Continue reading “Monthly Manga: Sword Art Online Girls Ops”
The filler arc has some good starts! I can’t wait to see how it all comes together.
So we start off this episode with the narrator(hey the good old narrator’s back.) saying that the weather’s been all out of whack lately.
Bad for the world. Good for Fairy Tail Wizards.
They’ve never had this much work. Look at the guild hall.
Wow you can practically hear the chirping crickets.
So turns out pretty much everyone is out on a job right now.
So what are Natsu, Happy and Lucy going to do?
Mira’s got their back with a job in the town of Seabellius and they need a Celestial Wizard! Looks like it’s right up the Lucy alley!
But first they’ve got to get there…
Poor Dragon Slayer. Can’t catch a break at all.
Sooo…two projectile vomit filled hours later… they arrive at the coordinates for Seabellius but there’s nothing there except a great ocean view.
Looks like someone got played. It’s okay it happens to the best of us.
But you know what doesn’t happen to the rest of us. This!
It’s a Gastrodon! Get it from Pokemon! Looks like it’s an East Sea Gastrodon.
These are the jokes people…
Lucky they’re on a beach that means that Lucy can summon Aquarius…not the best play. She wash us all out to sea but hey whatever.
Hmmm it didn’t work. Trying again doesn’t work either and Taurus isn’t answering either. Maybe they put the whole summoning from the Golden Key thing on vibrate and aren’t noticing it?
Lucky we’ve got Natsu.
So…how bad of a lost is it if they lose to a giant sea slug…pretty bad.
So Lucy tries to summon every key that’s she got but nothing’s working.
Maybe not…we’re screwed.
Also Natsu got spit out by the sea slug. How can I tell?
Haha he looks like an ostrich!
But it looks like Natsu’s able to pull a win out.
Wow look at that sucker fly. Come on Gastrodon. You’re weak to Grass not Fire.
Anyway after that we switch back to the guild where Mira and the others(Gray, Erza, and Wendy) are worrying about Natsu and Lucy because there is no such thing as the town of Seabellus.
Then through the rain, Someone comes to the door.
It’s Yukino!
She’s got something to say but we switch back over to Lucy and Natsu.
Lucy keeps trying to summon the Spirits but nothing works until she decides to summon Crux, one of the Silver Key Spirits.
He tells them that the Spirit World and Human World are both in danger but before he can say what happened. We get this.
Virgo what happened to you!
…
Nice boob window.
After the commercial we go back to Yukino and the guys and she explains how her Golden Keys aren’t working either.
So Virgo’s all SM Dom now. Hmm Mashima good work on the alternate forms of the Spirits.
So Lucy gets into a whip duel with Virgo.
Then Lucy manages to get the rock that Virgo’s standing on but…
She can’t do it. Despite being different now, she’s still her friend and she can’t hurt her.
Normally I’d say that Lucy was being a bit naive. It’s a battle and she needs to be willing to hurt Virgo to save her but I can’t right now.
I just read chapter 37 of Fuuka. I’m not going to mix Fairy Tail with Fuuka but I’ll explain everything in my Fuuka Review which I swear will be out next week and my Suzuka Review which will be on out on November 1st.
Okay. Got to stay good with the reviewing. Okay! Back to Fairy Tail.
So after her little show of weakness to Virgo, Virgo just starts wailing on her! Like I wonder if she’s got any welts or something after that.
After going too far, Natsu throws a massive fireball at Virgo.
And then the Celestial Spirits that Lucy is contracted come to the battlefield.
Did they just turn Aquarius into a loli? Also her voice sounds familiar? I could swear that Sora Takui is voicing her but I’m not sure. I need to do some research in that.
So once Loke appears, may I add in cool armor, the Celestial Spirits announce that their contracts with Lucy are over and they seek true freedom.
But Lucy won’t accept it. She calls out to Aquarius, the Spirit that she’s been with since the beginning, but even she doesn’t remember her.
Damn. After reading chapter 37…to forget bonds made years ago…it really brings a tear to my eye.
However things aren’t going to back to the way they were without a fight Lucy.
Now the fight begins.
They’re getting owned and Lucy keeps trying to reach them to no avail.
Natsu tells Happy to get Lucy away while he goes in and fights Loke.
But even Natsu can’t go against them so the only thing they can do is retreat.
And the episode ends with the Spirits returning and Loke saying they need do something in order to get true freedom.
It was a pretty good episode. Although I’m not in a great place to review right now. I’ll give this episode 8/10 for a good beginning to the filler. I’m curious what’s going happen next.
So until next episode,
Later Days
You can ask me as many questions as you want on Ask.fm and you can follow me on Twitter to know when my new reviews are coming out. You’ll know when stuff comes out right when it does! 🙂
Also check out my right hand man, SkyCorps on AnimeWithSky where I’m also a writer. We’ve got some good reviews from all the writers, Speculations, Light Novel Reviews, and Manga Chapters Reviews. What are you waiting for? Come and check us out! You won’t regret it!
Say hello to probably the most watched anime during Summer and Autumn 2014. Now one thing I just hate is being late to the show with an anime. I just got into Sword Art Online. It’s totally awesome and I wish that I had been on the hype train back in 2012.
So why am I reviewing Sword Art online now?
Hype! The hype told me I ordered it of me! And I must obey the hype!
In the near future, a Virtual Reality Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (VRMMORPG) called Sword Art Online has been released where players can control their avatars through brain waves using technology called “NerveGear.” When players enter the game, they discover they cannot log out, as the game creator is holding them captive. To escape, players must beat the game by defeating each boss on all 100 floors; however, if they die in the game, they die in real life too. Their struggle for survival starts now…
Hmmm…sounds familiar. Reminds me of something from my chilhood…Oh .//Hack Sign!
And that’s a common misconception about Sword Art Online, that it’s a rip off of the .Hack series. Not actually. If you look it up on SAO wiki and Reki Kahaharu’s page, you’ll actually see that Sword Art Online started around the time that .Hack did.
See the author originally wanted to submit SAO for a Denki award but it was too long. So he started it up a web novel while he made the Accel World Series. As his name grew as an author he basically got the right to write and publish a really long book.
So while Sword Art Online may be similar to .Hack, it’s just a coincendence. Log Horizon however…
That’s a joke people…
Note: Log Horizon is actually on my list for anime to watch. I want to see what they do with the whole ‘trapped in a video game ‘ trope that SAO and .Hack didn’t do.
My Opinion
What’s not to like about this anime that was pretty much the leader of the Summer and Fall 2012 Seasons. It had a good premise with being trapped in a video game. Each episode had some great action. However the really good stuff wasn’t the action. It was the emotions between Kirito and Asuna. The Seiyuu in Japan and the voice actors in English really conveyed them falling in love really well. It’s definitely the anime you want to watch if you like your action to have those good moments of romance.
The Highlights
- The Cast. Since I know so many people in this anime from both the Japanese and the English, I’ll just tell you about one from each.
- Coming in at around 5 feet tall, it’s Cherami Leigh as the English voice of Asuna. She’s one of Funimation’s ace voice actors and she’s had a insane amount of roles from Funimination. Now she’s trying her talents in LA and this is her first role. I think it’s safe to say she started off strong.
- From the Japanese and even shorter than Cherami, it’s Kanae Ito from Haganai! …I wish I had the internet to give more of a list about all the stuff they’ve been on.
- The Plot. Like I said, the ‘trapped in the video game’ thing has been done before and it’s epically protected by nostalgia. So what do you do to make it interesting? If you die in the game, you die for real! That makes it more interesting!
- The Final Arc of the Aincrad Arc
- The Anime Finale
The Downsides
- Kirito goes on God mode the second he goes into ALO because all the stuff from ALO is just SAO with a skin change. This makes him insanely powerful, easily able to wreck players that have been playing for a lot longer than he had been. Thank goodness that after this arc, he resets his stats back to normal so he can play for fun. He’s still insanely strong because of his experience in SAO but at least he’s at a semi level playing field.
- Asuna going all damsel in distress in ALO. Granted I understand it. Sugou locked in her in a room at the top of the world tree, she didn’t have the ability to use any of the game’s skills, and she couldn’t even see the key panel to get out. I understand all of this but still I want Asuna to be the legendary Flash she was back in SAO.
- Suguha being Kirito’s cousin instead of his sister. Now this is something that legit came out of left field. They look so much alike. But now it goes for the ‘it’s not quite incest’ line which I personally believe only needs to be in wincest anime and harems that go that way.
Despite that I really like this one. The one thing I wish I could say right now is that you can check out the Light Novel if you want to know more but I can’t. The biggest website for Light Novel, Baka-Tsuki, took Sword Art Online of their site and app. Mostly because it was the smart move. Sword Art Online was picked up by Yen Press so they did it so they won’t get hit with a C&D. So the only way to get a look at SAO is to watch the anime or to buy it from Yen Press.
So now that I’ve given you your veggies it’s time to get to the meat. So there’s 9 arcs in this anime in my opinion. They are the Introduction Arc(Episode 1 & 2), The Red Nosed Reindeer Arc(Episode 3), The Black Swordsman Arc(Episode 4), A Murder Case in the Area Arc(Episodes 5 & 6), Warmth of the Heart Arc(Episode 7), the Falling in Love Arc(Episodes 8-10), Morning Dew Girl Arc(Episodes 11-12), The 75th Floor Boss Arc(Episodes 13-14), and the Fairy Dance Arc(Episodes 15-25)
Side Note: I love games like SAO(more sword and sorcery MMO games) so I’ll be using terms. I’ll try to explain some of the terms in the review
The Introduction Arc
So this arc of course introduces Kirito(voiced by Yoshitisugu Matsuoka). Kirito is a former beta player of the beta of Sword Art Online. He logs into the full version of Sword Art Online using the newly made Nerve Gear system where he meets up with Klein, a new player. Kirito teaches him how to play the game. After playing for a while, Klein tries to log only to realize that there is no log out button. All the players are teleported to the Town of Beginning where they are told by Akihiko Kayaba, the game creator, that the log out option was intentionally taken out. And once your HP hits zero, you die for real. As the first episode ends it is said that 2000 players died in the first month.
As the second episode begins, a strategy meeting is held to discuss how to defeat the first floor boss. Kirito ends up meeting a man named Agil as well as a girl named Asuna. A mass party is formed to face the first boss. The boss is defeated but Kirito is accused of being a beater(a beta tester and cheater). Kirito takes on all of the hate for all the other beta testers as he dons the Coat of Midnight and leaves for the second floor.
The Red Nosed Reindeer Arc
So a few weeks later, after saving a guild(organized group of players that regularly play together) called Moonlight Black Cats Kirito is asked to join them which he accepts. He’s really happy. Imagine it. You’re in a game where your life is very much on the line. It’s good to band together with people that you can trust. Plus guilds are very much a major part of any MMO game.
Kirito joins the guild but he hides the fact that his level is nearly twice as high as theirs. Note:They’re on the second floor so there’s roughly about level 20 so Kirito’s at least 40 or higher. Wow.
Anyway, Kirito truly bonds with his new guild particularly one member named Sachi who confides in him that she’s very afraid to die. So that means she’s going to live right? Wrong! She and the guild die in the most gruesomely horrible way possible…so of course I’ll have pictures detailing their deaths in detail. 🙂
The only one that manages to survive was Kirito who tells their guild leader about his fallen friends. He commits suicide by jumping off the edge of Aincrad…while Kirito watches.
Six months pass and Kirito goes to a certain fir tree on the first Christmas Eve in the game on a rumor that it would drop an item that resurrect a fallen player. Kirito kills the boss by himself and it does drop the resurrection item but it only works up to 10 seconds after death. By this time, Sachi’s been dead for half a year. Kirito goes into a deep depression which isn’t helped out by getting a pre-sent gift from Sachi. She explains how she knows that he was higher leveled than them and not to blame himself for her death. The arc ends with Kirito crying as Sachi hums Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer.
It’s been outright confirmed by the author that Sachi was Kirito’s first love and the death of the guild is something that haunts Kirito for years.
The Black Swordsman Arc
We see the young Beast Tamer, Silica, about to get killed by some Drunken Apes after her pet Pina has been killed. However our man Kirito comes through and saves her. After explaining that Pina can be revived by going to the 47th floor, Kirito loans Silica some equipment to help her get up there. As they walk Kirito reveals that the reason he’s helping Silica out is because she reminds him of his sister.
Hahahaha oh god. It hurts.
Kirito’s sister is Suguha. And for being around the youngest character in this anime, she’s got the biggest boobs! And Silica…got the smallest. Hahaha the comedy!
Anyway after getting the flower and a unfortunate panty shot by Silica, they get ambushed by the orange guild Titan’s Hand. They try to kill Kirito but they fail epically. Kirito captures them and promises to meet with Silica in the real world.
A Murder Case in the Area Arc
Another timeskip later, Kirito’s napping on a hillside until Asuna comes to wake him up and scolds him for wasting time while all the other front liners were clearing the Labyrinth. Kirito manages to convince her to relax and soon she falls asleep. After she wakes up she gets angry that Kirito let her fall asleep but thanks him for protecting her from any orange or red players.
While they have dinner, they witness a new unknown PK method that lets someone PK within a safe zone. As Kirito and Asuna investigate how something like this could happen they meet Yolko who leads them to the creator of the weapon that killed her friend. However it is later revealed to be a ruse by Yolko to discover who truly killed their former guildmaster. Turns out it was her husband. He hated the fact that his wife rose to the challenges of SAO and changed from being the soft spoken housewife to someone with a spine. Now that’s just sick.
Warmth of the Heart Arc
There are a lot of timeskips in this anime. So I guess a few weeks later, Kirito goes to Lisbeth’s Smith Shop to get a new sword made. However good old Kirito breaks her best sword so he takes her on a quest to find the raw materials to make a new sword…unfortunately they fall into a pit. As night comes around, they fall asleep holding hands. The next day, Kirito manages to get the Crystallite Ingot so Lisbeth can make the sword Dark Repulser.
The Falling in Love Arc
After two years in the game, Kirito on the front lines finds a Ragout Rabbit and gives it to Asuna to cook. They have a nice little dinner before Asuna asks(read threatens) to join her party. The next day they go out on a mapping mission and end up finding the 74th floor’s boss. They also meet up with Klein and his guild. However soon after they meet up with the Aincrad Libreration Army who like some idiots challenge the boss tired. They end up getting wrecked until Kirito, Asuna, and Klein run in to help.
However the boss, the Gleam Eyes, is too tough so Kirito busts out his Secret Skill, Dual Blades and defeats the Gleam Eyes. After the battle against the boss, Asuna requests leave from the guild but in order to get it Kirito must defeat the guildmaster, Heathcliff, in a duel…he doesn’t. So Kirito’s forced to join the Knights of Blood and is sent on a training mission with a guy named Kuradeel and Godfree. Then Kuradeel kills Godfree and nearly kills Kirito if not for Asuna. After Kirito kills Kuradeel, he says that he’s in love with Asuna and they both get married and take leave on the 22nd floor.
The Morning Dew Girl Arc
Personally one of my favorite arcs. After arriving on the 22nd floor for their honeymoon Kirito and Asuna find a young girl named Yui. She doesn’t have a icon over her head meaning she’s not a player, an NPC, or a monster. Despite this, they take her home. Once they question her and eventually go to the the Town of Beginnings to find her parents. Instead they find some members of the Army harassing some children and their caretaker. Asuna scares them away before they find Yulier, the second command of the Army. She asks them to help her reach their leader and her lover, Thinker. However Yui comes along with them. The party ends up getting attacked by a boss from the 90th floor called the Fatal Scythe. The Fatal Scythe tries to attack Yui but it turns out that she’s an Immortal Object and AI. Despite this realization, Asuna and Kirito still love and accept her as their daughter. However Yui is deleted by the system for interfering in the game. But not before Kirito is able to convert Yui’s data into an item named Yui’s Heart, swearing to find a way to restore her.
The 75th Floor Boss Arc
During the last few days of their honeymoon after the pretty much death of Yui, Kirito and Asuna are called back to the front lines by Heathcliff. The boss for the 75th floor has been found. There’s no information since every scouting party has been unable to return. So a big raid party is formed to face the 75th Floor Boss, the Skull Reaper and nearly half the party is killed off by it. After the battle, Kirito decides to test a theory and stabs Heathcliff. Turns out that Heathcliff is actually Kayaba Akihiko. He offers Kirito a chance to save all the players if he can beat him right then. Kirito manages to win but at the cost of Asuna’s life. All the players are freed from SAO and Kirito and Asuna are released as well. As Kirito wakes up in the hospital after two years in SAO the first thing he does is go search for Asuna. Aww.
Fairy Dance Arc
Two months after the end of SAO, Asuna has yet to wake. So following some information from Agil, Kirito dives into Alfheim Online. He meets with Leafa who assists him in heading to the World Tree where Asuna assumed to be. After a few battles and managing to save the leaders of Sylph and the Cait Sith, Kirito manages to make it to save Asuna from Sugou. And with that SAO is over.
So a few comments and some stuff I thought about.
So in Sword Art Online(the game) there is an Ethic Code which prevents “unwanted physical advances” like a stolen kiss or …something more forceful and it sends the person doing it flying. And typically they’ll be sealed up in the Black Iron Prison, The Aincrad Libreration’s Army’s Jail.
However there is taking such things by force. For example, all you need to basically advantage of someone is pull out a sword and put it to someone’s neck and “Turn off the Ethic Code or die,” and …you can basically do what you want.
I assume the same Ethics Code exists in ALO and GGO as well but hey the threat isn’t as bad there….
I need something more postive to end the review with! I just talked about assault! Hmmm…
Oh after the ALO arc ended, ALO was shut down but after Kirito releases the World Seed and a new company called Ymir buys all of ALO’s data from their old company. This along with the release of the World Seed revives the VMMORG genre after the horrors of SAO and ALO incidents.
Also when Ymir took over ALO they found a full copy of the Aincrad Castle on the company’s mainframe. So with a little kick up to the difficulty, the Aincrad Castle became the new Grand Quest of Alfheim Online.
They also added in the original Sword Skills from SAO but took out ten skills out of the ability roster. It’s been speculated by fans that these are the 10 Unique Skills like Kirito’s Dual Blades and Heathcliff’s Holy Sword.
So that’s a better end than the other one.
So I give Sword Art Online a 9.5/10 for good plot, great voice acting, and excellent art. However it loses that last half point because Asuna got nerfed in ALO.
So with that it’s the end of this months’s Full Season Review.
So as you know from my Rio: Rainbow Gate Full Season Review, the next one on my list for November will be my favorite Funimation anime, Suzuka!
Now I’m going to do something special for December. Double Full Season Review! Why? Mostly because I felt that December had two types of feelings in it. The more energetic first part and the more lazy and relaxing second part around Christmas.
So during the first 15 days of December you’ll be getting a Full Series Review on one of my Favorite Light Novel Adapdations, Haganai and Haganai Next!
So until the next Full Season Review,
Later Days
You can ask me as many questions as you want on ?Ask.fm? and you can follow me on?Twitter?to know when my new reviews are coming out. You’ll know when stuff comes out right when it does! 🙂
Also check out my main blog on AnimeThief?where you can find a whole lot of Speculations, Anime News, Date A Live and Love Live up the wazoo and whole lot of other stuff. What are you waiting for? Check out the stuff that isn’t on here? But always come back here. My heart’s on both blogs. 🙂
Raised by a mysterious sorcerer after the horrific death of his parents, Shiro Emiya has only just begun to help others using the small tidbits of magic that he’s learned. However, when he’s suddenly caught in a battle between two more powerful Magus, Shiro finds himself performing a spell above his expected ability, summoning the beautiful spirit warrior Saber to protect him! But safety is only momentary as Shiro and Saber now find themselves thrust into in a secret world of dark magic and deadly challenges: a no-holds barred duel to the death known as the Holy Grail War! At stake: a prize of unimaginable power. But can the inexperienced Shiro and Saber survive long enough to even enter the contest? First they’ll have to withstand waves of treachery and assassination, even as Shiro scrambles to learn everything he’ll need to know to stay alive as seven teams of Magus and Spirit Servants face off in mortal combat!
Ah the beauty. Ah the genius. That is what Fate Stay/Night is and that is what is going to be what Fate Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works. I just can’t believe it. Right after I finish Fate Stay/Night, Unlimited Blade Works come right out!
This is going to be the most hyped anime of this season. Everyone who’s anyone is going to be on this the second it comes out.
Just so you know if you watched the original Fate Stay/Night, this is a completely different thing from it. Saber is not the main heroine, it’s Rin! No complaints
Now it was confirmed that a hefty amount of the main casts from both the original Fate Stay/Night and Fate/Zero would return. So here we go!
Returning as the awesome Servant, Saber, is Ayako Kawasumi! I legit love her even before watching the original Fate Stay/Night. She’s been in Rave Master(Lead), Fairy Tail, Kaichou wa Maid-Sama, and Queen’s Blade(Lead). She’s done Saber in at least ten different versions of Fate Stay Night so she’s got this down!
Coming back as epic as the Servant, Archer, is Junichi Suwabe. He’s too epic as Archer but that’s not the only thing he’s got on his belt. He’s been in Akuma no Riddle(Eisuke Inukai), Fairy Tail(Freed Justine), the entire Compilation of Final Fantasy VII(Tseng), Fullmetal Alchemist(Greed), Prince of Tennis/New Prince of Tennis(Keigo Atobe), and Sekirei: Pure Engagement(Izumi Higa). Wow that’s a lot and that’s just the stuff I know him from.
Keeping his spot as the lead is Noriaki Sugiyama. Now if you watch the Japanese version of Naruto then you’ll know him as Sasuke Uchiha or watch Bleach and know him as Uryuu Ishida. Now for the rest. He’s been in Kimi no Iru Machi(Ichihara), and Black Butler(William Spears). Wow I need to watch more of him. Too little of a list.
Being the premiere Tsundere of the show once more is Kana Ueda. She’s been in Freezing(Attia Simmons), Saki(Saki Miyanaga), and Sekirei(Yomi). I loved her in the original. I can’t wait to see if she tops herself here.
Finally the last one I know is Noriko Shitaya returning as the kind and loving Sakura Matou but things are going to get way harder for Sakura this time around. Unlimited Blade Works isn’t no punk! She’s been in Bleach(Ururu Tsumugiya), Maken Ki and Maken Ki Two(Haruko Amaya), Naruto and Naruto Shippuden(Moegi), and Pokemon(Candice and Viola). Just wait until Heaven’s Feel Sakura! Hahaha oh the darkness!
You seriously can’t put together a better cast if you tried! I’m going to love this!
This isn’t going to be like Shirobako.
One, it’s a guaranteed success with all the love that Fate Stay/Night has. Fate Stay Night is still one of the most popular visual novels out there and one of the most famous.
Two, this is going to be a two cour series. Now I just learned this myself. Apparently seasons can be called cours and if a anime skips a season and returns the next one it’s called two cour series. Basically it’s an anime that goes for a season, skips the next one, and returns the next one. I wish I could give you an example but typically anime are one and done or they run for a half year, a year, or they’re on every week.
Fate Stay/Night: Unlimited Blade Works will run the entire Autumn 2014 Season, skip the Winter 2015 Season, and return in Spring 2015 Season.
Knowing anime studios they’ll just leave us on a cliffhanger and make us wait until the next half of the season. Those bastards…
So the hype train is gassing up right now and getting ready to leave for Fate Stay/Night: Unlimited Blade Works. Will you be on it or just sit back at the station?
Until the hype even more real,
Later Days
You can ask me as many questions as you want onAsk.fmand you can follow me onTwitterto know when my new reviews are coming out. You’ll also be update on what’s happening.
Spirits. Different life forms that exist in a critical space and cause peculiar disasters.
Strategy 1: Annihilate them by military force.
Strategy 2: Date them and make them fall in love.
Hey everyone. It’s Deven coming to you with another Date A Live Speculation. Now since the end of Date A Live 2, it’s not much news for Date A Live other than the movie coming out and the OVA thats coming out this winter. So I’ll try to keep you guys entertained with some speculation posts.
The first one we’ve got is the big one. You know me I always want to start off strong.
Will the anime get a third season?
First off on the list is the sales of the first season, only subbed since the Funimation dub hasn’t been out very long. I’ll also throw in the two video games, Date A Live: Rinne Utopia and Date A Live: Arisu Install. During the week of June 24, 2013 to June 30, 2013, Date A Live came out on Blu-ray. Now according to Anime News Network, it premiered at 8th with 7,171 copies sold. Pretty good for a first time out.
Now let’s check the video game, Date A Live:Rinne Utopia.
During its first week(June 24, 2013-June 30, 2013) it sold 23,340 copies. Now what’s unique about this according to TvTropes.com’s page about Date A Live there was a large influx of orders from other countries such as America. Why? Because the game is basically a dating sim where you can date all the Spirits that had been introduced at the end of the first season including Origami but most of them came for Kurumi. So add Kurumi’s popularity plus an ending with you get to marry her that got the Americans as well as a lot other countries that had no idea how to speak Japanese on the bandwagon.
Now the new video game, Date A Live:Ars Install.
During the week of June 30, 2014 to July 6, it sold 4,383 copies. It’s low right. Completely true but the game came out the week before those stats came out. The week that it came out it sold 9703 sales! And it’s still climbing. It’s a rinse and repeat as the same as Rinne Utopia. You can date and fall in love with all the Spirits that had been introduced at the time in the anime including Miku, Kaguya Yamai, and Yuzuru Yamai. So it’s guaranteed to be a good time just by having Kurumi.
So with good stats like that at the beginning it’s safe to say that people loved the first season. We’re still waiting the sales from Funimation’s dub but I’m hoping for a good haul.
Next up is Light Novel sales. Now this info is really fresh. Like only a few months old. The stats for the top selling Light Novels was released a two months ago and Date A Live is on there twice. Once at 18th for the most recent volume 10, Angel Tobiichi. It’s there again at 22nd for volume 9, Natsumi Change. Now it’s not top ten but out of the thirty most popular Light Novels in Japan, Date A Live got on the list twice which is awesome.
So it’s pretty much locked up on the Light Novel side. We got to wonder though. Is it’s rank going to go up even higher after the release of the volume 11?
Next up is how much of the Light Novel has been adapted. Now unlike long runners like Naruto and One Piece, Naruto more than One Piece, seasonal anime don’t have much room for filler. Also filler is well hated in anime community. We know why the studios do it but doesn’t mean we have to like it. Now we look at how far the anime is from the Light Novel.
Now the first season of the anime adapted the first four Light Novels.
Dead End Tohka, Puppet Yoshino, Killer Kurumi, and Sister Itsuka
Then the second season that just ended adapted the next three.
Tempest Yamai, Lily Miku, and Truth Miku
The only ones that haven’t been adapted yet are Search Natsumi, Change Natsumi, and Angel Tobiichi.
Now the big question is why? Why didn’t the anime go further? Well the answer is pretty simple.
The last one, Angel Tobiichi came out the month before the Spring Anime season started. There’s no way that they’d be able to add in all the stuff that happened in the Natsumi arc and add to the fact that the Spirit Origami arc isn’t finished yet. Which is the reason why this season only had ten episodes as opposed to twelve or thirteen.
But I’m getting off track. The anime does still have a fair bit of stuff to still adapt. Personally I can’t wait to see the volume 10 adapted.
Another big part is characters. Come on guys you know there’s some anime you only look at because some of the characters are your favorites. Date A Live is no exception. And according to this:
A lot of you guys come for some Tohka!
As well as a whole lot of Kurumi!
With characters this awesome and well loved(Seeing as you guys buy games you can’t understand without a translator), Date A Live’s got some good characters.
Next up is how much do you want it or basically how big is the hype? So this is all up to you all. Date A Live could have the best video game sells, anime sells, and be the best Light Novel in the world but it doesn’t mean anything if you don’t support it. That means buying the merchandise! Get your Date A Live DVDs, Blu-rays, your t-shirts, plushies, and video games out the wazoo. Why? Because companies measure how good an anime is by how good the sells are, not by how much you talk about it. Because talk is cheap but buying something shows that you love it.
So at the end of it all the third season of Date A Live depends on you. We’re counting on you.
Until the third season and the next speculation,
Later Days
You can ask me as many questions as you want onAsk.fmand you can follow me onTwitterto know when my new reviews are coming out. You’ll also be update on what’s happening.
Fairies never lose! Let’s go!
So we start off the episode with this!
Oh Rogue you done stepped in it now.
So after the opening we go to the Rescue Lucy team in the palace. Future Lucy explains that a swarm of 10,000 dragons will attack destroy the entire capital.
We go to Princess Hisui who confirms this and says that she will open the gate if the person that told her of the future is correct.
Side note: I just realized that Princess Hisui is voiced by Suzuko Mimori of Love Live fame. Yay, Umi-chan!
(cough) Ignore that idol fanboy moment and let’s get back to the show.
We go back to the Rescue team who shows looks of fear and confusion. Well except one person…
The others spitball ideas about where the dragons are coming from or what is their purpose while Natsu does…well just look.
Like that’s going to stop a dragon.
Future Lucy asks why do they believe her. Mostly because the story does sound a bit far-fetched.
After Future Lucy gets a quick scolding by Present Lucy, Carla finally connects the dots about the vision she’s had for like 20 episodes ago.
Yeah in the first episode we saw Natsu fighting against all the dragons so what did happen at the end?
They died…
After Future Lucy’s flashback she explains that she used the Eclipse gate to go back in time to July 4 X791.
But Arcardios seems to see something wrong with this.
Future Lucy advises Natsu’s group to go and meet up with Jellal’s group to figure out what to do next since she didn’t have a plan coming back to the past.
Arcadios also has a flashback showing how Princess Hisui got the idea for the Eclispe 2 Project. He concludes that if Future Lucy told Hisui about the Eclipse 2 then it was impossible for her to arrive on the 4th.
Future Lucy starts to worry about the future and how she was unable to do anything but all Natsu needs to do is this.
After that we go to Jellal, Ultear(she’s so hot and she’s got Miyuki Sawashiro as her voice in Japanese and Lydia Mackay in English!), and Meredy sitting outside out the city trying to figure out what’s true about what Future Lucy said.
We move back to Gajeel vs. Rogue.
Someone’s been busy laying down the smashdown on Rogue.
Rogue explains that he always looked up to Gajeel while he was in Phantom Lord but once he went to Fairy Tail he couldn’t believe it at the time. However over time he realized that it was because of friends and that Sabertooth doesn’t have bonds like that.
He says that Frosh is Rogue’s friend and Rogue agrees. Rogue is about to give up but something speaks to him in the darkness.
And his shadow tells him to kill Gajeel. Wow this looks like a badass battle after the commerial.
But we go to Natsu’s group back in the palace and other than Arcadios and Yukino leaving, the rest is all filler to make sure that the episode gets to 22 minutes. So I’ll make sure to skip that part and focus on the good stuff.
Back to Gajeel vs. Rogue.
Looks like someone’s about to get power up.
There is it!
So they start up the fight and it’s just better to show with pictures.
Wow, this is a good one. This is why the anime needed to come back!
During the fight Mavis comments that something must be possessing Rogue and it’s deeply evil.
After that we go back to Jellal and the others where they sense a spike in magical energy they realize that Future Lucy has just gotten into a battle but in the fighting she isn’t fighting at all. What’s up?
I could comment on the filler parts but I respect you all too much.
After that we have Gajeel completely owned by Possessed Rogue.
Looks like he’s about to kill him. Come on that’s too far for a game but it looks like things aren’t in the game territory any more.
Oh crap things are getting serious now! When Natsu ate Laxus’s Lightning, he became the Lightning Flame Dragon Slayer. Now what will Gajeel be when he mixes shadows with iron?
Oh crap. It’s about to go down it’s…it’s…
It’s the Iron Shadow Dragon!
And with that we end the episode. Can you even wait to see the battle of the Possessed Rogue vs. Iron Shadow Dragon Gajeel! Until next week,
Later Days!
You can ask me as many questions as you want on Ask.fm and you can follow me on Twitter to know when my new reviews are coming out. You’ll also be update on what’s happening.
Tokaku vs. Haru. It’s time to begin the final episode!
After a quick flashback of Tokaku’s birth we go back to Tokaku and Haru down in the graveyard.
Haru asks why is she doing this and Tokaku says that before now she wasn’t able to kill but now but now she can kill.
Tokaku says that she’ll chose her own path.
First blood!!!!!
Tokaku throws away her sheathe as she advances on Haru.
After the opening,we have Kaiba talking to himself about Tokaku telling her to make her own decisions. She can wield her sword as she sees fit.
After that we go back to Tokaku vs. Haru. Haru throws one of the lanterns at her but Tokaku dodges her and tries to slash her but Haru totally does the Matrix and dodges the sword.
Of course though she lands her butt and she’s wide open. Well Haru you had a good run. You beat 11 assassins but the 12th was too good.
Haru like all people that are about to get killed ask one question.
Tokaku says that this was the only way that she could prove it to herself if she was being manipulated.
Tokaku jumps back into the fog while someone picks up Haru.
One Tokaku takes Haru into the fog and explains that the Tokaku that tried to kill her was Nio. Turns out that Nio is a member of the Kuzunoha family. Unlike the Azumas who excel at assassination abilities, the Kuzunoha family excels at shamanism, using hypnotism to trick them into lowering their guard or tricking them into killing themselves.
Tokaku says that Nio never said that she wasn’t an assassin and that she was just biding her time until the Black Class ends and then she’ll strike. That explains why Nio had the ending last episode.
Good summation Tokaku.
So after that Haru and Tokaku run pass one of the graves and Haru stops to look at. She says that it might be possible that she manipulated her into protecting her but Tokaku says that it’s possible that she was manipulated. However she says that she’s gained something important here with Haru.
Aw…that’s so cute.
Too bad Tokaku-Nio tries to stab Haru from the shadows but Tokaku pulls her away and starts shooting at Tokaku-Nio. Once she runs out of bullets she goes in close with the knife.
Turns out that Nio is trying to figure out if Haru really has the Primer. I don’t know if the chairwoman ordered her to do it but come on! She survived 11 assasins. If that doesn’t prove it then I don’t know what will.
So they keep at it and it’s basically an argument…with some knives. Not the best one. It does have a good impression. You can guess that with Nio taking on Tokaku’s appearance she can be Tokaku’s more confused side, not sure that Haru is manipulating her. And the other one is yeah I don’t know. This scene is hard to follow.
Yeah so after Nio-Tokaku is defeated, she tries to kill Haru but the other Tokaku throws a knife at her hamstring then stabs her in the chest.
So then Haru picks a knife and tries to stab Tokaku but as we see after the commericial it doesn’t work.
I’ve never been so sad.
Turns out the only way to prove if Tokaku was under the Primer was to kill her. If she was under the Primer then she couldn’t do anything as Haru went at her with the knife. This proves that everything that Tokaku did was of her own free will.
But was it worth it? Haru is dead!
Nio taunt Tokaku saying that all she can do is kill and she also says that’s been planning to kill Haru by taking on Tokaku’s form for a while. After that she dies.
Nio! You were my second favorite after Kouko(You got to love those smart girls with the glasses)
After Nio dies, Tokaku cries over Haru’s corpse as Yuri arrives to see the scene. After that Yuri says because of Haru’s death, Tokaku is the
winner of the Black Class and she can have anything she wants.
The only thing she wants is Haru back.
After that we timeskip to the spring and Haru’s graduating from the Black Class.
Turns out that Haru has a titanium rib that barely blocked Tokaku’s knife away from her heart, sparing her life. Come on guys. You give us that tearful ending that you take it away not less that a minute later.
Also turns out that Nio’s still alive and talking with the chairwoman. How? She’s not that easy to kill apparently.
You got stabbed in the heart, woman! Unless you’re an immortal that typically does in everyone.
After that Nio leaves the room and tosses a white lily out of the window. It’s supposed to be Haru’s flower symbol, symbolizing purity.
Then we go to Haru singing the school song and we go to somewhere outside a mansion.
It’s Sumireko Hana-freaking-busa!
She’s alive!
And she wants to cook…
Now at this point is when Akuma no Riddle loses all its credibility. And thus a new meme has been born!
Now here I was going to have a pic of a meme but I can’t find said meme so the joke is dead…
Edit: Found the Picture!
Now let’s keep going.
Now that something I can accept.
Now that’s sweet.
That’s my hot nerd! Being badass! She doesn’t need to be let out of her group. She’s fighting her way out! Too bad it’s a sin to kill a nun.
Why isn’t she in containment? She’ll just escape again! Also why are you looking to be let out!? You’re a serial killer.
Looks like someone’s having some fun in the sun. She may not own the beach but at least she’s happy with her family.
They’re supposed to be dead! Kirigaya got stabbed in the chest and Namatame got poisoned by Angel’s Trumpet. Now if you don’t know that’s one of the most powerful poisons in the world and she shrugged it off.
So Shiena was supposed to be a part of this group that killed bullies of kids and other people. That’s why her flower is a thistle for revenge. However the anime cut that out.
Looks like Mahiru is deciding to move on with Shinya. That’s good.
So we go back to Haru who walks out of the school to meet Tokaku.
So now they’re going on a journey to deliever all the diplomas to all the girls.
That’s the most Yuri other than the kiss that they had in this anime.
And with that Akuma no Riddle is over. Well there’s the ending which is done by all thirteen girls. It’s pretty good.
Now time for final thoughts.
Akuma no Riddle has some serious issues with the words pacing and characterization! They move too fast to try to fit a bigger plot into 12 episodes and it’s safe to say they failed. A lot of the characters are unknown and half developed.
However the art and the character designs are good along with the action scenes and the songs. So I’ll give Akuma no Riddle a 6 out of 10.
So if you’re feeling mad about how the anime ended, READ THE MANGA. It’s way better and it actually has everything the anime cut out because they were strapped for time.
So with Akuma no Riddle finished that ends my Spring 2014 season. I hope you liked it and keep reading for the Summer 2014 season.
Until then,
Later Days
You can ask me as many questions as you want on Ask.fm and you can follow me on Twitter to know when my new reviews are coming out. You’ll also be update on what’s happening.
One more episode before the finale. Let see what they’re going to go for now!
So we start off the episode with Nio, Haru, and Tokaku sitting through a lecture from Mizorogi-sensei. Boring right.
Boring but ironic. The only good part of the lecture is that sometimes and by sometimes means all the time a worker bee will die to protect the queen. Hmmm…seeing a parellel here?
After school, Nio comments that she actually feels sorry for Mizorogi since he got the Black Class but hey at least next year he can get a better class.
Now that over we get this.
Then before the opening we get this from Nio.
She looks and acts like a cute little girl but she’s a demon. Count on it.
After the opening, we have Tokaku and Haru eating lunch where Haru brings up what happened with Sumireko with the Queen Bee stuff. Nio comes in at the last minute, telling them that they should wait until tonight.
Tokaku leaves, telling Haru she can take her time eating since no one should be coming to attack her.
After leaving, Tokaku goes to the roof and texts someone, Kaiba I guess.
After that she flashes back to the talk with Hanabusa while looking at her charm from Haru. She says that Hanabusa was just trying to psych her out.
We go back to Nio and Haru. Nio comments that Haru should know the chairwoman because they’re a part of the same clan. Aw man. I thought she was Nio’s mom.
Nio comments that Haru must feel pretty good since she finally doesn’t have a target on her back but she apologizes after saying that’s a bit too far.
Can’t deny that. Haru has always has been different from the assassins but then again you can see that right when you look at them.
After this, we go to Haru and Tokaku going up to the True Orientation. After Nio greets them, she introduces the chairwoman, Meichi Yuri. I know Yuri is an actual Japanese name but it isn’t kinda ironic in a yuri anime one character has the name Yuri.
She offers some words of congratulations before Tokaku tells her to cut the crap and get down to business. Someone’s not wasting any time. I like that!
After explaining what an intitation, Yuri explains that the Black Class wasn’t made to kill Haru. Rather to see if Haru could survive against 12 assassins. It’s safe to say the plan worked.
The plan was figure out if Haru was worthy of being the leader of their clan.
Okay, okay, okay. You rule the world. You don’t have to be so smug about though.
And the leader of all this is one woman, the Primer and Queen Bee. It’s a special power that allows for the user to charm people and work them to her advantage whether they know it or not. The greater the danger, the more strongly her power is exerted.
That’s also why all the girls in their clan are targeted from birth by assassins. So let me get this straight. You send assassins to attack your children just out of the hope that this one might be the Primer. How many little girls had to die before you found your Primer?!
So now that Haru’s survived the Black Class she’s proven to be the next Primer.
Now that I look back on it. She was awful calm back then. That should have been the first clue that the Black Class wasn’t everything that it appeared to be. Why didn’t I see it sooner?
Haru says that she doesn’t have this power. She was told if she managed to survive all of this stuff she’d get to have a normal life. Some one has some good control. I would have caved to the power of being the leader of a vast underground family that controls everything.
Yuri counters with asking how could she survive against 12 assassins as well as all the assassins that came before them?
Well when you lay it out like that it has to be true.
Haru breaks down and runs out of the room. While Yuri comments that she needs some time to accept what she is. Then she turns to Tokaku tells her that because she led Haru to victory she can have anything she wants.
After the commercial we’re in Haru and Tokaku’s room and they’re talking about the Primer. Haru never imagined that she could be it.
Yeah…I doubt that. Why? Takechi had her cold…I could descibe all the times that Haru was dead but was saved by Tokaku. One particularly sticks out. You remember with Kouko she grabbed one of the charms and it was pretty obvious that she was after her and she uses bombs!