What a weekend!
Wow, gosh this weekend I had a really Hikikomori weekend but I managed to watch/read two very good series.
First was the anime Anohana, full name is 。あの日見た花の名前を僕たちはまだ知らない。
I finished off the whole 11 eps in 1 day and a half and was pleasantly surprised by it, though I must say the ending was not as good as the first half of the anime.
I was surprised that nearly all of the characters from the group were developed by the end of the anime and I even managed to relate to most of them EXCEPT the main girl who they were trying to save. But fortunately as cute and as high pitched as she was, she did not get on my nerves.
I have to say my favourite character is Tsuruko, the really serious and calm girl who wore glasses. Although her motives and feelings were relatively unclear until the second half of the anime, I was feeling quite sympathetic towards her just because she was the one who seems to be keeping everything to herself.
And gosh, I do love the Yukiatsu x Tsuruko pairing. And to be honest, I don't really like Yukiatsu x Anaru pairing, don't know why.
As for the main guy, Jintan I think he is alright. I thought he would get on my nerves for being the weak, annoying, moaning brat, but seems like he was OK.
Overall I think Anohana is a good anime, and it can bring out all sorts of feelings from you though for some parts of the anime, I am not entirely convinced by the actions of the characters.
However Terra he, and Shiki will always be my top 2.
As for Manga, I read Shisei no Otoko 刺青の男 by 阿仁谷ユイジ.
There were 3 stories about 3 different people from a Yakuza group, and they were all linked in some ways. One of the character was a police and he was the only one who wasn't a Yakuza and he appeared in 2 out of 3 of the stories. Although he was the only character not with a Yakuza background, he seems to be the one who had to endure so much pain, burden and consequences that I felt like he was the one who ended up as the most corrupted. The ending was...I would say happy in some ways but certainly sad in others. It makes me question what exactly is happiness? From our point of view someone might be unlucky or unhappy but maybe for them, it was the happiest way out?
Basically I am very impressed by this manga, although there were certain scenes where it can do with less violent, blood or even sex. I would recommend it to people who is up for some heavy yaoi. Oh and just a little warning, the story will stay in your head for quite sometimes afterwards.