Fall Anime 2014 | My Line-up

A new season means new animes! 
I have taken my information and list of animes from these lists: Crunchyroll's Fall 2014 Anime Line-up & Anime News Network's Upcoming anime

Basically, I'm just going to talk about the animes that I am most excited for/interested in seeing this fall season.
Also, I'm kind of a little late in putting this up because these animes are all really close to airing so yeah, I need to do better at that punctual thing. 

**Warning: Super long post!**

**Disclaimer: The animation production companies and airing dates are provided by the links above ^; my summaries are my own. Also, none of the images are my own.**

TV Series
Akatsuki no Yona

Animated By: Studio Pierrot
Airing Date: October 7th
Synopsis: Princess Yona has always lived a secluded life inside the castle. When her beloved cousin, Soo-won murders her father, the King, and takes the position of ruler, she escapes with her bodyguard, Hak, in order to find the Four Dragons described in legends to aid them in usurping the throne from Soo-won.
I cannot describe how much I love the manga and all the dragons, and oh my god, Yona. She undergoes some character development and becomes one of the strongest and most likable main characters in shoujo manga. Super excited for this; Studio Pierrot, don't screw up.

Shirobako

Animated By: P.A. Works
Airing Date: October 9th
Synopsis: Five girls that try to make it in the anime world by writing, producing, and even voice-acting.

Because P.A.works. An anime about making an anime. YES. Bakuman all over again (except anime this time).

Bonjour Koiaji Patisserie

Animated By: Silver Link/Connect

Airing Date: October 11th

Synopsis: Girl transfers to this prestigious confectionery school. Four hot guys. 'nuff said.

The plot sounds very similar to Yumeiro Patisserie, and I'm pretty sure everyone who has seen YP thought that when they saw this anime. I don't really have high expectations but I like to check out the reverse harems of every season because reverse harem is awesome.

PSYCHO PASS 2 I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOREVER FOR THIS

sorry no picture!
Animated By: Production I.G.

Airing Date: October 9th

Synopsis: Continuation of Psycho Pass. Akane Tsunemori chose to place her trust in the Sibyl System, and now works under a new police division. But soon, yet another foe will appear...
Spoiler incoming so if you haven't finished watching Psycho Pass, don't read. 
I don't think anyone understands how pumped I am for this new season. Oh MY GOD. After that ending, I just had to have more. Interested to see who the new antagonist is this season. I wonder if they are going to get us attached to the 'villain' and kill 'em off again. Hmmmm?


Ookami Shoujo to Kuro Ouji

Animated By: TYO Animations

Airing Date: October 5th

Synopsis: Girl lies about this hot guy being her boyfriend to show off in front of her friends. Guy finds out and actually agrees to be her 'boyfriend'. Turns out his a sadist. In order for him to pretend to be her boyfriend, the girl has to be his slave.
The premise sounds really kinky, I know, but I promise you it's not. Come on, it's shoujo; just a bunch of fluff and flowers (unless it's tagged as smut, but even shoujo smut isn't really bad).
I read some of the manga and it was okay. Not really notable, but it was a little entertaining to read.
This is one of the few shoujo animes releasing this season so I'll give it a watch. 

Yowamushi Pedal Grande Road Is this the only sports anime this season?

Animated By: TMS Entertainment

Airing Date: October 6th

Synopsis: The continuation of Yowamushi Pedal. It follows a high-school otaku who has a hidden talent for cycling. He joins his school's team and they compete in the Inter-High tournament. The tournament continues in this sequel.
YES. That ending to the first season was really abrupt; even though I knew they were making a continuation, that was just not the way to end a season. Nonetheless, looking forward to this!



Donten ni Warau

Animated By: Dogakobo

Airing Date: October 3rd

Synopsis: Takes place in the Meiji era. The government has made carrying swords illegal, thus generating backlash, and a lot of violence. The came up with a solution of lake prison, which you pretty much couldn't escape from since the only way to get in is by water, and there are three boys of a family called Kumo that are tasked with the job of excorting the criminals there. 
HISTORICAL ANIME. WE NEED MORE HISTORICAL ANIME. YES, I'M EXCITED FOR THIS BUT HISTORICAL AS IN OUTSIDE OF EAST ASIA PLEASE. NOT THAT FEUDAL JAPAN ISN'T INTERESTING. Sorry for the caps but I have very strong feelings towards this.

Magic Kaito

Animated By: A-1 Pictures

Airing Date: October 4th

Synopsis: The lovable and memorable Kaito Kid follows in his father's footsteps in order to learn the truth behind his death.
I liked him in Detective Conan, so pretty interested in an anime focused entirely on him. If only they made an anime focusing on every beloved side character out there...

Kiseijuu

Animated By: Madhouse (HECK YEAH)

Airing Date: October 8th

Synopsis: Parasites vs. Humans essentially. The main character develops a symbiosis with his parasite.
Last season was Tokyo Ghoul, this season is Kiseijuu! I've loved Historie by the same author (which you should check out if you like historical-fiction), so I've been interested in reading Kiseijuu, or Parasyte. I was kind of iffy about it since it was horror, and that isn't really my genre, but now that I've read Tokyo Ghoul, maybe I'll give it a shot. Who am I kidding, I'm probably just going to watch the anime lol.

Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso

Animated By: A-1 Pictures (holy heck they are animating a lot of animes this season)

Airing Date: October 9th

Synopsis: Tells the story of a prodigious piano prodigy who can't seem to find his own rhythm after his mother dies. Then, he meets an enthusiastic violin player, and her energy rubs off on him, rekindling his passion for piano.
Any anime about music is fair game for me, honestly.

Shingeki no Bahamut Genesis

Animated By: MAPPA
Airing Date: October 6th
Synopsis: Based off of a fantasy trading card game. Bahamut, a creature that threatens the destruction of all land, is defeated and sealed away by the alliance of humans, gods, and demons. The key to the seal was split between the gods and demons. One day, however, a human manages to steal the gods' side of the key....DUNDUNDUN.
I actually mistook this for something related to Shingeki no Kyojin because, well, the 'Shingeki' in the title. So that was a little embarrassing moment for myself.
UPDATE: OH MY GOD I want to hit myself for being so stupid! I used to play Rage of Bahamut and I didn't even realize this was an anime adaptation of it. It looks so different!

Gugure! Kokkuri-san

Animated By: TMS Entertainment

Airing Date: October 5th

Synopsis: Uhm, hello? Ghosts pretty much making a little girl their cult leader? Handsome fox guy? I'M SOLD. 
Chances are that I'll probably check this anime out but not watch it for long since it seems like a gag anime, and there are only a few gag animes that actually do it right (Yakitate! Japan, Sket Dance).

Also, Shingeki no Kyojin: Guren no Yumiya the movie is coming out, supposedly, November 11th.
And there's a Fantasista OVA on Fantasista Stella, which is a spin-off of the original series, about the main character and his friend aiming for the FIFA World Cup 2014 in Brasil. Yeah, they actually made a manga about that. AND I'M SO ANGRY because you get the OVA with a limited edition bundle so basically, I'm probably never going to see it. ALSO, that they haven't made Fantasista a full length anime show yet! It's one of the best soccer mangas out there!

I can't get over how bad 3D CG looks

Probably the biggest disappointment so far, though? Sanzoku no Musume Ronja. I mean, the only prominent person from Studio Ghibli that's working on this project is Goro Miyazaki but STILL. Having Studio Ghibli involved with an anime that uses 3D CG for every single animation is just a waste, in my opinion. I know, budget cuts and everything but Polygon Pictures, you gotta step up your game, or just don't produce this anime at all.

Day 22: Home Alone Activities! | Make it a Good Day

Hey! I have a Calculus test tomorrow! And I'm currently writing up a new blog post. :D It's official; I can't sort out my priorities.
But hey! I'm happy to be updating again, and I hope whoever is reading this right now is too (or not, you probably don't care but that's okay.)

I want to start off by asking: How was your day?
I know some people might hate that question, including me, but I think it's very important to express interest in what's happening to others. I personally don't like that question because my weekdays are generally boring since they're school days so I really don't have much to say other than, "it was okay; it's just school," etc, etc. But I have been improving and becoming more optimistic, which is a good sign!

I hope anyone who reads this just sends me a message telling me about their day, or even about themselves because I am a sad, sad girl with a lot of time on her hands, and I'm always willing to hear what people have to say.

Sometimes bad days just happen and you can't prevent it; but always try to make the best out of every day. :) You will feel a lot better, whether it's a small step like complimenting someone and seeing their face light up, or getting out of bed in 5 minutes instead of 15, etc.

Day 22: My Home Alone Activities

Something you may or may not know about me already if you've read my other blog posts, but I am a bit of a hermit. I don't talk much, I'm pretty shy, and I'm almost always reluctant to get out of the house if there's not a purpose to it (e.g. going to a kungfu class, going to play tennis, going shopping, going to hang out with friends (which I rarely have), and yeah you get the gist of it). Like, I'm so shy that I don't even want to talk a walk around the neighborhood for fear of seeing people (unless I'm with someone else though).

But anyway, enough about my anti-social-ness, let's get on with my activities!
I have quite a few, since of course, I do stay home often.

• Watch a show/movie: Very relaxing. I love movie-time!
• Eat: Food is good. Food is nutritious.
• Work on homework/projects: Because you have to. Yeah. Sucks.
• Surf the Web: Sometimes I get really bored and I don't feel like doing anything. This mainly means scrolling through tumblr and searching something interesting that I've heard about before.
• Work on Fanfictions: I'm currently working on two fanfictions; one from Diabolik Lovers and one from Hikaru no Go. If you like either of those series check out my page!
• Read manga/watch anime: YAAAAAS.
• Exercise (take out those dumbbells and that yoga mat!): For me, this would probably mean practicing kungfu/stretching/conditioning)
• Draw: either on paper or tablet!
• Creative Projects: I like to take things I've used or just tossed to the side and refurbish them (e.g. cardboard boxes, paper scraps, etc.)
• Sleep: Self-explanatory. 

There's plenty more that I've forgotten, but these are my usual go-to activities when I'm home (it doesn't really matter if I'm alone.)

Make your day a good one. :)
Happy Reading/Watching/whatever it is that you do!

Day 21: Biggest Fear | Blog Challenge

Hey, lookie at what we have here. I haven't abandoned this challenge yet! I was SO close to finishing this challenge (only about 10 days to go) when I thought I should take a break and focus on posting other things. You know, the thing is, sometimes I spend a lot of time on these blog challenge, sometimes I don't.
But regardless, here I am! I'm totally not back to updating regularly on this blog; I have SO much homework from school, plus I have to go to after-school activities PLUS I have to study for the PSAT aka prepping for the SAT, which I loathe the day I will have to take it.
So yeah, I have a lot on my schedule. Am I managing my time wisely? NOPE.
And to be honest, these first 3 weeks of school, I haven't been doing to good in my classes. I know what you're thinking; I should be studying. But hey, a little blog post never hurt anybody, right?

Also, check out my blog challenge tag to see my previous blog challenge posts.
My Previous BC post: Day 19&20

So enough about that. Let's get with today's blog challenge!

Day 21-Your Biggest Fear
So, this topic could get really personal, and I will apologize if anyone gets uncomfortable, or disgusted with me.

Like most people's fear, I do fear pain and heights and stuff like that.
But one of my biggest fears? Probably something like being alone. Which is literally the state I live in. Alone. In solitary. I know, you're thinking I'm pretty weird.
Why would I choose to live a way that I fear of? That needs to my next biggest fear. Change. And I'm not talking about suddenly-winning-the-lottery-change, but a change that forces me out of my shell; forces me to be put into a situation where I am uncomfortable. That's why I prefer to be alone, although I hate being alone. I'm just so freaking afraid of stepping out of my comfort zone. I'm realizing that this makes no sense at all. I realize that most of the things I do make close to no sense at all. I was never diagnosed with it, but I near 100% sure that I have some sort of anxiety. I have these weird quirks that I do to keep my breathing even, and to calm down my heartbeat when I'm panicking. And I hate my weird quirks. And I hate when I panic.
Saying this would probably generate hate, but an example of me stepping out of my shell lately was volunteering. I had no qualms with helping people but it was the fact I was interacting with people, the fact I had to put up this cheerful facade did not settle well with me.
That initial thought was what disgusted me with myself.
So I told myself, "Cheerful facade? Come on, Julie, if you have to put up a mask, why the f*ck (excuse my language) are you even volunteering anyway? The volunteer youth group certainly doesn't need your poor attitude." I pulled myself together, and actually started to enjoy my time volunteering, and to genuinely want to help others. I definitely do think that it has made me more comfortable with social situations and working with people too. And there is such a great feeling afterwards from all the people thanking you for what you've done, which is absolutely crazy because I felt like I hadn't done much at all. So if you do have the time, I would recommend volunteering in your community. It's great, and others definitely do need your help.

So yeah, I somehow managed to end this on a positive note. We all have fears that will possibly never be cured but I hope you all continue to challenge yourself. My advice is, always aim to be a better person, and try to do something that forces you out of your shell once in a while.
And when you want to cry, just cry. It hurts holding it back in more, trust me.

My posts always sound so choppy... Sorry about that! xP
I hope you all have a great day!

September 2014 | Monthly TBR

Hello once again! I hope to keep this post fairly short, but I am determined to try to do this thing again! And with success!
If you're not sure what I mean by Monthly TBRs (which probably you do), it's basically just a list I make for myself at the beginning of each month on what books I plan to read. This month I picked out 5 physical books for myself out of my TBR jar, and I'll just list them down below! As far as ebooks go, I don't know if I'll read anymore other than Da Mo Yao (Ballad of the Desert) by Tong Hua this month, which I started near the end of August. 

September TBR Goodreads shelf

My September TBR...GO! 

• Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
• The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
• One-Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
• Escape from Camp 14 by Blaine Harden

 (covers below in order)

That's the end of my September TBR! I tried to put a variety of books in there. I think these are the perfect books to start off my school year. What books will you be reading? 

 Have a great day! :) 

Updates & Dramas | All that lovely stuff

Anyone notice the change to my blog? Yes, I will be changing the backgrounds/color themes according to season. Hopefully I'll be able to find some pics with wisteria in the different seasons (because you know, ardentwisteria.)

I have recently made a GoodReads account! (Be my friend please!) So, I just kind of wanted to put it out there first.

Hello, lovely (but cruel) world, I have been absent from this blog for, what, the last half of August, but FEAR NOT. I will be more active this month even though school is starting, I promise. :)
If you're wondering what I was doing during my absence, such as maybe going on a cruise or going out of state, PFFFT noooo, I was staying home trying to cram my summer homework. Yeah. Take a shot every time I mention my summer homework on my blog. I...actually don't recommend doing that...nevermind.

Anywho, while I was gone, I picked up a few shows. It seems that during my desperate cramming, I still found the time to watch some dramas. #procrastinationatbest
I used to like watching a lot of asian dramas a while back, but for some reason, I kind of fell out of touch with them and started to focus more on anime. Interestingly enough, it's the opposite right now.
I think I watched too much anime over the summer that I'm now in a slump and sick of anime. (GASP who can be sick of anime??? Apparently me.) 
SOOOO, I found new obsessions guys. OH. MY. GOD. Emphasis on Running Man, please. Korean variety shows on another level, man. Variety show game too strong, too strong.

***Expect reviews for some of the dramas I picked up!

But going back to the first drama I picked up:
Nodame Cantabile (2006). 

I'm just going to type down a few thoughts that I need to get out about this drama and the rest will go in a separate post.
Nodame Cantabile is a j-drama that revolves around orchestral music, and classical music in general. Lovely melodies throughout the drama, and I wished that there were more than 11 episodes. And this drama had such a great cast of actors/actresses, and just. Perfection. That's all I can say.
Watch it for quirky characters, beautiful music, comedy, and fluff romance. That is actually probably the only thing I want to complain about, and it's the romance. I really wanted more interaction between the both of them!

The second and third drama I picked up was Palace or Gong, and it's a fairly popular time-travel period drama, along with Bu Bu Jing Xin, that has a similar premise as well, because they both aired at around the same time (haha did they plan that or something?)
I watched around 20 or so episodes of Palace but then it just way too overdramatic and unbearable so I had to drop it. Well, to be fair, it was pretty ridiculous in the beginning too, but I thought it was funny, and I also thought that since the heroine was a history buff, meaning she knew what events were going to happen but she didn't really use that to her advantage that often. In the beginning, yes, a little, but she was really careless about it.

I prefer Bu Bu Jing Xin by a LOOOOONG RUN. Oh my god, this drama. It makes you fall deeply in love with it after just a couple of episodes, but as you continue watching, your heart is slowly torn apart. I have not finished this drama yet because finishing it means that the whole journey would end. And I don't want that. So I put it on hold for now. xD
BUT WATCH IT IF YOU HAVEN'T. I think most people have heard of/watched BBJX already because it's really popular, or, at least 3 years ago it was really popular. 

And lastly, I am currently watching Sungkyunkwan Scandal, which has that reverse harem aspect that those two time-travel period dramas ^ above have. It's basically about a girl who cross-dresses and goes into this all-male school called Sungkyunkwan. Hence the title. I am loving it so far! It has romance, political intrigue, awesome characters, great cinematography and acting! Korean dramas always impress me so much with their quality. Although, I don't like the look of female actresses that get plastic surgery. I don't have anything against plastic surgery, I just don't like the look of when it's fairly obvious that you got something done. Example: Park Min-young, the main female lead of Sungkyunkwan Scandal. If this drama happened IRL, her features would definitely not pass as a boy, even though I think she did a fantastic job acting as one. Maybe it was the lighting in some of the scenes but it always looked as if her face was uneven, and that one side of her face was puffier than the other.
One thing that bothers me about this drama (I'm on episode 14), is that a lot of the actors/actresses eyes look really watery sometimes, so I get really confused because it seems that the character is always on the verge of tears (again, Park Min-young as Kim Yoon-hee.)

Plus Lizzy and Joong-ki--Miss you guys!

Now for a special mention, the one show that I'm HEAD-OVER-HEELS OBSSESSED about: that's right, ladies and gentleman, the popular game variety show, SBS's Running Man!
Good lord, I've only watched about 10 episodes, and this is like, my new religion.
Running Man is HILARIOUS, sometimes over-the-top, but regardless, I love it! I love the whole cast, and love their interaction with each other and also the guests.
Props to Song Ji-hyo for kicking ass as the only female cast member. Her relationship with Gary as the Monday Couple never fails to crack me up. I'm so sad that Joong-ki had to leave though. He was awesome on the show. 

That's it for me right now! Whew! I feel like I don't know how to blog anymore after not blogging for a few weeks.
Have a good one! :)

The Beast Player Erin/Kemono no Souja Erin | Anime Review + Discussion

Note: This review contains a non-spoiler part and an in-depth spoiler discussion. The part below is non-spoiler. Please enjoy my review! Skip to the bottom for my rating!

Anime produced by Production I.G.

This anime is PHENOMENAL. I highly recommend to everyone. You don't even need to be an anime

fan. Just watch this anime. It's become one of my new favorites. I just CAN'T stop gushing over it. Where do I even start with this review?
First of all, this appears to be a children's anime, as the main character is a 10-year-old at the start of the series, but rest-assured, she doesn't stay the same age throughout the series. There are two major time-skips; each with a four-year gap in between (there's also a short time-skip near the end but I don't want to be too spoiler-y.)
I'm not even sure if I can review this well enough because I honestly wasn't paying too much attention to the political conflict going on. xD
So. Onto the summary!

The anime of The Beast Player Erin is based on a light novel series by Uehashi Nahoko(comprised of 4 books; Touda, Oujuu, The Quest, and Conclusion), and if you recognize that name, it may be because she was the author of the Moribito series, which was adapted into a 26-episode anime named Moribito--Guardian of the Spirit (commonly known by it's romaji title Seirei no Moribito). I actually recommend that anime too, it's pretty good. Uehashi Nahoko is just so damn good at storytelling and creating these fascinating universes. Just a little awesome fact; she won the Hans Christian Andersen Award this year!

The series of The Beast Player Erin starts off with a 10-year-old Erin, living in a village called Ake with her mother. Her father died when she was young due to unknown reasons, but you can pretty much assume what happened later on. There are two distinct, fantasy creatures that exist in this series, the Touda (looks like a red Alligator to me) and the Oujuu (upper torso is of a bird, lower is of a wolf or some animal of the Canidae family), though the latter doesn't get introduced until later on in the series. Erin's village is a Touda breeding village, because their quarter is famously known for using Touda on the battlefront; the Grand Duke's Quarter, obviously ruled by a Grand Duke.
Erin's mother, named Soyon, is a Touda breeder in this village, and is highly regarded because of  her skills. Not only that, but she was formerly apart of the Mist People, commonly called Arryo (which literally means "mist people"), and they are not liked by a majority of people because they are known to hide secrets and use "magic". Well, the villagers all respect her except for one prejudiced idiot. 

The first couple of episodes are basically episodic adventures, kind of similar to Natsume Yuujinchou, and gives off a light-hearted feel. It soon takes a shocking, but not unexpected turn. After that, the story follows Erin, as she aims to become a Beastinarian. Of course, there is also a war that is brewing between the two quarters that are introduced in this story, the one that is ruled by the Grand Duke, and the other by the Queen.

If you think this is just a sweet, fun children's anime, you're in for a real surprise. I would say this is more of a family-oriented anime; despite some of the dark themes that they have; although, maybe some children wouldn't catch onto some things. I've heard that the light novels are waayy darker so I'm going to eventually read them (I'll be slowly translating them....if only I could read Japanese...). I'm surprised that the novels were written for children though...because damn, they're pretty deep and depressing from the summaries I've read online.

One last thing; the anime has a lot of reused scenes and flashbacks. For some parts, it really adds to the scene to make it more impact-ful but other times, it's plain annoying. And it's annoying most of the time. But please DON'T drop the series because of that! It's so much better than some reoccurring flashbacks! I cannot stress this enough. And some people still see this as a children's anime which confuses me...unless children are developing at a faster pace than I expected (it's quite scary!)

Anyway, that seems like a lot but that's it for the non-spoiler section! I'm going to be doing a deeper, full series analysis below so don't spoil this great series for yourself, please. I strongly suggest you watch it. I strongly suggest EVERYONE watch this.
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Plot Discussion
When I first started this anime, holy crap, I did not know what I was getting into. The first couple of episodes were pretty light-hearted and had a calming slice-of-life feel to it (although not modern). Then came the episode where they had to cut Lulu's ears off and I felt so bad for both Lulu and Erin. It was from then on that I realized The Beast Player Erin was going to a different anime. This was no children's anime.

Soyon's death, although expected came as a huge shock to me. I didn't think that she was going to die in such a brutal fashion, however, I think it's one of the best character deaths I've seen in anime. The impact it had on me, oh my god. 

So after I completed the anime, I was curious about the novels, since I've heard that they've toned down a lot of stuff in the anime and read this post comparing the first volume with it's anime counterpart. It turns out that the volume actually starts in the anime at episode 6, and that they probably did the first 5 episodes to show the bond between Erin and Soyon, and feel attached to them (in order to break our hearts in episode 7).
Also, Nukku and Mokku weren't in the novels and were only made for comedy relief purposes in the anime. And honestly, that was a HUGE mistake. They were so inappropriate during serious situations, and if there are children that watch this, then it shows them that it's okay to be dumb and oblivious like these two fools. There were a few parts where I thought they were okay, but overall, I couldn't care less if they were in the anime or not.
Then, there's that debate concerning whether this is a children's anime or not. I think it should be your own choice to whether or not you watch an anime. If a child sees Erin and wants to watch the anime then I think they should be able to, however, I think that they would lose their interest in this anime as Erin grows older in the series. The anime also grows darker. There's also lots of crying. So unless your child is really depressing, I don't think they would like it very much. And by the way, I'm speaking for kids under 10 years old. 

One thing I want to criticize, is the lack of the Mist People in the anime. Not sure if it's the same in the novels but I honestly thought they would've played a bigger role. We don't get to know much about them except their past, and how they got their name "Aowrow". I would've like to see more of their Renditioner skills, especially the whistling technique that Soyon did to save Erin from the Toudas.
And if they didn't want Erin to draw attention to herself, why didn't they just take her in after Soyon died? Why did Nassan stalk her for almost 8 years without doing anything? Like, come on, that's a major loophole, man.
Something I really admired about TBPE was the themes that it contained. Love, betrayal, beast-human relationship, chasing your dreams, war, politics, etc. What hit me the hardest was Erin and Lilan's fighting relationship. Erin was desperately trying to close the gap between humans and beasts. To see her get hurt over and over again and lose the fire in her eyes was so terribly agonizing. I like how she gained the respect and trust of the beasts because it was a very real approach, rather than using magic or just having that "natural" ability to do so.

This might be something small, but I thought the moment when Erin finally wore her mother's bracelet around her wrist was a nice touch, esp. since there was no bracelet in the novels. I was wondering when she would stop wearing the bracelet around her neck and wear it on her wrist but I never expected her to start wearing it that way. Kind of sad, actually. This shows that Erin is on the path of any other beastinarian. (**spoilers of the novel that I read online; highlight to read** Erin actually creates a battalion of Beast-Lords for some reason and commits the same mistake that Queen Je made.)

Not going to lie, I cried at the end when Lilan went back to save Erin. That was probably my favorite moment in the whole entire series. Finally. FINALLY. Lilan and Erin definitely formed a strong bond with each other, and I think even a mute whistle couldn't break it.

Finally Damiya's plot, the Saigamul, the Sezan, etc. The juicy political war stuff. I pretty sure everyone guessed that Damiya was going to be the main antagonist of the story because he made his appearance as a creepy, leecher character. I still don't really understand the thing with the Saigamul though. I know Damiya was commanding them, but they were still apart of a separate faction, I believe. We all know he was conspiring on his own, with what the Queen's quarter regards as the enemy. At least, this is what I make out of it.

Okay, onto the character discussion (sorry for this long post)!
Characters
Okay, not going to lie, but I wasn't sure where's Soyon's intentions lied. The anime ended with many questions unanswered so we don't really know why she deliberately poisoned the Touda (which was considered following the code.) I actually read on a forum that when Erin's father, a Touda breeder, was killed, it was for the same reason as Soyon's, so they think that maybe she was the reason for that incident too. That just sent chills up my spine. In the anime, she seemed like such a nice mother who only wanted to protect her daughter but now I think otherwise.

Erin was a character I loved and wanted to comfort throughout the story. She went through so much and became a strong, independent character that I admired. My heart broke when I saw her innocent, bright eyes in the beginning turn cold and dull after her mother's death. Her behavior and manner striked me as odd through the whole anime, and when I read the comparisons for the novel and anime, I found out why. Again, from the novel and anime comparison post. I quote (my notes are in [ ] ),

"Erin had already prepared herself for their[Jone and Erin's] separation. Since the day her mother Soyon died, it was her belief that happiness won’t last forever and that there would always be change. That was why she always spoke in a polite manner towards John."

That. ^ That's all I'm going to say. Just let it sink in.
Jone and Esal were like Erin's foster parents, in my opinion. I really liked their characters too, because they were pretty dope and didn't restrict Erin that much.
Although, was it just me or was Jone a bit too friendly during his first meeting with Erin? I felt that it was a bit unnatural. At least, in the novel, he was a little hostile at first but slowly warmed up to her, which should be any person's natural reaction.

Ngan is a character that I honestly did not see any point in. He appeared in, like what, 10 episodes or so? And it only took like 5 of those episodes to explain his character, and they were totally underdeveloped. I felt like he could have been a character with a larger role but sorry, man, he's only there to look like a fool. The underdog, the least-liked son, and always falls underneath his brother. I couldn't help but feel sorry for him. Damiya saw that in him, and took advantage of it.
Damiya was an uncomfortable character to watch, and your average creepy antagonist. Plain and simple. We didn't get to learn much about his background but his descent into madness was pretty entertaining, for how short it was. And he was probably one of the only characters to not change appearance after the time-skips. What is he doing, bathing in the blood of the youth or something?
Also, that part when he told Seimiya that she wouldn't be calling him Uncle anymore. Shiver. 
 

Ial! Everyone's favorite character! I liked him a lot, although I wasn't too interested in his background. LOL sorry Ial. I don't know, he had pretty badass moments and just seemed like a cool guy. Definitely needed more IalxErin moments on screen. And he didn't even appear in the end with Erin and Jessie, even though it's pretty obvious who the father is. We don't need Maury for that shit. Like what the heck, did he die or something?

Seimiya was a bit annoying in the aspect that she was ignorant to the life outside her palace. She thought her country was beautiful and should stay the way it is. But, honestly, you can't blame her for her naivety but how she was raised. At the end, however, I still wanted to smack her because she learned NOTHING AT ALL since she said, "ooooh~ I want to rule this country like my grandmother did ohlalala~" OH MY GOODNESS DID YOU NOT LISTEN TO ERIN YOU CRAZY GIRL. I also can't forgive her because **spoiler if you haven't read the novels** I read summaries and apparently Seimiya is the cause for Erin using Beast-Lords for war.)

Shunan was an okay character; I don't know, he seemed kind of bland to me. I did like his thinking, however. Revolutionary boy. His proposal made me laugh out loud because at how "smooth" he was. Getting all the ladies by telling them he wants to marry them for political reasons. I think Seimiya should have been a bit more mature and understanding about it (come on, you're in your 20s woman!) but I understand that her feelings were hurt.

And poor, poor Tomura. This time it's the reversal of "notice me, senpai!" Erin doesn't notice his feelings for her. LOL.

Yuuyan was so sweet. I loved her dearly. The scene where she left Kazalm just, ugh, felt like someone squashed my heart. She was so bubbly and quirky that it was HARD not to like her! She was very supportive of Erin, too. A+ for friendship. <333 Hopefully she and Kashugan get married.

Erin's other friends at the academy were nicer than I expected, although they seemed to look the same and did not grow at all after the 4-year time skip. It bothered me but eventually I just brushed it off and found it quite funny.
I thought it was pretty interesting that Erin's childhood friends back in Ake village thought she was dead. I guess that's to be expected since they didn't want Soyon's execution to spread to the public.
I hope that I can someday learn how to read Japanese so I read the novels and quench my curiosity. (If you want to buy the novels for yourself; it's only about $30 if you decide to buy all four volumes but each volume is approx. $7. Link They also have the novels translated in German and French so if you can read either of those languages...man, you are a lucky duck. Still waiting for someone to post summaries of these last 2 novels because apparently all hell is raised. In other words, we are missing some VITAL pieces to the plot.)

Last but not least, I want to talk about Kirik. At first, probably like everyone, I was wary of him, and knew that he was on the antagonist side. As I got nearer to the last few episodes, he really caught my heart. It was nice to see him at Ake village at the end, because he started his life back up again, and I think him being in that certain village is a sign that the villagers might find out the truth about Erin. Maybe, maybe not.

Now for some misc. stuff, I actually liked the animation a lot. I was expecting to see some horrid 3D animation for those Touda army scenes but surprisingly, it looked fluid and not awkward. If they used 3D animation or a different form of it, I couldn't tell.
There were interesting artsy parts, like when Erin was dreaming about "Hikara" (or Hell). The distortion, and vivid colors were trippy but really stunning at the same time.

The music was phenomenal, and even now, I still find myself unconsciously humming the tune of "Dawn of the Bird" or other OSTs. Gotta say, wasn't a fan of the female voice for the second OP. Nothing wrong with the song; I'm just not used to singing voices like that and to me, they're not pleasant to listen to.

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin | Book Review + Discussion

This book is full of surprises that kept me on the edge of my seat and fully entertained!
I recommend this book to EVERYONE because it's really great and steers away from the cliche YA novels, in my opinion. It has a little bit of creepiness, 80% romance (which I did not really enjoy, to be honest but they are great characters nonetheless), and mysterymysterymystery. I craved for those parts of the book.

Summary: "Our main character, Mara Dyer, experiences a traumatic accident that kills her friends, leaving her the only one to survive. This event caused memory loss; Mara could not recall the events leading up to the accident. She and her family move to a new place as per her own request. In this new home and new school, Mara meets a handsome boy named Noah Shaw, who seems to take an interest in her. Despite being in a new area, she slowly but surely recalls the events on the day of the accident; as well as experiences strange things that are happening around her..." 

So just a quick display of some of my thoughts about this book; I liked the writing, I thought it was very lyrical and beautiful in some of the most creepiest parts, and I definitely did get attached to the characters while reading. While I wasn't a fan of the romance, I did admire the strong bond that the two were forming.

If you like mystery, supernatural phenomenons, romance, and YA, I would definitely recommend this book! 

This book is filled with a lot of twists so it provides for a very enjoyable read!

I can't really say much about the book without spoiling it so I'm just going to end the spoiler-free section here. So go read the book now if you haven't! :)

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Characters
Okay, here's the spoiler-y part!

Like in my other reviews, I'm just going to touch on some parts that I liked/disliked or what I wanted to discuss. I guess I'll start with the characters.

I didn't like Mara all that much...about half-way or so through the book. Near the part where she was falling in love in Noah. In the beginning, I thought she was a pretty cool heroine and a lot less annoying than Cadence in We Were Liars. I don't know, I guess I don't like YA romance in general (something about sappy YA romances...well not sappy, really, but it's just the feel of it that I don't like.) And another thing I hate is that love seems to always be a foil to a character. Not always, but most novels I read that aren't centered on romance have a little romance in there that makes the character impossibly dumb instead of being their badass self. About 3/4 of the way in the book, this was how Mara Dyer was to me, tbh.
Now before everyone starts hating and bashing on me, I did eventually accept the romance and even like it a little, it's just that from the premise, I was expecting a little more plot involved than the romance. Hopefully it's like this in the next book. I do like Mara and still do, it's just that I liked her less when she was contemplating about leaving Noah because I'm sitting here all like, "GURL WTF WHY ARE YOU LYING TO YOURSELF."

As for the lovely Noah Shaw, I started to think that he was the typical male love interest until Mara described his appearance and I'm like, damn, he must be really hot to look good even when he's really dishelved. For both Mara and Noah, from reading the book, I realized that both of them are not typical. They both have their own issues but despite that, they can still find solace in each other. I thought that was nice.
I also appreciated some of Noah's comebacks, and appreciated him as a character.
That part where they saw a chicken(?) being killed and Mara was complaining about it, Noah commented, and I loosely quote, "No one likes a hypocrite, Mara." She was eating pork with him, and yet she surprised that they were killing a chicken. I totally agreed with Noah at that moment. You're eating meat and yet you can't stand the sight of an animal being killed for food? So hypocrital, Mara, so hypocrital.

Onto the most important character ever....JAMIE. He is so so important. Why aren't people talking about him more? He's probably my favorite character in the whole book. So sad to see him go, though. I really hope he makes a cameo at least, or plays a part in the next book. All his witty comebacks and his attitude and his willingness to help Mara; I thought it was really sweet. Too bad Noah had to cockblock him from his sister, I mean I know, overprotective big brother but still, REALLY, Noah, REALLY? That was one of the moments I really detested Noah because WOW. B*tch move, imo.
 Just a side note, I'm not going to cuss a lot in my other reviews, I really don't know what's going on with me today.

Anna(please tell me that's her name) and whatshisface were stereotypical popular-high-school villans. I found the whole feud between them and Mara, Jamie, and Noah pretty stupid because it resulted in Jamie leaving because it's like saying all the high school students apart of the popular crowd have no brain and just want to sleep around. There are definitely people like that in every high school but I guess I wanted Hodkin to depict them more realistically.

I thought Mara's family was sweet but it was pretty obvious that things had changed, and the atmosphere was different, etc. and that just broke my heart. Whenever Mara described how Joseph looked at her whenever she got sent to the hospital just absolutely disintegrated every piece of my heart OH. MY. GOD.

I just wanted to mention how nice it was that the main character had an Indian mother. I just thought that was different from typical YA novels where the girl is White and pretty much always assumed to be White unless the cover shows differently or it's stated in the novel. I don't know what heritage Mara's father is though. 

Now onto the plot!

Plot
The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer definitely took me for a surprise in terms of plot.
I kind of guessed that Mara's power had somehow caused people's death whenever her emotions were at it's peak (and that she had to picture their specific death.) I just wasn't sure if there were conditions to this power or limits.
The end of the book pretty much answered my question. It seems that if she deliberately tries to use her power, it backfires and could end up hurting someone she didn't mean to hurt. Also, she made someone else commit the murder, so that lady ended up being a victim as well. There would be, of course, a chance that the lady would have shot the defendant and her father anyway but who knows.
The hallucinations that Mara had definitely tripped me up. Sometimes I couldn't tell if what she was experiencing was reality or something she had imagined. The hallucinations of Rachel, Claire, and Jude interacting with her in present day, and not in her memories of the accident, puzzled me. I figured that Mara was just simply going crazy but then THAT ENDING. Jude is freaking alive. What. the. heck. I didn't guess that at all.
Also, nice connection between Joseph's kidnapping and the murder case that Mara's father took on. I was wondering what connection his case would be, and who called to make her father drop the case. I actually still don't know the answer to the latter, but my best guess is that it would be the criminal himself...

Something I really liked about the book is the writing.The book was easy to read and flowed beautifully. The hallucination scenes were also hauntingly beautiful and captivating. Good job Michelle Hodkin!!! ;) 

 I can't wait to read Mara's sanity slowly going down the drain in the next book (or what I'm anticipating.) :D