Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka

Junketsu No Maria

Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei

Log Horizon

No Game No Life

Outbreak Company

Berserk

Attack of the Titans

Fate//Zero

Sword Art Online

Brave 10

Zero no Tsukaima (Familiar of Zero)

Princess Mononoke

.Hack//Legend of the Twilight

Tears of Tiara

Type: Anime

Status: Complete (26 episodes)

Premise: The age of mythological creatures has come and gone leaving only man to inherit the earth, but the echoes of the past civilizations have yet to fully fade. The Imperium of man has conquered the faltering kingdoms and united them; but there still remains small villages who practice the old ways despite the empires best efforts. The Gales have protected the tomb of the Demon King Aron from the past age but now the Empire has re-awakened him and woe to all who have forgotten the terrors of the last age.

Thoughts: A good anime that was solid the entire way through, the characters are rich and you learn to like them. One thing is that they all speak with Scottish accents which is odd but still kind of interesting.

Prose: Beautiful animation and a solid story with nothing that stands out as substandard, the entire series screams of dedication to story and polished storytelling.

Cons: Nothing in particular but the plot is pretty standard fare as far as fantasy settings are concerned with some interesting twists and turns along the way. All in all a completely watchable medieval high fantasy setting.

-Notes: Fully dubbed. All the characters save a few speak in Scottish accents, and the plot leads me to believe that the main inspiration of the anime was the rebellion of William Wallace during the wars of scottish independence so watching Braveheart after/before starting might be worth it simply to laugh at the similarities ;P.

8/10          (FREEEEEDOOOOOMMMMMMMEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!)

Unbreakable Machine Doll

Type: Manga

Status: Ongoing

Premise:  Magic and science have advanced in parallel resulting in sentient machines with magical abilities. Now employed by the military Akabane Raishin and his partner Yaya are attending The Royal Academy to sharpen their skills as soldiers but due to his abysmal test scores he has all but discounted as a serious competitor, now Akbane must prove himself by sheer combat ability against the deadliest of his classmates.

Thoughts: Interesting setting with a good plot so far, will be watching this one closely.

Proes: A nice art style complements this interesting story line so far.

Cons: Vary young as manga go so I will need to hold my judgement for now.

-Notes: Keeping an eye on this one.

8/10          (What is it with those Japanese and making robots hot?)

A Fairy Tail for the Demon Lord

Type: Manga

Status: Ongoing

Premise: There once was a princess who fell victim to a curse. She was imprisoned by a demon who slew all who would approach her and never allowed her to speak to another living soul save for him. Countless knights challenged the demon in order to save the princess; nobles looking for her hand in marriage, paladins on holly crusades, fighters of unimaginable skill looking for a worthy opponent to test their abilities and gods angered by the demons arrogance, but all were slain by the demon. Finally an knight without a name arrived on the battlefield, this man without a soul who was created by the king to die for his master was offered freedom and a name should he be able to save the princess. This unknown man who was devoid of everything slew the demon and saved the princess and now our story begins anew.

Thoughts: This one is intriguing. Cyberpunk norse mythology in a high fantasy setting..... how many times have you heard that before? To go along with this unorthodox setting we are being introduced to characters who are evolving right in front of our eyes as we read, we start with a blank canvas in our main character and build him as the story unfolds.

Prose: Lovely artwork in a rough sketch like style as well as full color, you tend to forget how much color helps with the reading after so long without it in the manga world and this book makes great use of it to highlight and reinforce ideas.

Cons: This manga is just starting out and there are only a limited number of chapters out at the moment. Also the plot is slow to develop the ominous hints that are being dropped in the early sections of the story, so we will see how the story develops as more volumes are released.

-Notes: Early to start this one at the moment, give it a while. I can't stress enough how lovely the full color is in this one.

8/10          (Slaying the immortal, were gods and men have failed.)

Dance on the Vampire Bund

Type: Anime & Manga

Status: Anime - Complete (12 episodes)     Manga - Ongoing

Premise: Vampires are reel and they walk among us. Mina Tepes queen of the vampires reveals to the world the existence of vampires and by purchasing a small land development just off the shore of Japan for the cost of paying off the debt of the national government she will form the first colony of vampires as its own independent state within Japan. This "Bund" will welcome all vampires from around the world to live in freedom in accordance to their nature, but not all welcome this grand new vista of change. The story follows Mina Tepes and her body guard Akira as forces on both sides threaten to undo the grand dream that the Bund represents.

Thoughts: WARNING: VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED! This anime/manga may contain: Graphic depictions of violence/nudity/mature themes/pedofilia/blood/gore/racism/coarse language/gender confusion/bestiality. Trust me I warned you. 

Having said all that I will move on, after the initial shock of nude preteen vampire princess I was able to enjoy this anime (and the subsequent manga) for its interesting characters and classic monsters in an urban setting. This anime is a nice recreation of an already well laid out genre of the vampire story. It keeps enough elements of classic litrature to satisfy the old guard but tweekd certain elements to give it its own rout to follow. 

Prose: A truthful recreation of the classic vampire story. I enjoyed the monster movie feel along with the well established rules governing both the politics and powers of the series.

Cons: ...... This is the first time I have ever needed to put a WARNING label into my reviews..... take that as you will.

-Notes: Anime is completely dubbed and followed the manga faithfully until the final act at which point it starts to deviate away and the manga continue on after the anime finishes. You require a certain mind set to watch this anime, at a certain point you are able to filter out the nudity and violence and simply view it as plot and not something deviant.

8/10          (So it's not child pornography if its animated..... not even censored.)

Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust

Type: Movie

Status: 2 completed (1985 & 2000)

Premise: In a post apocalyptic world were humans and mythological creatures wander the wastes of civilization praying on one another, the life of a bounty hunter has never been so good. Among these rough and tumble groups of mercenaries, hunters, cut throtes and murderers one man stands above all other as the strongest among them; known simply as D he is a half vampire who will work for anyone... provided with appropriate compensation of course.

Thoughts: This is a rich setting that blends old west/classic horror/Lovecraftien horror/monster movies and fantasy settings together to create this dark and twisted view of the future that is not quite like anything I have ever seen before. 

Prose: Rich setting with great animation and voice acting. It is a great movie that is well paced and stresses the points that are impotent.

Cons: We are not told allot about the setting beyond what we can glean from the actions of the characters and what happens around them, this results in a discrepancy at times were you feel like you have missed a key plot nuance or the characters are rushing the plot. This may be due to a lack of experience on my part in this setting so take it as you will.

-Notes: Fully dubbed. There are 2 movies in the Vampire Hunter D franchise, one produced in 1985 was so poorly animated I was forced to abandon it and never completed more than half the movie. Bloodlust is the second movie produced in 2000 and benefited from the TREMENDOUS improvement to graphics.

7.5/10     (Talk to the hand. No really do it.)

Blue Dragon Ral Grado

Type: Manga

Status: Complete (29 chapters)

Premise: Humanity is under attack from the realm of shadows. To survive in the world of light these two dimensional beings must inhabit living things from our world to use as vessels becoming one of three types of host; 1) a parasite who will use its masters shadow as a medium to manifest itself. 2) a mutagen who will confer some of the power of shadow onto its owner, corrupting them with evil intentions. 3) a cannibal who will devour the host body and soul. In all cases the evil shadows are solely interested in the slaughter of all humanity. Ral is a child who was inhabited by a shadow from the time of his birth and imprisoned within a sealed cage were no light could enter in order to seal the shadows power having only his tutor to talk with and a shadow whispering in his ear. After 15 years of captivity he is released  in the final stages of the war between the two realms, humanity is on the brink of annihilation and their sole hope is this child raised in the dark.

Thoughts: This is an amusing anime with an interesting set of rules regarding the shadows. The plot is both dark and twisted and completely hilarious at the same time mostly due to Ral and his "discovery" of the outside world. You will be able to enjoy this story from two different perspectives, the dark and vicious action packed horror that it slips into or the funny action adventure that it pulls of most of the time.

Prose: Action, comedy and world building is all top notch with good characters that you enjoy.

Cons: There are some rather bad characters as well, they just seam to lack the polish that the main group seams to have which detracts from the second half of the story line.

-Notes: Do not mistake this for the cartoon by the same name, this is a completely original work that appears only in the manga format. Nudity and suggestive scenes are common and even used as plot devices at times.... take that as you will.

7/10          (Not saving the world, just the part of it with the boobs.)