The Egg Tray: Jurassic World, Sense8, and More!

And we are back with another egg tray, where i show my current favorites. So let's get a move on!

jurassicpark.wikia.com

Of course, one of the most anticipated films of 2015 is on this list. Jurassic World was definitely a must-watch for me because Jurassic Park is part of my childhood. Plus, Chris Pratt is in this movie, so how can I not watch it? My verdict is yes, it's a good film. I have to admit, it got very interesting the moment the dinosaurs came in, especially the raptors (they're so adorable). The dialogue maybe needed a little work for me, but that didn't stop me from enjoying. If you haven't seen it, give it a try. It may not be too thrilling, but it will give you the good vibes.

psarips.com

My next favorite is a recent series. It is called Sense8 and it was highly recommended by my friend because.... the Wachowskis made this. Sure, Jupiter Ascending may have been a descending to the majority, but it doesn't mean that the talents of the Wachowski Brothers have been diminished. I just started on the first episode and as far as I understood, it is about 8 people from around the world, who have this unexplained connection with each other. They are all able to sense each other, but this has yet to be explained in the show. So far, it's intriguing. The cast is so diverse and foreign, because they are not a bunch of white people attempting to be foreign. Plus, what I like about this series is that I get to experience the character and their culture at the same time. For example, we have Nomi, who is a lesbian fighting for the equality of the LGBT community in the United States. I was able to see the reality of the LGBT and what they are doing just to achieve gender equality. So yeah, I will most likely continue this series.

japanphilly.org

I was able to watch another anime show and it is called Steins;Gate. Since I've been a major fan of The Flash and the Insignia Series, I just had this sudden desire of more Science Fiction. Plus, I wanted to watch another anime to get over Akame Ga Kill, and this was the solution to all my problems. Basically, the anime focuses on Okabe Rintarou, as self-proclaimed mad scientist who aspires to change the world through science and technology. But he is particularly interested in Time Travel, and he and his friends managed to create their own Time Machine, which is in the form of a microwave. Unfortunately, this caused a major change in the timeline, created a whole new world line from there. I guess explaining the whole thing will reveal spoilers, but this anime has a very good build-up and the concept of Time Travel here is very unique. Plus, the characters are really good, even the minor characters are well-written. Also this story takes place in Akihabara, which is one of the "techie" and "moe" places in Japan. I'm not sure if I will be able to make a review of this, since I have a lot in mind, but all I can say is that I also recommend this show.

ocremix.org

I was able to play a game, and it is called Pokemon: Sapphire Version. I know, it is a pretty old game but I miss playing Pokemon and I don't really have the latest model of the Nintendo DS. I really love the pokemon in Hoenn, all of them have been my favorite since I was a kid. My starter pokemon was Torchic. I only have four in my party so far and they are Flygon, Blaziken, Aggron, and Gardevoir. I'm about to get my eighth badge and hopefully defeating the Elite Four wouldn't be too difficult.

So that's all in my egg tray! Till the next post~

Let's Review! Akame Ga Kill

Warning: Please read this, I beg of you. This may contain heavy spoilers and also, this review will be focusing on the anime itself and will not be compared to the manga. You've been warned. Now read on and enjoy!

Hello! If you remember my last Egg Tray post, I have been watching this anime called Akame Ga kill, which is based on the manga of the same name. Before I begin, I want to make it seriously clear that I will not be talking about how the show went on a completely different direction from the manga. Actually I will, and I will say it right now. For the people who have seen the anime and read the manga (or have at least done either), I agree with you. I was appalled when they made up that ending on their own, mostly because my heart grew heavy after that ending. Seriously any sane person cannot just watch that show and say it was not sad. Because it was! In this anime they're all dead, but in reality they're kinda not??? I feel very conflicted, you guys. But I do think they might need a remake or just leave it be and let others learn how to read the manga for a change. Anyway, let's get started.

Plot

Night Raid appears (dailyanimeart.com)

Okay, let me break it down for you; Tatsumi is a highly skilled country boy who aims to earn a lot of money at the Imperial Capital for his home village. But then he learns how corrupt and terrible the place was, after finding his comrades and other innocent people brutally tortured to the death for no good reason. That's when he encounters Night Raid, a sub-group of assassins who each have a super weapon called the Imperial Arms. They explain to Tatsumi that they are part of a Revolutionary Army, fighting for the freedom of the people from the corrupted rule of the minister, who is treating the clueless child emperor like a puppet. They do this by killing every corrupted rich elite or official they intend to target. Tatsumi eventually joins this cause and continuously grows as a warrior and a man...okay, maybe the other members of Night Raid change too.

I really want to say I do not like the plot. Or at least, my feels do not like the plot. But I can't lie...the story was really good.  For an adaption (it was barely an adaptation, in my opinion. They managed to follow the manga, but completely improvised at the ending. That's right, fans. Tatsumi, Mine, Kurome, Najenda, Leone, and General Esdeath are still alive. But I think Mine is close to death in the manga, as we speak), it was able to put everything a war story should have. A corruption element? Check. A rebellion? Check. Back stories that made you wish that they had normal lives? Check. Crazy yet scary sociopath villains? Not really necessary but check. Deaths? Double. Triple. Quadruple Check. As much as most of the viewers hated it, but that's how a war story should go. Death is inevitable, especially when a war becomes a main topic. So realistically, one death is not enough to achieve the objective. That is what this anime did and it was performed splendidly. I guess the reason why I had mixed feelings earlier is because I did one thing someone should not do when it comes to war stories; never become emotionally attached to the characters, which I will later explain. As for the setting, I love how it included actual events into the fictitious story. I mean, as a history fan watching an anime about bloodshed, I was able to notice that most of these events actually happened. For example, having a very young emperor happened before and it was actually a good but devious idea to let that stupid young kid to be heavily influenced by some fat guy who is clearly a megalomaniac. Otherwise, none of his subordinates wouldn't be so...intimidating. Even if the politics in this show do not make sense at all, it is very clear that there is no specific law. Only the emperor's words become law. Basically, this show did a good job at making the Imperial Capital look completely hopeless because the way I see it, it is ruled by psychotic people. And I haven't come across any dystopian plot or any plot for that matter, that has any simplistic but insane villainy in them. Plus, the story of each characters are quite adequate. It's already implied that most are already developed, so all there's left is to give them one more push before they meet their deaths. Sounds morbid, but that's how it went.

Night Raid Insignia (reddit.com)

If I had to nitpick the show in any way, I guess I didn't get enough screen time for some characters. First is Wave. He is supposed to be the equivalent of Tatsumi because he has an imperial arms that's supposed to be an improved version of Tatsumi's. So if I can't really expect a fight between the two, I was hoping for him to go in action??? But no. The anime written him off as some lowly, all-talk, less do kind of guy. All he did was fuss over Kurome's health and complain about not being able to do anything. Kinda pathetic, if you ask me. Definitely not worth be equated to Tatsumi (since the whole point of assembling Jaegers, Wave's team, is to be the complement of Night Raid), who's clearly done many things in the anime. Next is Budou, the commander-in-chief that everyone fears for the past 20 episodes!!! Najenda mentioned that he has been a problem for the Revolutionary Army for years, yet he was easily defeated by a gun shot from Mine? You have got to be kidding me. He was supposed to be in the same level as General Esdeath and he clearly had a lot of man power and an impressive Imperial Arms to prove it, but he was dead after one episode. Really?

www.giga.de

What really intrigued me was how the show managed to mislead me. For the past 23 episodes, I've been constantly asking myself why the show was named after Akame, one of the members of Night Raid, when the story revolves around Tatsumi. The whole reason why it was titled, "Akame Ga Kill" (Or Red-Eye Kill) was because Akame becomes the survivor of the war. And again, that's how it should be. Every battle has a survivor and Akame was the survivor. And I was taken by surprise, because I was so used to reading and watching many shows with battles that leave many survivors. And this anime managed to deviate from that perspective and realistically let Akame be the only one who lives. Again, I wanted to hate the idea but I kinda like it. I feel betrayed in some way, but I thought it was very well done. Since it is very similar to Kill La Kill, the show remains very loyal to its morbid themes such killing. Kill the enemies. Kill corruption. Kill the kingdom. Kill everything to make anew. Hence, the epic action scenes. Slay, people, slay.

Characters

Night Raid
From left to right: Akame, Tatsumi, Mine, Leone, Sheele, Bulat, Lubbock, Ex-General Najenda (www.kpopstarz.com)

Jaegers
From Left To Right: Seryu, Dr. Stylish, Bols, General Esdeath, Wave, Kurome, Run (pinterest.com)

For me, this was the best part of the series. The characters that made my heart soar. Basically this anime's tactic was, "if you can't develop a character, kill them". Like I said, most of the characters made it clear from the beginning of the show, that they've already been through a lot of things and those hardships already made them who they are. So it's not surprising that most of them were already self-actualized and very prepared to die. Tatsumi, being the only one who needed a lot of building, was such a good character. I can't even explicitly explain why I like Tatsumi. He's not a very fresh idea, since there are many others like him in many anime shows. However, I love how well-grounded he is for a hillbilly. He takes things way too seriously, but it somehow fits in the situations he's been.

Pinterest

As for the members of Night Raid, they were all right I guess. Unfortunately, I can't say much for them because most of their archetypes clearly conform to the anime world. But their back stories are really good. They were done adequately and none of them tried to be more important than the other, which seems very important to me when it comes to books, shows, or even films. I also really like the perception of romance in this anime. It is seen as a reward and not as something that needs to be pursued right away. This immediately affects the relationship between the characters. And I just love how they regard each other. They're like family, which made the anime even more painful to watch.

Chelsea, the first recruit (Youtube)

Susanoo, the second recruit (www.popcults.com)

I am even impressed with how this anime was able to squeeze in new characters and make them impressionable. Chelsea had a similar characteristic to that of Mine but managed to have a bit off development before her demise. Susanoo, in spite of being just a human-based imperial arms, still becomes this memorable, adorable, yet head strong person for the team and a good mentor for Tatsumi. I like how they weren't exactly out of place, but they were just there to replace the ones that fallen and none of them felt like odd pieces to the puzzle. Their stories prove that war stories will be forever tragic. Especially if the death involves an assassin. 

akamegakill.wikia.com

I could say the same for the villains. First, we talk about Jaegers, who are supposed to be the copycat version of Night Raid. I hate and love the fact that they treat each other like family. Clearly, most of them are not fully aware by what is going on behind the scenes except Run, surprisingly. What's worse is that the  majority of them are people with good intentions. And that hurts. In other words, you can't hate these guys. They treat each other right, too. Esdeath proved herself as actually a great leader by being very fair to her subordinates. I'm not kidding, guys. She's a very good general, even though she's... crazy. The torment I felt in this show was very serious.

General Esdeath making the prince her B---- (www.levelup.com)

Minister Honest (akamegakill.wikia.com)

As for the major villains. Okay, they're really crazy. What's worse, they run the world like The Plastics run North Shore High. They only have two objectives: Get everything and Kill everything. I'm not saying that it's the most violent show I've seen (because I've seen worse), but these people have no reasonable or any particular agenda at all. For example, General Esdeath--as much as I lover her--tortures an entire town because she's into it. She enjoys that kind of thing, that's all. Now imagine ten more copies of her running a kingdom. That's the Imperial Capital. Boom. The anime didn't really want to complicate things, so they just stuck the masses with really messed-up leaders. Which only makes sense for assassins to murder each one of them.

Music

The music is great. It's a mixture of metal, rock, and opera. So it makes everything sound grave, dangerous, dramatic, and thrilling all at once. My favorite was the second opening of the show, where it reveals Night Raid facing Jaegers, and the beginning of the Revolutionary War. Unfortunately, I cannot share that because it reveals too much of the story. No worries, I shall tease by showing the first opening of this show with the song entitled, "Skyreach", so you will know what I am talking about. 

Art

ganbareanime.com

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akamegakill.wikia.com

Photobucket.com

Aside from the weird parts where they cut each other's arms, the art is really good. The violence animation is not too violent and not too bloody. The art appears innocent, but sadly these characters do not wear positive faces all the time. If they did, they simply put on a game face, or a look of determination. They are designed to look grim, dangerous, angry, fierce, and power-hungry. But no worries, even the villains can still pull a soft or comedic face, once in a while. The best for me are the costumes. It was a mixture of eastern and western, both contemporary, and ancient. If I had to pick a favorite, it would be General Esdeath's because I find military uniforms really sexy and Esdeath's looked really great. Move over, Elsa. But the cold definitely never bothered her. 

I'd like to eliminate this anime for hurting my feelings. But putting that aside, it gave me the most realistic yet most entertaining war story I've ever seen. I love the characters, both bad and good. So I'm gonna give Akame Ga Kill, Four eggs! Soft-boiled!!!

That is it! Till the next post~

The Egg Tray: Akame Ga Kill and Catalyst

We are back with another segment of The Egg Tray, were I simply fangirl over my current favorites for no good reason at all! Unfortunately, I had a busy month so I didn't really have enough time to appreciate anything. Luckily I didn't just grasp on straws.

www.goodreads.com

Recently, I just finished the last book of the Insignia series, which is Catalyst by S.J. Kincaid. I have to say, it is officially my favorite of the three. It may not have the greatest action-packed ultimatum that I usually crave for in novels like this, but it is filled with emotions that needed severe closure, and reading page after page grew so dark that I thought things would never get better. Luckily, it did and I ended up very satisfied with the ending. What really mattered most in this book was how each character matured. Tom's realization in the end, was one of the greatest things I've ever read next to the reveal of who the catalyst really was. I don't really want to spoil much, but all I can say is that the Spire went under new management and that the world was too focused on the war to the point they had no idea that a plot of world domination was happening underneath their noses. Tom learns of this but let's say he had a lot at risk before he could even bother stopping the bad guy from doing his bad deeds. There. That's all I'm gonna say.

nerdology101.com

Guess what! I've picked up a new anime and it is called Akame Ga Kill. I just started the show, so all I know is that its about a young country boy named Tatsumi who aspires to save his village from heavy taxation and other forms of suffering. He thought that making it big in the Imperial Capital, the center of the universe in this setting, would save his village. But then he learns how corrupt the place was. That's when he encounters Night Raid, a group of wanted assassins whose only purpose is to eradicate the corruption swarming the Imperial Capital. He joins this cause and hopes to wipe out the evil and help his country. The action scenes are great and the characters are very interesting, especially Akame, the girl that the anime is named after. So far, I'm in the beginning stages of this show and I can't wait to see more of it.

And that's it! Sorry if it is too short but I will make up for it! Till the next post~