School Lessons As Told By Your Fandoms

Hi! Sorry if it's been a while. School is around the corner, so things are starting to get busy around here. Speaking of which, I'm sure most of you are starting high school or college for the first time, or you just dread the idea of school. Well, whether you like it or not, education is very important. In short, yes, we need to go to school because it will eventually produce some good benefits. And if you think about it closely, most fandoms contain very educated characters and most of these happen to be characters we love. So why not make them examples or icons of education? Here are five important school survival tips that I learned from five different fandoms.

about-celebrities.skyrock.com

1.) Annabeth Chase/Hermione Granger- "Knowledge is power"
Although they come from two different book series, I think it's safe to put them on the same category. Hermione and Annabeth taught me you definitely get something if you spend a little more time with your homework. And they don't just learn things, they apply what they studied in every situation, The fact that they are eager to learn something new, already makes them the badass female characters. That's why Harry or Percy depend on them a lot, because let's face it; they aren't the most studious type. I'm not saying you have to be studious like them, but they taught me to embrace learning as much as I can because I'm definitely gonna need what I store in my brain.

Tumblr

2.) Felicity Smoak- "Education can give you a future"
For those have seen her filler arc in Arrow Season 3, we all eventually understood why Felicity became who she is. Not only that, she made it clear that she thought she wouldn't amount to anything. One thing's for sure, though; she didn't want to end up like her mom. Although her aspirations made her have disagreements with her mom along the way, but one thing I've always admired about Felicity, is that she is able to make a goal for herself. And to make things even better, she made that goal happen. I guess she taught me that spending your afternoons understanding complicated math equations is definitely worth your time. In other words, education will definitely guarantee you a future. It doesn't matter if your course or your future career path is not technical as hers, but rest assured all your hard work in school will produce something great in the end. So try looking at that homework again and put your mind to it like she did.

nypost.com

3.) Katniss Everdeen- "Learning is not a privilege, it's a necessity"
I know, I picked the most generic and possibly overrated YA character of all time. But even if the Hunger Games never had much info about the way they handle their education system, Katniss Everdeen still proved to everyone that she's smarter than you think. Unlike the other tributes, nobody in her district gave her tips on how to win the Hunger Games. Nobody taught her how to fight or even survive. She learned that all by herself. She didn't really need a school to teach her how to hunt down some meat. If you're one of those people who thinks school is not at all that important, try to think twice. School is kind of important, at least for me, because it has taught me many things that are not even academic-related.

Bustle

4.) Barry Allen- "Never stop pursuing"
Barry is one of those characters who would never give up or who would never stop believing in something. Barry has always believed in the impossible and he actually became the impossible. Basically, that very attribute is something that we're going to need in our daily lives, especially in school. No matter how stressful your week seems to be, believe that you can make it. If you think graduating is impossible, pursue it and it will hit you in a flash.

imgur.com

5.) Mako- "Don't make school take over your life"
Yeah, she seems like a very unfitting choice, since she barely showed much promise in her schooling. But guess what, it doesn't really matter to her. She certainly does one thing that I honestly think every student should do, which is spending time with her family. In my high school days, joining family outings or even spending time with friends was a luxury for me because I had so much school work to do. Furthermore, I wanted to maintain really good grades and I am one of those students who seriously needed to drill their brains into studying. And it really frustrated me at the time, because I wanted to be one of those people who would just take a glance on their notes and understand things in an instant. But no, I'm not that kind of student and hard work is essential for me if I want to succeed. But during high school, I took my studies way too seriously to the point I would have moments where I snapped into a mad frenzy (and me being stressed is not a pretty sight, by the way!). Because of that, I wasn't able to spend that much time with family. As for my friends, I get to see them everyday, but there where many times I would miss outings with them too. And I learned that it's not healthy because I knew I wasn't going to be stuck in school until I die (and I do not intend to let that happen). So what I'm saying that it's okay to take a break. It's okay to set a time where you can just goof off with your loved ones, because that's important too. And yes, too much of school will most likely kill you. Trust me, I know.

And that's it! Hope you guys are going to look at school in a much more brighter perspective now (in spite of the bullies, perhaps). Work hard, relax, and don't forget to smile! Till the next post~

Let's Review! Kill La Kill

I haven't done an anime review in a while...so time to review the most weirdest anime I've ever watched. Then again, all the anime shows I've seen are  equally weird. There is no comparison. 

Warning: The following post contains spoilers, And disturbing uniforms.

Plot 

Satsuki vs. Ryuko

Okay let me break it down for you; Ryuko goes to this school...or should I say a school that is somehow a civilization (let's say the civilization revolves around the high school)...and her primary goal was to search for her father's murderer, who left her with a half-scissor blade (yup, you guessed it. It's a weapon). So she arrives to this school, hoping to find the other half  of the scissor blade and eventually, the one who wielded it. Her ultimate suspect was Satsuki Kiryuin, the school president (or the alpha) of the entire student body. Let's say Ryuko finds her system very messed up, since your life will have to be revolved around these sailor uniforms that contain these powers, and these powers vary. And of course just like any Dystopian setting, the more "powerful" your uniform is, the better your livelihood will be. So yeah, Ryuko challenges Satsuki and threatens to tear apart the world she created . With the help of Senketsu, the super sailor uniform Ryuko becomes friends with, they fight every super-powered uniform until they reach Satsuki and Junketsu, which is her uniform. And  as the series progresses, we see how Ryuko proves to be not only the main deviant of the show, but we slowly get to see that the system Satsuki created is more than just a livelihood. 

This series did not take too long to let everyone know that Satsuki's dictating hand will be the least of Ryuko's problems. In other words, the point of view of this show is so good, to the point we actually get to see the bigger picture on both sides. The main characters may be completely different, but they have that one similarity that weaves the plot altogether, and that is them being--WARNING SPOILERS--siblings. Once I learned this big reveal, everything began to make sense and the entire story falls into place. Satsuki vows revenge against her mother Ragyo, who is the patron of the Alien Super Uniforms. Ragyo did a lot inhuman things just for the uniforms and Satsuki did not like that one bit of it, hence her motto, "You pigs in human clothing!" Then we have Ryuko, she wanted to know who killed her father and why. What she didn't know is that the answers she was looking for would lead to a much more serious arc in the plot, and most  of the answers were with Satsuki because she molded the school (and eventually the rest of the other schools) into one big army to fight against her mother. You could say the Satsuki did see some promise from Ryuko, especially when she saw her wore Senketsu, which is why she decided to let Ryuko do her thing. She was supposed to let Ryuko in on the plan, but in the series, that badly backfired because it turns out Ryuko is not just pig in human clothing. In general, the build up of the sequences were fairly good. The sudden change of atmosphere was very quick, and usually that doesn't work for many plots. Somehow it miraculously worked on this one.The humor may seem a bit cliched but the good thing about it was that it was pretty tolerable. And just like most anime shows, it remained consistent in the beginning. But again, what I like about it is that they break this consistency in just an instant. It may shown some small build ups in certain scenes, but when it was time to get serious, they get on with it. There was no need for any filler episode to explain things. Things have to happen at this moment, and there is no time to explain or show small hints on what is going to happen. Just let the serious shit come in and surprise the world. 

Ryuko at the ending theme, staring at a wedding dress

I'd also like to point out the whole analogy of wedding dresses and clothing to the idea of deprivation and dominant power because that is a pretty interesting way to describe a world with a powerful party and a submissive one. I think what this anime is trying to say is that, we accept the power dominating us just like how we simply wear clothes. And that is a very interesting way to look at the world we live in. There are times we don't like authority, but sometimes we just allow it empower us. And the sad part is, we don't immediately recognize it. Because it's something so mundane as wearing clothes. As for the wedding dress. I don't know how to interpret this. When Satsuki and Ryuko's father explained that Junketsu was going to be Satsuki's wedding dress, here is my own interpretation of what he said; for me, he was trying to warn Satsuki. This anime has done a great job of telling us that the clothes are the bad guys. If you are still not convinced then you can ask why Nudist Beach are so naked. And if you think of wedding dress, the first thing that comes to your mind is getting married. And the traditional yet brutal idea of a bride is that they become submissive wives; emphasis on the submissive. In other words, their dad warned Satsuki not to wear Junketsu, because he will take control of her. And his warning came true. Unfortunately, I think this was the only thing Satsuki had to miscalculate. It's a given fact that in this anime, that clothes want and can control you. Junketsu managed to take all the energy of Satsuki and the scary part is, he wanted more. Not only that, Ryuko nearly lost her willpower upon wearing Junketsu. These uniforms are the epitome of what power can truly be. It wants to control you and it can control you. You just need to be stronger. Such a strong metaphor.

Characters

Humans vs Clothing

Just like most anime shows, there were fairly a lot of flat characters in this show. Flat meaning, they are just complements (or supplements) to the series. The thing about flat characters is that, they are not necessarily bad. As long as they're not the main focus of the plot, then it's okay. This character can remain tsundere all throughout for all I care, just don't make him or her the main element to this series. So what I am trying to say is that, the flat characters did a great job at being flat. Most of the flat characters in the series shared one goal: support the main character in every way. If this show were like Mean Girls, just imagine Satsuki as Regina George and and Ryuko as Cady Heron or maybe Janis Ian (Because she was more of the instigator than Cady ever was). They have their own teams of consistent characters that only exist to support them with whatever they're doing. Satsuki has her team, and they all say that they will fight with her till the end! Ryuko has her team, which are Nudist Beach, Mako, and her family. They support her, too. I don't know why the Mankanshoukku family supports her but they're there, even if supporting Ryuko would mean going below the life they already have. As for the main characters, I love how they complement each other. It has been very obvious since the first episode, that this anime is going to be about them. The entire show felt like a game of volleyball, and these two were throwing the storyline at each other, and this fully supports the themes of this shows, which are rivalry, competitions, maybe nudity, and basically war. They were actually fighting while telling the story. Even if Satsuki had this secret plan from the beginning, she still competes against Ryuko because she still has beliefs that she would like to uphold to her audience and if there is one thing Satsuki valued before her own sister, it was her ideals. Same goes for Ryuko, the moment she entered the campus, she fights while storytelling. And both of them try to fight for their side of the story, telling us that their side is the right one until lo and behold...they're actually on the same page. Basically, Ryuko and Satsuki are just extreme competitors in telling the story. At one point, I started to question who should I side with, but I'm glad that was immediately resolved.

Senketsu, the black uniform at the left, and Junketsu, the white uniform in the basket. And no, they did not have sock kids.

As for the uniforms (yes they're characters too), I don't know if I should classify them as support or main, because they became integral parts to the main character. Junketsu may have not said much, but Senketsu has been a very great character. I thought he would be one of those random partners in crime who just exist to only annoy or leave the main character confused. But no, Senketsu is just as confused as Ryuko was and also very torn. Senketsu is a friend that anyone would like to have. It's like he's the Baymax of this series. He's a very supportive character that showed more variety compared to Mako or any of the flat characters I've classified earlier.

The main gist of the series were, Senketsu, Satsuki, Ryuko, and the antagonist...Ragyo. I know that anime characters have this tendency to be so weird and creepy. But can I just say, Ragyo is one creepy character. She worships the uniforms that can threaten your life...for no reason. Like seriously, Ragyo. Why worship clothes? Aside from becoming less human and more immortal, why. Why trust some strange entity that can actually eat you, irregardless of how powerful you are. Because the uniforms made it clear the once they took over the world, then nothing can stop them because they've engulfed all the inhabitants. Ragyo is only their patron, their sponsor, and their relationship is only until there. So why Ragyo??? If her love for the uniforms are so strong and unconditional, then yeah...she is officially the creepiest character ever. Never mind that she sexually abuses Satsuki, the fact that she mindlessly supports alien uniforms over her own for no reason is enough to write her off as someone freakier than your grandma.

Music

The music is really good. I may not have samples like last time, but I can confidently say that the music and show are totally in sync. They match the anime very well. The music screams war, urgency, terror, suspense, and kill all at once. The music will never fail to remind your ear that yes, there will be some serious shit going on. 

Art

The art style is very rough and edgy. Once again, it suits the anime. Apart from that, it gave off a few anime cliches such as perfectly-shaped female characters (petite ones, included). I also found it interesting how the funny and perverted ones are the ones drawn in less details. The Mankanshoukku family is one example. They were portrayed more loosely. But if you take a look at Satsuki or any important character in this anime, they have more edges, more sharp features, and more lines. However, this was personally my least favorite part of the show. It's not that I hated the art style, but it was something that did not really grasp my attention. Yes, the obscene uniforms and nudity did not alert my eyes, one bit. But that's just me.

Overall

I love how this anime is very consistent to the themes and how well folded out the plot sequences became. Did I like this anime? I love it? Does it deserve five eggs? Yes. It's a sunny side-up.

And that is it for my anime review. Apologies for not updating anything last week, so I will compensate for updating more this week (if I can). Let's just say my university has a funny way of teaching me about the hard aspects of life, and right now they are currently treating me like a random office person in a cubicle by dumping more group projects and reports for me to deal with in the future. Trust me, you do not want to know the rest. Till the next post~

Check my last anime review about: Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles

14 Characters I Loved in 2014

Let us reminisce about 2014 some more! Last year, I met characters that I ended up loving and there were also other characters that I managed to warm up to. So let's see who they are! 

Pinterest

1.) Sara Lance (Arrow)
Seriously. Why kill off an amazing character? Why, CW. WHY.

Tumblr

2.) Nico Di Angelo (Heroes of Olympus/Percy Jackson & the Olympians)
I did not notice him that much in the PJO series, simply because he was such a naive little boy. But he changed dramatically in Heroes of Olympus, and I could not help but feel very sorry for him. Then Blood of Olympus came and I began rooting for him. His development was very drastic compared to most of the characters in the series, in my opinion. It's probably the reason why I was so drawn to him. And he turned out pretty good. In the end, I became really proud of him. He deserves my greatest hugs.

comicvine.com

3.) Cisco (The Flash)
For some odd reason, he is my favorite character in the series. Don't get me wrong, Barry is great but Cisco is just so adorable! I've mentioned this before, but he is my spirit animal. His reaction to awesome stuff, is how I react to awesome stuff. Awesome. 

Pinterest

4.) Piper Mclean (Heroes of Olympus)
She may not have been the most impressive character in the series, but Riordan has managed to redeem her and it turned out pretty great. She taught me that it's not bad to use your heart in making decisions. Sometimes, logic does not work in certain situations and you just have to stick to your feelings or instincts. Use both your heart and brain, basically.

5.) Reyna (Heroes of Olympus)
I am honestly glad that she had a POV in the last book. I loved her character since The Son of Neptune and I wanted to get to know her more ever since. And I am glad that she is not just a plain badass, she's also...a girl. I was honestly touched when she moved to Nico and gave him a hug. That was one of my favorite parts in the book.

Wordpress

6.) Clary Fray (The Mortal Instruments)
Just like Piper, Clare managed to redeem her character. It actually happened since the City of Lost Souls. Right now, I do not find her too annoying. Not only can she fight, but she can be more diplomatic and she is slightly more stable...emotionally. 

Reddit

7.) Satsuki Kiryuin (Kill La Kill)
I knew she was not a bad guy. I just knew it! I don't know if anti-hero is the right word to describe her, but let's just say she became a hero in her own way. She had an insane goal, but she managed to focus on that goal. No matter how risky all her moves were, she just did it. And she's also not afraid to play dirty when she has to. 

Heroisx.com

8.) Naruto (Naruto)
As you all know, Naruto ended last year. The only one who left a lasting impression to me was none other than, our beloved orange ninja. I'm just so proud of him, because he has managed to accomplish all of his dreams and goals in life. He managed to make peace with Sasuke, he became Hokage, and he married a beautiful girl with cups larger than an A. Plus, he matured. Good job, Naruto!

blogger

9.) Mikasa Ackerman (Shingeki No Kyojin)
One of my amazing girl crushes. Not only is she just so loving and purely awesome...she has abs. Beautiful Ackerman abs.

10.) Armin Arlert (Shingeki No Kyojin)
He's not one of those wimpy characters who stay wimpy till the end. He's realistic in a way, that he abruptly tries to change himself, but ends up failing miserably. All throughout the first season, I see how he eventually sees his friends as inspiration and attempts to become a stronger and better individual. It amazes me how he nearly failed to see his ultimate strength, which was his brilliant mind. Now that's a very realistic and human trait.

Twitter

11.) Hiro (Big Hero 6)
As much as Baymax, Gogo, and the other characters were awesome (trust me, all of the characters are cool), Hiro still left a lasting impression. Heck, he's my favorite character. He's an interesting balance of a pre-teen. On one hand, he's a very passionate and brilliant robotics nerd. On another, he's a sensitive little boy. Not only that, this kid gave me so much feels in less than three hours.

12.) Tadashi (Big Hero 6)
Do I really have to describe why I love him?

Fanpop

13.) Asami (Legend of Korra)
Asami is what you would call...the ideal best friend (or girlfriend). I just love how mature she was in most situations. Even if she was on her breaking point, she knew how to fix things under pressure. Also, I love how she never saw Korra as a rival or anything. Also, she takes break-ups surprisingly well compared to most female characters I've seen. And she is actually a great independent character. She may not be a bender, but she knows how to take care of herself and the people she loves. She may have done a few minor mistakes in the show, but they didn't bother me at all. She's still a human, after all. 

Pinterest

14.) Samantha Borgens (Stuck in Love: Writers)
For the very first time, I've seen Lily Collins come to life. This was seriously the first time I saw her act. Her character was amazing. I don't know with you guys, but she is one of the greatest examples of a girl who received so much love and happiness, which ends up being trampled with divorce papers.

Who are your favorite characters?