I Can't Understand What My Husband is Saying

    Have you ever found a series that is just a joy to watch? A series that exceeds immediately, and just keeps getting better? Well the series I am blogging about today is just that.
    I Can't Understand What My Husband is Saying is about a young married couple and the events in their lives. Kaoru (the wife) is an office worker, and is married to Hajime (the husband) who is an otaku/NEET (if you don't know what these terms mean then good for you) who makes a living blogging. This series is short, but extremely sweet, owing to that each episode is about three and a half minutes in length, this length however ties perfectly to how the story goes. Each episode is a single event/period of time (in no particular order I might add) where some part of relationships is involved (e.g., having kids, growing old). While there is no "main" storyline, each episode is extremely effective in delivering its content clearly to the viewer. There are two main sources of comedy: relationship-related, and otaku-husband-related. The relationship-related comedy is pretty standard, but the otaku-husband-related is actually quite unique in that it references numerous medias which it was in direct competition with when it was showing. This type of comedy is sure to evoke some laughs, but is also a risky strategy because you might end up giving the competition some of your viewers (therefore most series avoid this strategy). I would recommend this series for anyone who is in a serious relationship and/or is a giant nerd.

Kaoru: left, Hajime: Right

Blue Exorcist

    Blue Exorcist centers around Rin Okumura who, along with his twin brother Yukio, was raised by Father Shiro Fujimoto, an exorcist. Rin is a regular teenager (e.g. stubborn, thinks the universe revolves around him, etc.) who is prone to agitation, but also has a kind heart. He has lived an unremarkable (and somewhat hard life due to his attitude) until one day he gets a job at a shopping mall were he sees a strange creature running away with a young girls scarf, Rin chases after the creature and eventually saves her from some heavy falling boxes. He is immediately fired. The next day Rin is attacked by the local bully who is possessed by a demon. Shiro rescues him, and in the process of explaining their situation reveals that Rin is the son of Satan (the demon overlord). Once back at the monastery Shiro explains that he sealed Rins demonic powers in a blade to make him human, and if it is ever drawn Rin will become a demon forever. Later night the monastery is beset by demons, Shiro and the others who live there fight them off, but in the end Shiro is possessed by Satan. Shiro sacrifices himself to protect Rin. Rin then does exactly what he was told not to, and draws the blade to destroy the Gehenna Gate (the link between this world and the demon realm). He permanently gains the features of fangs, pointed ears, and a tail as well as the power to ignite himself into blue flames that disintegrate almost anything they touch. After Shiro's funeral he enrolls at a school to train to be an exorcist.
    As far as animation goes it was pretty regular. The only thing that made it really distinct was how well the animation showed movement. All characters move regularly (even when standing), which was very nice to see (because it demonstrated excellent knowledge of each characters bone structure).
    First off I just want to say that the story line is nothing to sneeze at. It was easy to get immersed in the story, which in my opinion shows that it is interesting and good. Next, it was very interesting how the author (because this was based off a manga) got different religious beliefs to combine into the world of this animation. There are references to Christianity, Shinto, Judaism, Buddhism, and probably couple others I didn't catch. The author presents a world where all religions are present, so they generally didn't stick to one belief system, instead they made up their own system that referenced others. In any case it was fun to see different belief systems molded together (and to actually have it pulled off while still representing each well is really impressive to me). The other thing I found to be quite nice was the character relationships. The relationship between characters was constantly changing (often large groups, and not just few people. It was this quality that really worked in favor of the comedy (yeah this is a comedy, and a funny one at that!), since the characters had such a great chemistry it allowed the jokes to be just that more funny (because a joke specific to a person is a lot funnier if you know specifically why it's funny, not just generally why). In conclusion I would recommend that anyone who likes comedy and fusion religion cuisine watch this show. It is very well done, and interesting to say the least.

Rin Okumura: Guy in the front looking slightly embarrassed, Yukio: Guy in middle looking slightly concerned, Everyone else: Important side characters.

Angel Beats!

Recently my english teacher has been going on an "afterlife" teaching binge, so I decided to do a blog that features a show about an afterlife.

    Angel Beats centers around a boy named Otonashi who wakes up on the ground on a school campus. He immediately encounters a girl with a sniper rifle train on a girl in the distance, who asks him if he wants to join herself and the other members of Not Yet Dead Battlefront (apparently the name has been in controversy for some time) in fighting to survive in the afterlife. Overwhelmed, he promptly dismisses her as crazy, and decides to ask the person she was targeting. That person turns out to the the student body president. Happy he is speaking to someone who should have some sense, he makes a comment about wanting to go to a hospital. The girl then relies that there are no hospitals because everyone is dead. Now very irritated about everything not making sense Otonashi asks the girl to prove it. At this request she stabs him in the chest with a sword. He then wakes up some time later unscathed (although his clothes have a rather sizable amount of blood on them), and is recruited into Underworld Battlefront (apparently the name has already changed since the last time). He hesitantly mades this decision after he is exposed to the idea of Obliteration, the equivalent of death in this world (although since everyone is already dead, it is thought of to likely be reincarnation).
    Overall the animation was actually pretty good, particularly the details. The animation was extremely polished overall, including the intentional blemishes (this makes for great eye-candy, but lacks the organic feel of just making a chaotic design). I have to say the lighting was very well done. The shadows in the environment particularly were good, but the shadows on the characters were a bit geometric.
    The action wasn't to bad, but it could have had a little more (just to make it a little more consistent). The comedy was generally about the characters themselves, but there is a good amount of afterlife jokes  as well. The comedy and action were good, but one of the best parts in my opinion is the afterlife they created. The fact that you can seemingly temporarily die in this world is an interesting twist (because the usual theme is that you are more or less immortal once you die). The world itself is rather limbo-like in that it isn't  hellish or heavenly. Interestingly enough some parts of it resemble a computer. Not only are there terms used that apply to computers, but at one point the world itself appears to be malfunctioning and generating errors. I think this series is perfect for anyone who enjoy comedy, drama, and different views on the afterlife.

Right: Otonashi, Left: Angel (girl who stabbed him)