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karokfish
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Tian Guan Ci Fu (2020)
I heart, I heart, I heart this! Quite the "Blessing" to come across it.
I saw this in my Netflix suggestions. Not Japanese (i read subtitles anyway), but I gave it a try and I am so glad I did. I watched all 13 episodes over two nights in a row. The next day, being Sunday, I binged watched all 13 episodes again! At first, it was to catch all the exposition in the beginning. And throughout, there are snippets here and there that tie in later. (And it's playing again in the background as I write this, lol)
In this universe, there are at least 3 realms - Heaven, Mortal and Ghost. People can ascend to the Heaven Realm and move back and forth. They can also be banished/exiled back to the Mortal Realm. I like this idea. Keep in mind, there are multiple gods, who have deputy gods, and ... armies? Not sure how the Ghost Realm works but the ghost kings seem to live in the Mortal Realm too. We follow the central figure on his third ascension. It says something about his character at the "fuss" he creates on ascending.
The characters are all "pretty" but not overly effeminate. I enjoyed the stories and the interactions among the main and recurring characters (the deputy god duo are entertaining).
I enjoyed watching in the original language too - far easier than Psychic Princess. (Don't get me wrong though, I can hardly wait for new episodes of Psychic Princess to show up.) is it because this is a predominantly male cast? I thought with Psychic Princess that I just wasn't used to watching "anime" in a language other than Japanese. But HOB proved it wrong. I think it might be Mandarin vs Cantonese, or dialects in between. And the background music is quite calming too, when they are just talking.
I hope there will be another season of Heaven Official's Blessing. I want to know what's under the bandages on Xie Lian's neck and on his legs and why/how. Also, what is Rouye and how did XL get it. I suppose I could look up the books. Most importantly, I want to see how San Lang keeps looking out for and protecting XL. XL is kind, caring and intelligent,,, and dense when it comes to the feelings of SL. I would love to see how their relationship progress.
Bleach: Burîchu (2018)
Amazeballs!
The only other anime-to-live-action movie I've seen is Full Metal Alchemist... yah, so I didn't go into this with high expectations. In fact, I downloaded it to watch during my commute home. Within 10 minutes, I had to stop cause I knew I had to watch it on the big screen (just my TV) AND I'd have to get hubby to watch with me. Within the first 10 minutes, I could tell it was in a whole 'nother level compared to FMA.
Hubby and I absolutely loved it! I couldn't get into the specifics of manga volumes or series episodes but kudos to screenwriters and director for condensing what feels like a couple of seasons into less than 2 hours.
True, some characters didn't resemble their anime versions - the first couple times I saw Renji, I lamented that he was too short; Byakuya was a bit short too but the actor played the character so well that it didn't detract as much as Renji's lack of height.
At no point did the CG characters or special effects pull me out of the story. So well done!
Now I have to set aside another time to rewatch in English.
I wonder how many times I'll end up watching this....
And they have left the door open for a sequel which I hope gets made.
Ôran kôkô hosutobu (2006)
cute, frivolous
I turned to this show after watching Black Butler. In Black Butler trivia, someone mentioned that the English voice actor who portrays Sebastian is the voice of a character in this series. I thoroughly enjoyed the English version (no issue with accents whatsoever!) and have also re-watched about half the episodes in Japanese with English subtitles.
Completely different aura! A welcome change - no demons or supernatural beings, just a light-hearted, cute, frivolous, alas short, series about a bunch of rich boys who "host" the equally rich girls in their school for rich kids. A smart girl enters their school on an honour student award and gets mixed up in their club. And the rich boys dip their toes in the life of the "common people".
Of course, there are some story lines that push the sensibilities (like a whole police force gets beaten up by a couple of high schoolers?) but that's anime for you.
Love the series. Will re-watch episodes when I need a break from anything sad or demented.
Kuroshitsuji (2008)
I wish there had been more episodes before the end of Ciel
At first I could not stand to watch it in dubbed version - the accents just rankled as racist and they aren't very good accents. But now that I've finished watching both seasons, I need to re-watch it again, and I'll do so in the dubbed version. Funny how in Japanese, everyone has the same accent...
While it could have ended simply at Season 1, and since Season 2 was half filler anyway, I enjoyed the twist of the end of the story for Ciel and Sebastian in Season 2. And, boy!, what a twist! At least, it would seem like the end.
Not to knock the "filler" - couple of fun episodes in there, so watch! But anti-climactic when the "end of story" was in the middle of Season 2.
Speaking of end of story, what a head spinner! Truly convoluted. But I must say I feel quite sorry for Sebastian. After his hard work cultivating Ciel's soul, I wish he could have reaped his rewards.
There was a perfect explanation of Ciel in there somewhere, that despite the darkness he has experienced and that he wraps himself in, he still had a remarkably noble soul. He had every intention of being true to his contract with Sebastian, he understood completely what he had signed up for, unlike his antagonist in Season 2. But I think Season 2 might show us that the human master may ultimately affect the demon servant too.
Sigh. I wish it wasn't over. However, I understand there is another season called Book of Circus. But it is not available on Netflix Canada yet. So I will wait patiently until it comes out.
And something about a movie that came out in 2014? My my...
O-tanoshimini!