Anime Film Review: Kick-Heart

Following up on my promise to continue writing about the works of legendary Yuasa Masaaki, today I'd like to bring you all a review of his short 12 minute film Kick-Heart.

Utilizing his typical surreal style of character design and animation, Masaaki's short film tells a "love story" with two typical and one odd participant. Pro wrestler, Masked Man M (real name: Romeo) has an established and successful career as a masked wrestler. His secret: he's a masochist who loves getting the shit beat out of him in the ring. This element alone is a fairly unique one for a wrestling story as I've never encountered a fighter who engages his art for his love of pain. 

Romeo finally finds the peak of his pleasure when a mysterious female wrestler joins the ring; going by the name Lady S (Juliet). While Romeo desperately wishes to fight her, (if only to be subjected to her rough and powerful fighting techniques) it's interesting to wonder if Romeo's true love lies with her or the pain she's able to inflict. To this end, Masaaki creates a twist on the typical love story that simply uses wrestling as a medium to convey it.

It's also worth noting that Romeo is fighting for a cause! He wishes to obtain money in order to help supply funds for an orphanage he personally grew up in (run by nuns and a priest). While his fetishes are odd, Romeo at heart (or Kick-Heart) is a good man who has not forgotten his upbringings and is trying to bring joy to the children whom are now in a position he once was. 

One thing I personally found interesting was the stylistic choice of a constant censor bar placed over Romeo's eyes when he is not in costume. Perhaps this was meant to bolster the idea of protecting the identity of a masked wrestler. While the children at the orphanage know who Romeo really is, the town he lives in may not. This was a cool an interesting take on this concept (shielding Romeo's identity even from the audience of the film) and to see it visually represented in Romeo's scenes out of the ring add an extra layer of detail that makes for an enjoyable film. 

Lastly, It's worth noting that Kick-Heart was put out by well known anime studio Production I.G. It was also the very first successful anime project from a major commercial animation studio in Japan to use crowd-funding (via Kickstarter) to finance its production. The success of Kick-Heart spearheaded the way for other creators in Japan to create a new wave of projects via crowd-funding (something that is still remaining strong today).

Final Score:

Strengths: 

-Tells a cohesive and entertaining story in only 12 minutes

-Fans of Masaaki's character design and animation style (such as myself) will be right at home

-Contains cool scenes of masked wrestling

-Showcases the "love story" from an interesting angle

Weaknesses:

-Some people may not buy into its animation style

-The film's music isn't its strong suit

-The ending of the film feels like it was meant to be the first part of other 12 minutes films. 

Score: 8.5/10

Overall, Kick-Heart is a fun and short watch, that really had a lot of love and thought placed into it. I highly recommend it to everyone! Thank you so much for reading and have a wonderful day.

-Nights Off

Unorthodox Storytelling in the Modern Age: What's Up with Kekkai Sensen?

Only 5 episodes in, and the anime adaptation of Yasuhiro Nightow's manga Kekkai Sensen (or Blood Blockade Battlefront) spouts some of the strangest and unorthodox plot format I've seen in recent anime. The plot is all over the place and doesn't care about equal parts slowing down or properly explaining what is going on. Instead, Sensen opts for the most extreme version of the show-not-tell format I've seen in quite a while, priding itself on a sporadic plot with sparse elements of information that may or may not be contributing to a potential, overarching story. Yet for how crazy this may seem, the show has one the best quality animation and art style this season (that even rivals Ufotable's Fate Stay Night) and one the best damn soundtracks I've heard in anime. My fellow anime-goers, today I'd like to talk a little bit about the fun and profoundly chaotic Kekkai Sensen.

Main character Leonardo Watch plays sidekick in an organization encumbered in impressive, vehement, and frankly super-human individuals known as Libra. He has obtained an ability known as "The Eyes of God," that has not been properly explained as of yet and hasn't even been fleshed out in terms of how it was obtained. This is a recurring theme so far in the series. Characters Mr. Klaus, Zap, Chain, etc. have all not been given any background to them as individuals or what exactly their powers are. So far the only minor exception to this took the form of episode 3 (and I do stress minor). In episode 3, Mr. Klaus takes center stage and receives some minor development while playing a strange form of chess with the villain of the week. We get a good look into his personality, his thoughts, and his overall outlooks toward life. Now while this was interesting, I still know nothing about who he is, where he came from, why he has fangs compared to the others, or what exactly his special ability really is. While I'm certain these answers will be revealed for Klaus and the other characters, I can't help but notice how clearly disjointed the plot is unfolding and how the idea of direction seems to have been thrown out the window. When the series opens up one potential plot point, it doesn't necessarily develop said plot point or even go back to explain it at all. Instead the series so far has decided to open up about 8 more different plot elements, for every other one that is introduced. 

Now while everything I've expressed so far may seem negative, please don't get me wrong. I adore the hell out of this show so far. Bringing us series such as Gungrave and Trigun, Nigthow never disappoints in creating crazy and entertaining stories. Despite how all over the place the show is, Kekkai Sensen is vastly entertaining and downright fun. I find myself eagerly awaiting the next episode every week just to bear witness to all the crazy problems these characters manage to find themselves in. The setting of Jerusalem's Lot (aka former New York) with it's otherworldly inhabitants coexisting with human beings is rad and interesting. The overall experience so far has been refreshing and enjoyable. While I know many people find its plot format to be problematic and bad, I can't help but feel that this kind of disjointed story is a nice break off from what anime-goers typically engage in. My only hope for the series is that it does try to weave some form of cohesive narrative and explanation for the cool characters it has already presented at some point. Themes such as vampires and strange applications of blood have already been introduced and seem to be major players for what will come in future episodes.

So with all that being said, I encourage you guys to check out this show as I definitely think it's at least worth your time. At it's core it's a fun, action packed, joy ride! So I think I'll end this post with the show's awesome ending video/song: Which you can watch here.

Thanks for reading guys and as always I hope you have a wonderful day!

-Nights Off

Dorohedoro Chapter 133 Review

Following up my promise, I present to you my first chapter review of Dorohedoro. Chapter 133 finally got translated last night and can be read here. Anyways, what does Q Hayashida present to us this time? The chapter is told in 3 major parts:

Chapter 133 continues to drive the plot of the final volume of the series. As we inch closer and closer to resolving the story and finding out the true nature of Kaiman's identity, Hayashida continues to display little nuggets that long time fans of the series will appreciate. The first portion of the chapter gives us a bit of what is going on with Aikawa/Kaiman (who is now carrying a tired Dr. Kasukabe) and "Curse" Risu. Along their path, Aikawa (whom btw currently bears a Kaiman, lizard head but seems to have donned the Aikawa personality) discovers what he believes to be a wrapped gourd. He uses the wrappings to wrap up store's kitchen knife which was beginning to cause his hand pain. Upon unwrapping the "gourd," Aikawa comes to realize that the wrappings actually belonged to a human head. Recognizing him as En's associate Shou, Dr. Kasukabe asks Aikawa to take the head with him as he wishes to conduct research on it later. This is really cool as fans finally get to see (although not completely) a bit of what Shou's real face actually looks like. With Chota's face recently being revealed, the only unmasked member of En's family left would be Turkey. Perhaps Hayashida will also allow us to see his face in an upcoming chapter.
Lastly, it's worth mentioning that the trio also encounter an entire "city" at the end of their segment. While Risu is confused at first by where they are, Aikawa ends their portion of the chapter by telling Risu, "You of all people should know this place Risu." I can't wait to find out what they've encountered next chapter. My guess is that it's the magical school they both attended in the past.

The next major section of the chapter highlights Asu/Kawajiri's struggles to free himself from Kai's cords. While Asu recently has been screwed over, with his blinding, binding, and inability to use his magic, I find it interesting that Hayshida has made him both useless as of recent to the plot and exclaiming that his, "pride as a devil" is on the line. 

This portion of the chapter also gives us more of what's occurring with Fujita's, Chota's, and Turkey's heads bobbing around. While they successfully remove the hammer that is lodged in Noi's head, Noi seems to be dead at the current moment; an element that may prove vastly problematic later on when the gang tries to repair their bodies. It's also worth mentioning that during their dialogue, one of the crates in the background breaks. I believe these crates (which have been shown many times in previous chapters) are supposed to represent the different times Kai is able to regenerate one of his heads (something I will get to shortly). This very same process has been shown before when Kaiman's head got lodged off by Shin and when En killed Kaiman. As such, the number of heads that Kai can utilize are becoming more and more limited, unless he's discovered a new way to add more to his original nine. 

The chapter's last major segment involves the plot between En, Ebisu, Dokuga, and now Shin. Last chapter En turned Shin into 326 mushrooms. In order to later dispel the curse and restore him back to normal, En needs all 326 mushrooms to be collected. While Ebisu has managed to collect 323 of the mushrooms, the last three are being hidden by Dokuga. Dokuga recognizes that Shin will identify him if he's returned to normal, thus Dokuga would be killed. So he's decided to run off with the last three mushrooms. The chapter ends with Dokuga running into his "boss" (aka bat shit insane devil Kai) who currently is carrying a naked Nikaido and the heads of Dokuga's comrades Saji and Ushishimada. Kai is also shown here regenerating a new head to Nikaido's surprise. 

*One thing notable is that on the very last page Dr. Kasukabe, in his weakened state, drops Shou's head on the ground, leaving it behind. Whether or not this will be important later on is left to be seen. 

With the slue of side plots occurring simultaneously to the main plot, I look forward to seeing just how Hayashida intends to end this series and tie up all the loose ends. Overall it was an enjoyable chapter and I eagerly await the next!

-Nights Off

My Top 10 Personal Favorite Characters in One Piece

One Piece is one of my personal favorite mangas of all time. As such, I thought it would be fun to try and come up with a list of my personal top 10 favorite characters in the entire series. This was an extremely hard list to make with the multitudes of memorable and likable characters in the series. After much time and contemplation I've managed to narrow it down to this list. First some honorable mentions!

Honorable Mentions:

Kuzan "Aokiji"

Kuzan is a chill dude.....

I like Kuzan a lot if only for the fact that he was once an admiral who ended up quitting the navy. To go from such a position to becoming a wandering vagabond in order to learn more about the world and himself is really interesting. While not directly stated as of yet, Kuzan seems to have recognized the injustices at the heart of the organization he once belonged to. He seems to be learning that perhaps pirates too can be good people and may not always be the clear-cut bad guys that the marines have painted them out to be. Kuzan's laid back personality has transferred onto his current status in the story, performing more an observatory and mentoring role. Also ice devil fruit powers are cool! 

Usopp

I really wanted put my boy Usopp on the top 10 list, it really was hard. But I couldn't let him go unmentioned. Usopp's character is downright hilarious. He serves as equal parts the majority of the comic relief amongst the Strawhats and a character whom many viewers can relate to. Usopp started off as arguably the weakest member of the Strawhwats. Yet, over time he has grown to become quite the sniper and has even developed an ability to see people's auras (something I imagine Oda will utilize in future arcs). It's really hard to not love Usopp. He's so funny and adds a humanistic level to the powerful main crew.

Gol D. Roger

The pirate king himself! Learning about Roger's past was one of the coolest portions of the One Piece story. It's crazy to think that the man who was once considered the most powerful pirate in the world was a normal human with no devil fruit powers; armed with a sword in one hand and a pistol in the other. Roger was known for his iconic smile, passion, and voracity in life. He was even the original owner of Luffy's straw hat! Setting up the entire plot for the One Piece story itself, I couldn't let Roger go unmentioned. 

Sabo

I do have a soft spot for the successor of Ace's will and power. Sabo is a character I'm hoping will play a bigger roll in future arcs. Originally introduced as a childhood friend of Luffy and Ace, Sabo came from a privileged/noble background. Yet, he yearned for a life of adventure; free from the his harsh family life and wealth. For the longest time, Sabo was believed to be dead. However, he has not only survived but has become a member of the Revolutionary Army. 

I think the quality of Sabo's that resonated with me the most is his deep desire to protect Luffy, never wanting to go through the pain of losing a brother ever again (like he did with Ace). 

Killer

Killer is a pretty awesome character that I'm really hoping we get to learn more about in future arcs. 

He's Kid's right hand man and is considered one of the members of the worse generation. Much like Zoro, he has no devil fruit powers and is a member of the 11 supernovas (having one of the highest bounties for a rookie pirate) despite not being a captain. He's mainly here cause I want to see more of him. 

Edward Newgate "Whitebeard"

I don't even have explain this one. By far, one of the manliest characters in all of anime and manga. It was really hard to not to include him on the actual top 10. 

*And now on to the actual top 10*

10) Issho "Fujitora"

While we only have recently been introduced to Fujitora, he's left a strong impression on me already. There are a couple of things I really like about his character. Such include: the fact that he's blind, his gambling problem, his devil fruit that allows him to control gravity and bring down fucking METEORS, the fact that he actually likes Luffy and regrets having to fight him, and....he's based off a famous blind swordsman from a Japanese film series entitled Zatoichi (a series of films I'm a personal fan of). 

(Zatoichi)

Also check out this clip if you're interested in checking out what the films are like (Warning: violent material)

Anyways, my love for Zatoichi aside, Fujitora is one of the few admirals we've seen who seems to respect pirates where it is deserved and is willing to take a step back and negotiate with them; seeking the greater good of the common citizens. This is an interesting quality for an admiral, as the majority of them so far have been portrayed as ruthless executioners who only seek to destroy pirates. Perhaps a quality stemming from his disability, Fujitora is almost as laid back as Kuzan making for a cool admiral whom I definitely look forward to seeing more of in future arcs. Did I mention he can call down meteors?!?!

9) Monkey D. Luffy

Putting together this was very hard and took me a few days and a few discussion amongst friends to really narrow it all down. I had 4 versions of the list prior to the one you see today. And all three of them did not include Luffy; placing him every time in the honorable mentions section. But I can't deny it...Monkey D. Luffy had to be on the top 10! Aside from the fact that he's the main character and that his powers are all awesome...one thing I really love about Luffy's character (which has been confirmed by Oda himself) is the fact that he's asexual. He's not interested in romance with any of the other female characters in the story. Luffy's true love lies with adventure and seeing his goal of becoming king of the pirates come to fruition. I also really love the amount of detail Oda goes into explaining each of Luffy's abilities (I.E. Luffy's Gear Second being the byproduct of the fact that Luffy's body is entirely made of rubber, allowing him to increase the speed of his blood flow and survive, whereas a normal human being would perish). All in all, he's funny, admirable, loyal, and strong. Luffy is a fine example of a shounen hero and spouts some of the coolest moments in all of anime history. 

8) Roronoa Zoro

Zoro is my personal favorite member of the Strawhat crew. While he doesn't have any devil fruit powers, he is instead armed with fantastic swordsmanship and a strong ambition to become the world's number one swordsman. Hell, Zoro left a big impression on me from the very get go with the fact he fights with three swords at once...that's so metal! Fanboying aside, Zoro is a character who is found a healthy balance in driving a good portion of the story's comedy, being serious when appropriate, and participating in some of the most memorable and enjoyable fights in the entire series. Zoro is even considered a member of the worse generation, not having devil fruit powers or being a pirate captain. Zoro has certainly created a strong legacy for himself, one that I hope will only grow. Lastly, I think it's worth mentioning that Zoro is able to withstand an inhumanly amount of physical pain. The man is durable and fiercely loyal to his captain. If the scene where Kuma transfers all of Luffy's pain into Zoro body in order to allow Luffy to recover is not indicative of that, then I don't know what is:

7) Crocodile

Corcodile was a character I knew would find a place somewhere on this list. He's frankly my favorite villain in the series so far; albeit not the most powerful one. Crocodile is the first villain in the series that manages to actually utterly defeat Luffy in battle. As such, Crocodile single-handedly fostered Luffy's development in an early arc of the series. Apart from this, Crocodile's devil fruit is amongst one of the more powerful and useful fruits we've seen thus far (imo). The ability to manipulate and become sand is no joke, granting him the ability to even suck the hydration out of an individual; thus killing them. I think the thing I like most about Crocodile however is that he's steadfast in his own morals and beliefs, never straying away from how he views things. Crocodile is never willing to conform for others even in the face of overwhelming power. He lacks a code of honor and can be brutally malicious at times. However, he seems to secretly harbor an admiration towards Luffy; something really interesting for his character. It was really cool to see him again when he break out of Impel Down with Luffy and participate in the great pirate war. Here's to hoping the two team up again in the future. 

"If I do this, I can stop the rebellion", "if I do that, I can stop the rebellion"... Open your eyes, princess! Your zealous idealism disgusts me! Ideals can only be spoken by those powerful enough to carry them out. And that excludes you!" -Crocodile 

6.) Monkey D. Garp

Vice Admiral Garp is the biological grandfather of protagonist Monkey D. Luffy. Garp is a fantastic character whom truly deserves his own set of write ups and posts, (something I may consider doing in the future) but I'll try my best to sum up what I love about him the most. Apart from being down right hilarious every time he appears, Garp is a ridiculously honorable man. Despite being so high up in the Navy, he's committed one of the biggest crimes against the World Government. While a big portion of his life was dedicated to capturing the pirate king himself, Gol D. Roger, Garp was able to develop a form of genuine respect for the man (despite all of his crimes). Garp was willing to take Roger's son and raise him as his own, thus saving Portgas D. Ace's life. While he does not approve of his grandsons' decisions to become pirates, he has been shown to be truly proud of Luffy and Ace. This alone makes Garp a lovable character...well that and he can throw cannonballs with his bare hands! Lastly, its worth mentioning that there is a recurring theme throughout One Piece as to who is the morally accurate force in the world? The pirates or the Navy? While most characters blindly side with their own faction, some character such as Garp and Kuzan are able to permeate somewhere in between the debate. Scenes such as this really drive this point. For Grap, it's a moral struggle between abiding by his duties vs his love for his family. 

(Garp throwing cannonballs with his bare hands in the manga)

5.) Bartolomeo "the Cannibal"

This scene alone pretty much sums up why I love Bart so much. Another character whose only been recently introduced, Bartolomeo is the man! Spouting an awesome character design, Bart is essentially the One Piece fan base placed into the story itself. He's a fan boy just like a lot of us are and it's utterly hilarious! The amount of admiration Bart holds for the Straw Hats is incredible as he's already helped them out considerably in the fight against Doflamingo and his goons while trying to control his inner fan boy. Bart's devil fruit powers are also really useful and worth mentioning. The ability to produce powerful barriers that can even deflect other characters' powerful attacks is really cool. In the latest character popularity poll that Oda held, Bart was ranked number 9! This is crazy awesome for a character who was only recently introduced, as Oda tends to utilize these polls to gauge which characters ought to get more screen time and attention. That being said, there's a lot of talk about Bart potentially joining the Straw Hat crew once this current arc is over. I really hope this is the case as I've been growing more and more attached to him as the chapters go on. 

(Bartolomeo fanboying over Luffy)

4.) Bentham "Mr.2" Bon Clay

Oh man give me a sec to hold back all my tears and feels here about this guy. Watch this and give me a sec........

Okay I think I'm good... BON MOTHAFUCKIN CLAY is the bro of all bros. Starting off as an enemy of the Strawhats working under Crocodile, and later becoming a true friend and ally to Luffy, Bon Clay hands down has some of the best character development in the series. Helping Luffy survive and escape Impel Down was enough to get him on this list. He is fiercely loyal and proud to help a friend in need. Also I love his character design, look at the guy: he's a goofball! 

While Luffy believes him to be dead after the events in Impel Down, I really hope Oda allows the two to meet up again in the future. Who knows, maybe Luffy will go back and rescue Clay at a later point. 

3.) Nico Robin

Talk about character development...Nico Robin is one of the very few female characters (amongst a cast of many males) that I have really come to adore in the One Piece universe. Despite having a crush on her, I adored all the development she got in the Water 7 arc. Learning about her past and everything that has driven her ideology and philosophy was tear jerking to say the least. That being said, to see what she's become over the years is a truly heart warming element that I think most fans can come to adore about her character. I also really like her role as the archaeologist of the Strawhat crew. It's a fairly unique position that is not typically found on a pirate ship. Lastly, it's also worth mentioning that she was also once a villain (working under Crocodile) before turning a new leaf and joining the Straw Hats. Oda has set up a really interesting plot element about her character in her ability to read the poneglyphs, something that will prove to be useful and important in future arcs. Robin is a great character and I hope to see her develop as a kindhearted soul in the future. 

2.) "Red-Haired" Shanks

The man, the myth, the legend! Shanks is one of the four great pirate lords (or Yonko). If it weren't for Shanks, Luffy would not be around today or have been inspired to become a pirate in the first place. He's even the one who gave Luffy his signature straw hat. 

Something I really love about Shanks is his power and strength. He's a bloody one-handed (losing one of his hands to a beast to save Luffy) swordsman who has no devil fruit powers. He's just a badass whose strength commands respect from all those around him. He's even able to go toe to toe with some of the more powerful people in the One Piece universe (i.e. Akainu).

To become such a legendary and powerful pirate in his physical condition is truly remarkable. While we do not know the extents of his abilities, we've come to understand that he is amongst the more powerful members of the One Piece series. He's also one one the more kind and benevolent pirate captains we've come to see so far. All and all, I love Shanks. Every time he's mentioned or shown, I get eagerly excited to see what happens next. I really can't wait to see what Oda does with his character in the future (particularity when Luffy and Shanks will have to fight). 

1.) Trafalgar D. Water Law

Law has been my all time favorite One Piece character for quite a while now. I simply love everything about his character. From his cold and direct personality, to his skills as a doctor. Law is a badass who is another member of the worse generation along with Luffy and the others. How many characters you know flip you the bird the moment they are introduced?

(Exhibit A)

Law's devil fruit powers are also my personal favorite in the entire series. The ability to manipulate and cut up anything in a particular space at will is pretty freaking awesome and has multiple uses/applications. Hell his devil fruit has even been recently revealed to be able to grant an individual eternal life in exchange for Law's own life. It's also interesting that Law's powers specifically take a major toll on his body compared to other devil fruit users who seem to able to utilize their powers at will with no repercussions. 

Law also has one of the saddest back stories in all of One Piece. He was forced to watch everyone he loved die before his eyes, fostering the dark development of his persona that readers have come to understand about him. Law is the sole survivor of a horrible incident on an island plagued by a non-contagious disease. Not understood by the rest of the world, the World Government decided it was best to quarantine and massacre the inhabitants of Law's home to prevent the disease from spreading beyond the island. This disease did however take a toll on hosts' bodies. It shortened their life spans to considerable degrees, granting them a limited window of existence. If it weren't for Doflamningo's brother sacrificing himself and giving Law the Ope Ope no Mi, Law would be dead today. 

Law's will to survive in order to seek his revenge against Doflamingo is strong. He is a man who is willing to work with others that he respects in order to see his goals met. Handing off his revenge to be completed by Luffy was no easy task for him. Yet, he's finally come to accept this and has left it all in Luffy's hands. I'm very happy to see that Law's alliance with Luffy's crew will continue on into the next arc as they both work together to take down the yonko Kaido. What his future role as a member of the D. clan, is left to be seen. However, I eagerly await to see just what Oda has in store for my all time favorite character is this brilliant series. 

And those are my personal favorite characters in this fantastic series. I hope you enjoyed it and as always have a wonderful day. 

-Nights Off