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I found a few very interesting articles on some anime blogs this week and thought I would share it for those who hasn’t had the chance to read them yet.

• Darkshaunz at Retsgip’s Anime Blog posted an interesting article entitled Anime Survivor - Walk Through That Portal. He talked about the 7 items or skills of the anime universe that he would bring with him if he could enter the anime world for a full whole week. Very descriptive and very entertaining.
  

• For those who watched CODE GEASS, Omni at Random Curiosity had posted up CODE GEASS Stage 24 & 25 Special PV. I haven’t exactly watched the series, but I plan to as soon as I get my hands on it I would have watched it sooner if I knew CLAMP had a hand in it.
  

• If you’re planning to get a little more serious about learning the Japanese language, GoddessCarlie have a must-read article, Is Nihongo Right For You? Most anime or manga fans would attempt to try and learn the language at some point. Some stopped and gave up without even trying, others put forth more effort and dedication into it. But before you go any further, there are some other things you need to work out first.

Hope you guys enjoy these as much as I did

I’ve recently posted a 3 part series of articles on how watching anime could actually help you to pick up the Japanese language. If you’ve missed them and you’re interested you can read them here:

• Part I: Picking Up Japanese with Anime?
• Part II: Picking Up Japanese with Anime?
• Part III: Picking Up Japanese with Anime?

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There’s a new trailer for Gundam 00, and the more I look at it the more it reminds me of Wing. Although I liked some of the units in Wing, in general I didn’t really like the anime. Gundam 00 reminding me of Gundam Wing is definitely not winning me over to watch it.

But I’ll probably try and watch a few episodes first before deciding. Maybe it’s not as bad as it looks

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In a nutshell

The story follows a legendary assassin who later on became a sweeper (a bounty hunter) following a fated meeting and some shocking events. A little while down his path as a sweeper, he is once again forced to face his past and began to get obsessed with getting revenge on his worst enemy.

As a sweeper, he joined Sven Volfield and Eve. Sven was an ex-detective before he became a sweeper and possesses the Vision Eye that can predict the future while Eve is a young girl who was created to be a bio-weapon using nano-technology.

“Train”ed Assassin

Train Heartnet a.k.a the Black Cat was a former assassin working for the elite assassination organization, the Chronos Numbers. He was legendary even among the elites and is easily recognized by his Chronos mark on his left chest, the roman number XIII (13) despite the fact that Chronos Number should only have up to 12 members at a time. This goes to show that Train was that good to be made an exception to the rule.

Each member of Chronos Numbers is given a preferred weapon made out of Orichalcum, a legendary metal that can be compared with Mithril from Lord of The Rings. Train’s weapon of choice is the Hades, a large decorated gun with his mark, XIII, engraved on it.

First Impression

The anime starts off with an intense battle scene between Train and Creed, which would only take place a few episodes later, but is enough to intrigue anyone to continue watching. Creed’s speech would certainly confused those who are not familiar with the series with phrases such as “that witch”, “those eyes” and “the spell”. I had actually thought that there was a witch who casted a spell on Train, giving him special eyes that made him the legend he is. Boy, I couldn’t have been further from the truth! Luckily, though, everything would make perfect sense by the time the actual battle occurs.

The Fun Stuff

But it’s not all serious stuff, the anime has plenty of hilarious moments, especially after Train became a sweeper. He pretty much did a 180 degrees change in his attitude, going from a no-nonsense super serious assassin into an idiot full of nonsense. He returns back to his old self once in a while when he needs to be and that is usually when he needs to deal with anything related to Creed.

Anime and Manga

The anime is significantly different from the manga. Personally, I prefer the timeline in the anime as it is more straight-forward and builds up a solid background for the main plot of Black Cat. In the anime, Train seems to be younger and more serious compared to his manga counterpart. Oh, he also looks cooler here too

However, while the starting of the anime was better (in my opinion) than the manga, the ending is a different case altogether. The ending for Black Cat in the anime left much to be desired and just doesn’t give any satisfaction at all. The manga, on the other hand, had an awesome ending.

Organizations

The Chronos Numbers and the Apostles of the Stars (Creed’s group) helps to add to the variety of characters in the anime. There are also appearance of some Chronos Numbers members who were not shown in the manga, such as No. VI, Anubis.

Verdict

Awesome anime. Great animation style, good OST and compelling storyline. Only real problem I have with Black Cat’s anime is the ending. If you’ve never watched or read Black Cat before, go get the anime first. After you’re done, get the manga

If you’re interested to add Black Cat to your own collection, you can check out the following places:

Play-Asia Black Cat DVDs, OST and Games (DS)

RightStuf Black Cat DVDs and Manga

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Many anime’s have been turned into games, some successful, others don’t. Naruto and Dragon Ball are prime examples of anime-based games. Game-based anime, on the other hand, are fewer in number. Let’s take a look at 10 of the most popular game-based anime that was released:

Note: These are not ranked in order. They are just listed here because I believe they are 10 of the most popular game-based anime around. I may come up with a ranked list in the future, but for now it is unranked.

1. Pokemon. Love it or hate it (I, for one, love it), Pokemon is one of the most successful and popular game-based anime ever. It’s been going on for more than 10 years and both game and anime is still going strong despite many people putting it down. This is my favourite among game-based anime, having watched it since 10 years ago and being a fan of the game as well.

2. Digimon. Yet another -mon, Digimon started off as a simple yet highly addictive digital pet game and has grown into a huge franchise ever since. Also a personal favourite of mine, especially Adventure 01, 02 and Savers.

3. .hack series. Okay, this isn’t exactly a game-based anime, but you can’t talk about .hack without mentioning both game and anime. Unlike most other anime, the .hack series is 90% conversation and 10% action. Initial feedback of the .hack anime series showed that it wasn’t doing well in Japan, but receives strong positive feedback outside the country. Very compelling storyline, but definitely not for everyone.

4. Fate/Stay Night. Also adapted from a popular game (originally also a H-game) in Japan, the anime series is just every bit as good as the game. The game has many varied plots and storyline, and the anime is said to be following mainly the Fate scenario, with some parts from Unlimited Blade Works and Heaven’s Feel game route. Very interesting to watch, especially when you try to make out which legendary heroes each of the servants really are.

5. Utawarerumono. A H-game converted to anime, it is quite different from your typical high school boy harem scenario of H-games. Set in a fantasy backdrop, Utawarerumono has one of the most intriguing storyline I’ve ever seen from a H-game based anime. I love how the story progresses, pulling you in as the plot grows beyond the tiny little village and spreading across the entire world. Oh yes, plenty of sacrifices, can be pretty bloody at times.

6. Kanon. Although not exactly a H-game, it was rated for 18 and above and contained one sex scene in the game. This game had been brought to life through anime not once, but twice. It was considered the best bishoujo game when it was first released in 1999, and while I find its first anime adaptation to be so-so, the 2nd adaption (2006) did a far better job of it.

7. Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien. Yet another H-game based anime. Many has hailed this as the best soap drama anime and so far I agree with them. The plot is actually very realistic and I wouldn’t be surprised if something like that actually happened in real life. Maybe that’s what makes it appealing as well, especially to more mature audience.

8. Final Fantasy VII. Based off the ever popular Final Fantasy VII game, a full CG movie was made along with a special episode of anime that features an important scene from the game. Even with only one episode, the anime still managed to impress many. Square-Enix really should consider creating more of FF7 anime, it is way better than their previous 2 attempts at it with the Crystal Chronicle and Final Fantasy: Unlimited.

9. Shuffle. Oh yes, another H-game turned anime. Not only does the lucky boy have normal girls after him, he also has the princess of the God world and the princess of the Demon world at his tail. Started off with many laughter, but took a sharp 180 degrees turn in the middle of the story and went the other way with its serious notes. There was also a second adaption, Shuffle! Memories, basically a recap.

10. Clannad. I’ve personally never watched this (…yet) but I’ve seen many great reviews and feedback on Clannad and I just had to include it among the 10 most popular game-based anime. The 6th H-game turned anime in this list, I’m beginning to wonder why are these genre so popular myself. They do have great storyline and beautiful character designs, that’s fore sure and Clannad looks like a win to me as well

Other mentions: There’s the anime based on Street Fighter, Tsukihime, To Hearts and the latest game-based anime Devil May Cry, which really lacks a proper plot other than tearing up every other demons around.

**Updated 21st July**

There’s also Ragnarok Online’s anime. I can’t believe I missed this one. It was supposed to be part of other mentions, but it somehow slipped at the end.

RO is one of my favourite MMORPG and when the original teaser was released for an RO anime we were very excited. However, the original project seemed to have been scrapped off and was replaced by another, with Roan as the main character.

Not a bad anime, but not exactly very good either. Only a few parts of the anime were memorable, such as the hunt for the Golden Thief Bug, the Clock Tower (ahh… Al De Baran was our guild’s officialy HQ) and the final showdown in Glast Heim. I still think I would have preferred the original animation where the first teaser was from

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I took Carlie’s suggestion and added answers to the 3 parts “Picking Up Japanese with Anime” series so everyone can compare their answers to mine. Again, I do not claim that my answers are 100% accurate, but in general they are correct.

All the answers can be found in spoiler tags in each part of the series. They are all hidden and you need to click on “show” to display them and “hide” to close them up again. It would be easier to compare answers this way and there won’t be any need for an extra long post of answers or another 3 part series if I wanted to cut them short again.

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