Music Time! - This weeks' Asian pop charts

J-pop

1. Nogizaka46: Kimi no Na wa Kibou


Bakphoon by UnlistedVid

2. Tomohisa Yamashita: Ke Sera Sera


3. Keisuke Kuwata: Yin Yang


4. Arashi: Calling
5. SHINee: Fire


6. E-Girls: CANDY SMILE


8. Berryz Koubou: Asian Celebration


10. SPYAIR: Sakura Mitsutsuki


11. Supercell: The Bravery


14. BiS (2): BiSimulaton


16. Yuikaori: Shiny Blue


19. CROSS GENE: Shooting Star



K-pop

1. Akdong Musician: Crescendo
2. Gummy: Snow Flower
3. The One: A Winter Story
4. Lee Hi: It's Over
5. SISTAR19: Gone Not Around Any Longer
21. Girl's Day: Expectation


22. Jung In: Don’t Say Those Words


29. RaNia: Just Go



C-pop

Nothing new this week.

1. JJ Lin: Xiu Lian Ai Qing (Practice Love)
2. JJ Lin: Yin Ni Er Zai
3. A-Lin Huang: Xing Fu Liao Ran Hou Ne
4. A-Lin Huang: Hao Peng You De Zhu Fu
5. Pets Ceng: Yi Ge Ren Xiang Zhao Yi Ge Ren

Current anime episodes comments - Magi, Bakuman 3, Amnesia

Magi 

Episode 23

They reached the top just to get into yet another difficult fight.
It would be nice to see them win without so much trouble for a change.
Either way, things are getting rather intense as the season finale gets near.
It was nice watching Alibaba fight, even though his skills need a lot more practice.
The war with Sindria and the reasons for it seemed kinda harsh and personal.


Bakuman 3

Episode 23

It was really fun watching Mashiro's reactions to everyone's approval of Miho & him.
Everything was going their way until that public voice actress auditions.
That complicated things, but was also cruel of the animation guys to do something like that.
It felt like universe was against them again...
The whole situation just put more pressure on Miho and Mashiro.
OMG! Finally! Finally their dreams are coming true. Can't wait for those two to get married!


Amnesia

Episode 11

Is there a single guy in this anime that wasn't her lover??
*sigh* At least Ukyo made some sense of the story.
The world trying to kill her part added a nice twist to the story.
Looks like he has a split personality problem.
It's one of those potentially dangerous things for the heroine.
Seems like each of the male characters has some kind of a personality flaw.

Spring anime 2013 - Devil Survivor 2 The Animation, Shingeki no Kyojin, Haiyore! Nyaruko-san W, Uchuu Senkan Yamato 2199, Arata Kangatari

Devil Survivor 2 The Animation

Genres: RPG

Mysterious invaders called the Septentriones arrive in Japan and begin attacking the country on a Sunday. To fight back, the heroes in Devil Survivor 2 signed a pact with the devil to become the Thirteen Devil Messengers. The Septentriones show up at least once a day and you have a time limit of seven days to defeat them.

Number of Episodes: -

Shingeki no Kyojin

Genres: action, military, shounen, post-apocalypse

Several hundred years ago, humans were nearly exterminated by giants. Giants are typically several stories tall, seem to have no intelligence, devour human beings and, worst of all, seem to do it for the pleasure rather than as a food source. A small percentage of humanity survived by walling themselves in a city protected by extremely high walls, even taller than the biggest of giants.
Flash forward to the present and the city has not seen a giant in over 100 years. Teenage boy Eren and his foster sister Mikasa witness something horrific as the city walls are destroyed by a super giant that appears out of thin air. As the smaller giants flood the city, the two kids watch in horror as their mother is eaten alive. Elen vows that he will murder every single giant and take revenge for all of mankind.

Number of Episodes: -

Haiyore! Nyaruko-san W

Genres: comedy, contemporary fantasy, demons

Sequel of Haiyore! Nyaruko-san.

Number of Episodes: -

Uchuu Senkan Yamato 2199

Genres: action, adventure, military, sci fi, shounen, space travel

The year is 2199. The human race has been crushed in their war with the Gamilos, driven into underground cities by the invader's assault. Scientists estimate they have only a year left. The young officers Susumu Kodai and Daisuke Shima receive a mysterious capsule from a ship that made an emergency landing on Mars and return with it to Earth. It contains humanity's last hope: the planet Iscandar on the other side of the Magellan Galaxy has the technology to defeat the Gamilos and restore the planet. The space battleship Yamato is entrusted with this task, but they have only one year before humanity ends.

Number of Episodes: 26

Arata Kangatari

Genres: manga, shounen

Every 30 years, a new princess is chosen from the Hime family to serve the Hayagami. The time has come again, but over these past years, records state not a single female has been born, save for one, the 15 year old Arata. The only problem is, Arata is actually a male! Forced to disguise himself and take the place of the princess candidate until a formal one can be found, he attends the festival only to witness the current princess, Kokuri-hime, murdered, and his own life is forfeit as well, by the hands of the princess' personal guard, the 12 Shinshou. As he runs for his life, Kannagi of the 12 convinces everyone that Arata is the one who has murdered the princess instead, and now everyone in the Imperial Court is after his head!

Number of Episodes: -

Current anime episodes comments - Hakkenden: Touhou Hakken Ibun

Hakkenden: Touhou Hakken Ibun

Episode 11

Keno really does look like a girl.
So all of them have the same mark on their bodies.
Wish they would get to the point with the story already.
Kohaku (the golden eyes girl) is truly an enigma. Wonder what she's hiding.
Shino getting shot was really really bad.
Things went out of control so fast.
Shino is totally childish sometimes ^^"
He grew up suddenly, wow! That was cool.
Him losing his self control is not good at all.

Spring anime 2013 - Red Data Girl, Karneval, Hataraku Maou-sama!, Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Come wa Machigatteiru, Ginga Kikoutai Majestic Prince

RDG Red Data Girl

Genres: fantasy, novel

The story is about a 15 year old girl named Izumiko Suzuhara. She was born and raised at Tamakura Shrine, and always destroys any electrical device she touches. She decides to try living in the city, and enrolls in Houjou High School in Tokyo. With her are her guardians son and Izumiko's childhood friend Miyuki Sagara. While she's there, an entity called "Himegami" appears. She learns she something called a "kami" a vessel for a shinto spirit, while Miyuki is a "yamabushi", a warrior meant to protect the "kami."

Number of Episodes:  12

Karneval

Genre: josei, manga

Nai searches for someone important to him, with only an abandoned bracelet as a clue. Gareki steals and pick-pockets to get by from day to day. The two meet in a strange mansion where they are set-up, and soon become wanted criminals by military security operatives. When Nai and Gareki find themselves desperate in a hopeless predicament, they encounter none other than the country's most powerful defense organization, "Circus". The Circus is a Defense organization that works for the government. They perform raids to capture criminals and solve crimes that the Security force otherwise cannot handle. After their raids, they put on shows as an apology for scaring the citizens. Their group consists of the strongest, most capable fighters that use a special type of bracelet, known as Circus I.D., to fight.

Number of Episodes: 12

Hataraku Maou-sama!

Genres: comedy, fantasy, novel
In another dimension the Devil King Sadao is only one step away from conquering the world when he is beaten by Hero Emilia and forced to drift to the other world: modern-day Tokyo. As "conquering the world" are the only skills the Devil King possesses - and are obviously unnecessary in his new situation - he must work as a freeter to pay for his living expenses.

Number of Episodes: -

Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Come wa Machigatteiru

Genres: comedy, romance, ecchi, school life

This romantic comedy revolves around an antisocial high school student named Hikigaya Hachiman with a distorted view on life and no friends or girlfriend. When he see his classmates talking excitedly about living their adolescent lives, he mutters, They're a bunch of liars. When he is asked about his future dreams, he responds, Not working. A teacher gets Hachiman to join the volunteer service club, which happens to have the school's prettiest girl, Yukinoshita Yukino.

Number of Episodes: -

Ginga Kikoutai Majestic Prince

Genres: science fiction, mecha, space

The story follows humanity after it expanded its frontier into space in a quest for resources. Advances in genetic engineering research allow humans to adapt to the new frontier, leading to the advent of evolved humans such as the protagonist Izuru. Izuru enrolls in an academy city called Gurantseere to fulfill his mission of protecting humanity.

Number of Episodes: 24

Anime Movies - Ookami Kodomo no Ame to Yuki

This is an interesting movie. The story is rather unexpected, but it is also relaxing and nice. The animation is not that good, but the story itself makes up for that. As I started watching this movie, my first thoughts were innocent, relaxing and a nice love story. The power of love in this type of anime movie just amazes me every single time. It's wonderful how you can find love in most unexpected places and this anime proves that point.

Life can truly be beautiful when you have someone that loves you and that the love is mutual. 

Things changed rather quickly after the unfortunate event. Life moved on and new experiences followed. It was really hard raising two half-wolf children. As the kids were growing up it was pretty impossible to stay in the city. Moving in the middle of nowhere was the only logical thing to do. It was really nice watching them grow up with all the freedom they could ever possibly want.

Don't quite understand why, but I really like this kind of anime movies. Maybe it's because of the positive feelings it gives off, maybe because of the message that anything is possible and never as bad as you think or maybe just because of so much love..

Plot:

Nineteen-year-old college student Hana meets a young man who sneaks into her classes for lessons and falls in love with him immediately. They soon start dating. One day, the man reveals his identity to Hana; he is a Wolfman and the only surviving descendant of the extinct Japanese wolf. Undeterred by this fact, Hana invites him to live with her. A year later, when Hana becomes pregnant, she decides not to visit a hospital out of fear that her child would be a wolf. Their daughter, Yuki, is thus born at home on a snowy day, along with her brother, Ame, who is born a year after her, this time on a rainy day. Not long after Ame's birth, the Wolfman suddenly disappears. Hana searches frantically, only to discover that city workers were working to remove a wolf's carcass from a canal. He had died accidentally while hunting to feed the children. Although devastated by the loss of her beloved, Hana resolves to take good care of her wolf-children by herself.

However, Hana discovers that living in the city with her children was extremely difficult. Yuki, who is temperamental, often switches between her human and wolf form, creating a lot of noise, making the neighbors unhappy. Child-protection officers have been hounding Hana because her children had not gone for the compulsory immunization program. Making matters worse, her landlord receives complaints that she was keeping pets at home due to the wolf cries made by Yuki and Ame, and threatens to evict her because the apartment forbids pets. Eventually, Hana decides to move to the countryside and stumbles upon a dilapidated house that was virtually rent-free, but requires a lot of renovation work. Most importantly to her, however, is the fact that the nearest neighbor is miles away, and the house is surrounded by nature.

Hana gets down to work immediately, repairing the house and later tried to grow crops. Initially skeptical of her at first, the other villagers warm up to her and help her to settle in. One fierce old man who treats newcomers harshly even shows Hana how to grow her own farm. At the same time, Hana tries to find ways to educate her children about wolf survival in the wild. She eventually gets a job as an assistant in a nature reserve to learn more about nature. Meanwhile, Yuki loves the new environment, while Ame dislikes it. One day, Ame finds the will to chase after a kingfisher, but loses his footing and falls into a stream, and nearly drowns. After that day, Ame became a more confident person.

Soon, when Yuki and Ame reaches school-going age, Yuki begs her mother to send her to school. Hana agrees on one condition: they must never transform into a wolf in front of people. Although Yuki does not fit well into the school environment initially due to her background, but she soon adapts and makes many new friends at school. On the other hand, Ame does not adapt very well and gets bullied to the point he stops attending school and frequently wanders into the woods behind their house. Later, Hana discovers that Ame was taking lessons from an old fox about hunting and survival in the wild.

In school, Yuki's class receives a new transfer student, Souhei who ultimately tells Yuki that she smelled of an animal. Fearing that he would uncover her identity, Yuki avoids him. However, he follows Yuki around the school until Yuki, unable to control herself, transforms into a wolf and scratches him across the ear. Haunted by this incident, Yuki refuses to go to school. However, moved by Souhei's persistence in sending her homework and foodstuff every day, Yuki eventually returns to school, and even became good friends with Souhei.

On one stormy day, when Ame's "master" dies, Ame decides to take over his role in the woods, but despite his mother's objections, he slips away without Hana knowing. During her search for Ame, Hana slips and falls down a chasm, but is rescued by Ame, who carries her out of the woods. Before regaining consciousness, Hana has a vision where the Wolfman apologizes to her for the burden she had to bear in raising their children and tells her he is proud of how they have grown. Hana berates herself for Ame's disappearance, to which the Wolfman responds that Ame has found his path in life. When she awakens, Hana finally accepts Ame's decision, and watches in awe as he howls and disappears into the distance as a matured wolf. Meanwhile, Yuki, who was left in school with Souhei, reveals her true identity to him and confesses that she was the wolf who attacked him. Souhei admits that he knew this a long time ago, but he has already forgiven her.

Years later, Yuki attends a boarding middle school, making a lot of new friends in the process and despite Ame's disappearance, his howls could be heard far and wide. Meanwhile, Hana continues to live in her old home, happily knowing that she has raised her wolf-children well.

Director: Mamoru Hosoda

Screenplay: Mamoru Hosoda

Music: Takagi Masakatsu

Studio: Studio Chizu, Madhouse

Release Date: July 21, 2012

Country: Japan

Language: Japanese

Running Time: 117 minutes

Current anime episodes comments - One Piece, Space Brothers, Hunter x Hunter

One Piece

Episode 587

Law's powers are pretty impressive.
The body switch is a useful thing to use on others.
It brings confusion and makes things difficult for the enemy.
So he was the one who slices people, but they don't die.
Guess it was him who sliced that samurai Nami and the others found.
Unless there's someone else there with the same power.
Law vs Smoker! That was just epic!
So many new and interesting powers to see.
Wow, Law is truly a scary monster.


Space Brothers

Episode 49

This survival training has been rather boring so far.
I know they're just showing us why the need to this part, but it's still not interesting.
They need something or someone to mix things up a bit.
Their team is the worst so far and it's getting harder to endure.
Nitta's attitude wasn't helping the situation at all.
In the end all the problems they encountered improved the quality of this episode.


Hunter x Hunter 

Episode 71

The dodgeball game continues.
Razor is truly a scary strong guy.
Three of them could barely match the power of just one guy.
It's no wonder he's the one guarding the island from outsiders.
Hisoka pulled through for them and made that victory happen.
It was really nice of him to do something like that.
Also, it's out of character for him.
Looks like we'll get a fight over Patch of Shore card soon.