I said, what you see isn't always what you get, and he's not such a bad guy. I should have known that when I found out Sarah likes him lol

Another very interesting character is Uruhara. He is a seemingly harmless shopkeeper who sells things to the Soul Society. But don't let that mild-mannered exterior fool you. He has a knack for appearing when he's needed, in the thick of things, and he knows far more than he is letting on, I have a feeling. The first time I saw him I recognized his hat - Sarah has one, and also his robe. In recent developments, Rukia was taken back to the Soul Society by her brother and his henchman for alleged crimes against the Soul Society, and is awaiting execution. Not content to let that happen, Ichigo and his friends have set out to rescue her. But before they could go, Uruhara spent some time training Ichigo, and that was a close call, as he almost became a Hollow. Hollows are demons who possess the dead and are very harmful. That's who the Soul Reapers fight against. Of course, Ichigo succeeded, becoming even stronger in the process.Rescuing Rukia won't be easy, but in the meantime, Ichigo and his friends are meeting some interesting people, such as Jidanbo, the huge man who is the guardian of the gate, and Ganju and his friends, boar-riding punks. Yeah, I said boar-riding.

This is a fun series. I watch one episode a day, and should be done first day of 2020.

Another anime I love and am now caught up on, sadly, until the new season later this year, is Food Wars. ****SPOILERS AHEAD*** Soma Yukihira lives with his dad Joichiro and works in the Yukihira family diner. As the series starts, Soma saves the diner, in his father's absence, from people trying to close it down, only to have his father announce on his return that he is closing the diner for two or three years and traveling. In the meantime, he is sending Soma to school - none other than the famous Totsuki culinary school! 

Soma is a very unconventional and most excellent chef, taking after his father. The two of them have had shokugeki, or food wars, for years in which they battle each other, each making a dish and seeing whose is best. So far, Soma has lost every time. But he never gives up and he never loses his enthusiasm for the challenge.

Upon entering Totsuki - late, which is usual for Soma - he immediately butts heads with Erina Nakiri, the granddaughter of the head of the school. Erina is known for her God tongue. From an early age, she has had an incredible palate, and even now is in great demand for her talents. She tries to have Soma eliminated, but Fate has other ideas, with a little assistance from Senzaemon Nakiri. Apparently, Totsuki is a very difficult school, and less than half of the students ever graduate! In fact, sometimes, students are expelled after losing a challenge!

Soma finds himself a resident of Polaris House, which is an unusual place filled with unusual students. Soma has to pass a challenge to even earn the right to stay there. But he really fits in, and we later learn this is the house where his father stayed, while a student there. Soma makes some great friends, such as Megumi and Isshki (who is known for his habit of wearing nothing but an apron around the house, and sometimes not that), Marui, Ibusaki, Yuki, Ryoko and more.

I don't want to give too much away, but the gist of the story revolves around the food wars, and the various food battles. Be prepared to become hungry watching these, as they do go into detail about food and its preparation, and these dishes look fabulous! (except for some of the horrible mishmashes Soma and his dad cook up, but that's another story lol)

There is a definite class structure at Totsuki, and the Polaris Star house is not considered very greatly. Also, there are the Elite Ten - the top ten students of the school. They have certain privileges, as well as a certain amount of authority, which you'll discover. Erina is one of these, and so is Isshki.

I highly recommend this anime, but keep a couple of things in mind, in case this isn't your cup of tea. Whenever the judges eat food that is remarkable, they have a tendency to lose their clothes, which brings all new meaning to food-gasm! No, you don't really see anything  explicit. The second thing is that the artist does like women with big breasts, and you get a lot of fanservice. Not my taste, but I put up with it for the rest of the story, which is phenomenal. I am also reading the manga, which is great, but now I'm caught up and waiting for the next volume to come out.

These animes are both available on Crunchyroll. You can watch them for free, and put up with the commercials, or you can pay $6.95 a month and be commercial free. I find it's worth the small free not to watch the commercials.

That's all for now, hope to do this more often. Hope you enjoyed this!  Have a great day!

Countdown to KawaKon

You may have noticed something new on my blog - the counter on the left hand side.  Hard to miss, isn't it, all red and sparkly and dazzly and full of numbers, right? Countdown to KawaKon, it says. Some of you might be scratching  your head and wondering - what is KawaKon? Well, I'm glad you asked!

KawaKon is an annual convention held here in St. Louis celebrating anime and Japanese culture primarily, but not limited to those topics. This will be our third year having the convention, my second year with it. The convention is being held March 11-13, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Clayton. It's a really nice hotel.

Here's the entrance to the front of the hotel, the entrance to the parking garage is on the right, just out of camera range. It has a large parking garage.

Here is the lobby and registration. If you look down the left side of the picture, at the very end, you can see where the KawaKon registration will be. That's where you'll find me!  :)








This year our voice guest of honor is Quinton Flynn - he's the voice of Johnny Quest, Raiden from Metal Gear Solid, Kon from Bleach and more. Besides a voice guest, we have artist guests and a musical guest. Three River Okiya is back as well, such lovely ladies!  Every year there is a masquerade, always on Saturday, which is very popular and very well attended. Kelly is in charge of that again - she's a super lady who is great at everything, and very talented.  Our whole staff is great, and very eager to please and to make sure that our guests have a great and a safe time at the convention.

Our con chairs are a very lovely couple - Mikhail and Katrina Lynn.  They are experienced in running conventions; besides this one, they are responsible for BishieCon, a boys love convention also here, and a flash Harry Potter convention which will be in July, I believe, and in 2012 they will offer the first Ghostbuster convention - EctoCon. Busy people and quite wonderful!

Besides the Masquerade, quite a number of panels have been prepared on a variety of topics.  Here, check out the website:  http://www.kawakon.com/

There is a Fanfiction contest, and an AMV contest, a Swap Meet for those who want to trade their stuff for something else, a ball-jointed doll tea party, a date auction and a rave. On Saturday night is a ball brought to you by Ciel Phantomhive,  There will be a Host Club party, Whose Line is it Anime, Karaoke - and more!

Friday night, for those of you who like to stay up late, we're showing Repo! the Genetic Opera in which much fun will be had and much music sung and things I can't tell you about.  On Saturday night, it's the classic Rocky Horror Picture Show! The showing of the film will be preceded by a Virgin Sacrifice! Audience participation for this event is mandatory - everyone must dance the Time Warp! Loot bags will be on sale at Registration.

There is a restaurant in the hotel, but also places to eat within walking distance. There will be a dealer's room and artist's alley for all your shopping needs.I love being on the staff, it's a lot of fun!  So many people in costumes!  Lots of cosplaying!  I love meeting the people.  I get to see almost everyone, working at Registration.  I'm so running the two movie events I mentioned, and I have a samurai panel on Sunday, about samurai in the cinema, followed by a showing of Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo.

We have a pretty remarkable staff at KawaKon - you'll love them too!

Have any of  you been to a convention? If so, which one/s, and did you like your experience?  I'd love to hear about it!