The blog that Corin writes!

Mikazuki Augus - Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans The quote itself isn't anything special but the context and delivery are why I love it. Mikazuki, the protagonist, is a cold blooded killer with emphasis on the cold. For his enemies it's terrify how calm he is when killing people on the battlefield but I find it amusing. He doesn't enjoy killing he just sees it as something he has to do, so he doesn't even consider mercy or empathy. This scene in particular is great because an enemy is calling him out being so ruthless in combat and while Mikazuki surprised to hear this for a moment he just shrugs it off and says "Well, Whatever" and then kills the guy anyway. He just doesn't care.

Zoro takes Luffy's Pain - One Piece Zoro is badass, there's no better way to describe him. He's a ridiculously strong swordsman who can dish out as much as he can take. There a lot of moments from him I could use for today. In the Alabasta arc he defeated Mr.1 by cutting through steel. His most recent feat of strength was in the Dressrosa arc where he cut through Pica, an already enormous man who was able to use his Stone-Stone fruit abilities to merge with the ground and become a giant. It's always cool seeing the damage he can do but his endurance is also really impressive. After an exhausting battle with  Gecko Moria, one of the Seven Warlords of the sea, the Straw Hat pirates are confronted by another warlord Bartholomew Kuma. Kuma easily blew away the crew and was ready to take Luffy but Zoro offered his life instead. So Kuma, using his Paw-Paw fruit, absorbed all the pain Luffy experienced in the fight with Moria and tells Zoro to experience it. The scene sh

Naruto vs Sasuke Final Battle It's been two years since I first watched this animated and three years since I started liking the Naruto series again. I've seen a lot of fights and action since then. I picked up Gintama and saw Gin go against Benizakura and Jiraia, I watched Asta fight Mars in Black Clover, I saw the climatic fight scene in Sword of the Stanger, Tekkadan's last stand in Iron Blooded Orphans and  HeroAca provided plenty of spectacles including the recent All Might vs All for One battle. But if I were to pick something as my favorite or even the best I've seen it would be this one. Now a lot of people prefer the first fight between Naruto and Sasuke at the Valley of the End; and that's fine, I also preferred it when I read the manga. But this is one of the rare moments where the anime really elevated the source material. I won't recommend the manga over the manga as a whole but there's quite a handful of things I'd say to check out in

Devilman Crybaby Episode 9 - Go to Hell, You Mortals I decided to kill two birds with one stone today. Devilman Crybaby is the 2018 adaptation of Go Nagai's classic apocalyptic manga from the 70's. It starts out as a sexually violent show that could probably never air on television. The gore and nudity came with those sort of levity that makes one feel like they're watching a morbid fun show that shouldn't be taken seriously. Episode 4 proved that the show would eventually tug at our heartstrings but not even the decades old manga spoilers were enough to prepare me or a lot of viewers for the dreadfulness of episode 9. Now I won't spoil the details of the episode because I think the best experiences are the ones where you go in knowing as little as possible(with some exceptions) but knowing the fate of some these characters did not stop me from getting emotional while watching this episode. It's not just shocking in the sense that they go further than you

Rasen Shuriken

Age 2 Dark Hound - Gundam Age I fell in love with this mecha at first sight, in fact it's the reason I watched Gundam Age. Granted I was going to get to it eventually because I like Gundam but the desire to see this machine in action is what got me to watch. Gundam Age had a lot of great designs like the Zedas, the G-Bouncer and the Legilis to name a few but in my opinion the Dark Hound was the coolest and lived up to every bit of hype I had. The Dark Hound is an upgraded version of the Age 2, an already cool veritable mecha(that I have an MG Kit of) but this one has a pirate aesthetic. However this new gundam isn't just for show, the pirate hook are every bit as useful as they are stylish being able to extend, grab and electrocute making for some nice fight sequences. If I could pilot any Gundam it'd be this one.

Gintoki Sakata I could actually choose the entire cast of Gintama, and that includes Shinpachi who's actually my favorite character in the show. But I decided to go with my the protagonist of the series given how easily he switches between goofy and dead serious. Gintoki is a lazy washed up Samurai in an era where they're no longer needed. So to make a living he takes on whatever Odd Jobs he can get with Shinpachi and Kagura. He drinks, gambles, and does thing that are totally unfair. He's basically the stereotypical irresponsible adult. Gintoki moves the story along by mostly being childish and lazy but underneath all the jokes that come from him is a man with a blood soaked past. My favorite type of goofy characters are the ones who seem like jokers but are actually broken inside.

At the End of Eternity - Gunbuster I don't know what to say about the final episode of Gunbuster other than that it's a legendary and unforgettable scene. Words cant do it justice.

Natsuko Honda - King's Game King's Game is terrible. It's a failure of a horror anime with lackluster animation and music accompanying a story that relies on characters being stupid. There's nothing scary about it and it's only occasionally funny if you're looking to enjoy it in a "so bad it's good" manner. Bu if there's one bright, one redeeming factor, one glimmer of light, it's Natsuko "Best Girl" Honda. The entire I was watching the anime I constantly wished she was the main character.  While the actual protagonist is morally good he's also incompetent and inactive, spending most of his time wallowing in the past and screaming in the present. Natsuko is the one carrying the story. In a cast full of cardboard cutouts simply trying to survive the King's Game, Natsuko is trying to win it. Most of the entertainment value from King's Game comes from watching Natsuko manipulate, backstab, and kill the other playe

Shikamaru Nara - Naruto Naruto gets criticized a lot for not using it's supporting cast enough. There's a lot of likable characters with interesting techniques that could have been developed more and and it's easy to understand someone's disappointment with not seeing more of Rock Lee, Shino or the female characters sans Sakura. However with the exception of Gaara there is one supporting character who has always a good amount of screen time, Shikamaru. Shikamaru is cool, both in the sense that he keeps calm and that he's impressive. His official introduction in the Chunin Exams arc as a lazy good for nothing. But what belies his demeanor is his greatest strength. Shikamaru is a genius with an IQ of 200. He's a master strategist able to approach every fight like an old man playing shogi. While his fight against Hidan was excellent and gratifying his most famous bout is his match against Temari where he thought several steps ahead of his opponent and really

Code Geass: Akito the Exiled In this OVA Sunrise answered the question "What if CG mecha were not just good but Beautiful?"

Kyubey - Madoka Magica Kyubey's great. He's the hero of his story. He's like a hardworking salesman with a greater cause. He's got the determination of Shonen Jump protaginst but it's all hidden behind cold red eyes and a cheshire grin. I love flexible his design is too. He's able to switch between cute and creep at the drop of a hat, just like the show.

B Gata H Kei: Yamada's First time B Gata H Kei was just supposed to be some lame harem ecchi I'd watch on Netflix to kill time on Winter Break. Now it sits firmly on my anime shelf. I love this show, I adore this show, I smile just thinking about it. If I were to rank all the anime I watched by how much by enjoyment it would easily break top 50 and maybe even top 25. Dont judge a book by its cover or in this case and anime by its promotional image. I saw a bunch of high schools and assumed it was about milquetoast protagonist getting chased by them. I'm so glad I was wrong. Within 5 minutes of watching the show I learn how wrong my assumptions were. The protagonist who I thought would be some painfully average high school boy is actually popular, beautiful girl whose goal is to have sex with 100 guys. The show is gut busting funny. Yamada is so so confused about her hormones and the way she acts and speaks on her desires brings a lot out of the other characters.

Naota - FLCL Naota reminds me so much of myself that I place myself in his shoes feeling all of his frustration and anxiety on top of my own but ultimately failing to reach catharsis with him in the show meaning that I'm just as incapable as dealing with my emotions and taking risks a Japanese middle school boy despite being older than him both times I watched it.

Yamazaki moves away - Welcome to the NHK Welcome to the NHK is a depressing anime and there are several scenes I could choose from but this is the one. Yamazaki has to give up his dreams of being a game developer to go back home and take over his family's farm, this also means abandoning his otaku interests. What makes it even worse is having to give up on the girl he's had a crush on despite her reciprocating his feelings. We've already seen how life is for Sato but to see it just beat down on Yamazaki, a far more composed person just makes life seem cruel and unfair.

People that describe Keijo as "just a fanservice show" or anything similar to that, don't seem to understand the point of fanservice. It's been almost two years since the show aired and people still don't get it. With Keijo it's like someone hears a joke, doesn't get the setup or punchline, and then heckles the comedian and audience. Keijo is the titular water sport where girls stand on a small floating arena and compete against one another. The aim is to push the other contestant off of the arena into the water, but players are forbidden to use their limbs. They are only allowed to use their hips and chests to fight. However, they are freed to launch their attack to any body parts of their opponents, including their opponent's face and vital points. Now don't get me wrong, the characters in Keijo are very, very sexy but what makes the series not fanservice is in the the way the girls frame and discuss their body parts. The cast of Keijo

Vision of Escaflowne Even though the topic for this post is mecha, I'm just gonna go ahead and say that Escaflowne is the best isekai anime ever made. Escaflowne is 1994 anime from studio Sunrise(Gundam), created by Shoji Kawamori(Macross) and directed by Kazuki Akane(Akito the Exiled). So with that staff working on it mecha are great. Ecaflowne's mecha are called Guymelefs; giant suits of armor powered by gems from dragons. The series title mecha Escaflowne is veritable and can transform into a dragon. It's really cool. But I'm not an anime YouTuber so I won't pretend most mecha anime are about the mecha instead of the characters. The protagonist Hitomi is really charming for an audience surrogate in the tv series, and in the film her character arc is really compelling. Van is every bit as cool at machine he pilots and the romance between him and Hitomi is engaging in both iterations of the story. The art and animation is almost perfect it has this great 90&#

Shokugeki no Soma: Food Wars This was really difficult given my love for battle Shonen. I've already written about One Piece, Naruto, and Yu Yu Hakusho. I considered HeroAca and while it has very good action scenes they're very quick. I also considered Black Clover but Asta vs Mars is the fight where I didn't enjoy the manga more. So I'm going with a Battle Shonen where punches aren't physically thrown. Food Wars is a cooking series. It's also got some of the most intense face-offs in anime and manga. The build up, stakes, music and illustrations all portray the cooking competitions in a big fight feel. The characters also contribute by using their dishes to show off their philosophies and ambitions. This makes every Shokugeki feel like a must win for the characters involved. Soma the protagonist is really fun to watch in these fight scenes. He's an arrogant young chef from a humble background with lots of charisma and bravado. He likes

Yoshikage Kira - JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable Yoshikage Kira just wants to live a quiet life. He doesn't have any grand ambitions like taking over the world, he just wants to fade into the background and go about his days in peace. Unfortunately a peaceful day for him comes at  the expense of the community of Morioh. His hand fetish leads him to murder various women. He just likes hands so he becomes extremely dangerous when someone gets in the way. What makes Kira terrifying is that he doesn't like fighting but does like murdering women for their hands. With his fetish being that important to him, the closer he comes to being exposed the more dangerous he becomes in the story. Kira's character represents what sociopaths are really like, not obviously evil crooks but people who can function easily in society while preying on their victims. This theme is presented perfectly in episode 24 where he's able to escape from the heroes and pass o

I haven't made blog posts ouf these entries because I had nothing at length to write about. While I believe that every blog doesn't have to be a multi paragraph entry I felt that my picks for each day spoke for itself. Day 5 - An Anime you're ashamed you enjoyed Infinite Stratos Day 6 - Anime you want to see but haven't seen yet A Silent Voice Day 7 - Your Anime Crush Dia Kurosawa Day 8 - Favorite Anime Couple Kotaro and Akane - Tsukigakirei

Chika Takami At first I didnt care much for Chika. I thought she was good but still placed her in my bottom 5. Now after finishing Love Live Sunshine's Second Season she's really endeared me. As a protagonist I think she's fantastic at leading her cast both in and out of the story. Chika is hardworking and charismatic, able to socialize and inspire her fellow idols as well as the audience. Chika's story is one of success or rather a person asking what it means to be successful. She's got the determination to face adversity and achieve goals but what exactly are those goals? Are your goals tangible? How should she achieve them? Should you copy your role models? And more importantly, should you give up? Chika answers all of those. She's like a shonen protagonist in an idol anime. She's an ambitious dork chasing her dreams which not only become more complex but forces her to grows both stronger and more responsible. She even has a training arc dedicated

Katsuki Bakugo Bakugo aka Kacchan aka Lord Explosion Murder is the deuteragonist of My Hero Academia. In his first appearance we see him as a child ganging up on the protagonist Izuku Midoriya for trying to defend another child Bakugo was already bullying. Flash forward to his last year of middle school insulting his classmates, bragging about how how great he is, and still bullying Izuku. he even goes as far as to tell Izuku to kill himself. This is chapter 1/episode 1. Things change for Bakugo once he enters UA. He's no longer the star student so he doesn't immediately stand at the top like he did before. Izuku also got into UA so he doesn't even have the distinction of being the best from his middle school. His dynamic with Izuku has also changed completely. Izuku is more popular in the class so Bakugo can't just push him anymore and now that Izuku has a quirk Bakugo cant support his ego on Izuku being a failure anymore. So now Bakugo has to apply himself. He

Space Battleship Yamato 2199 To be specific, this is my favorite anime I've watched so far this year, as I don't have a favorite anime of all time. Space Battleship Yamato 2199 is the 2012 remake of a science-fiction anime from the 70's knows as Space Battleship Yamato and released in the US as Star Blazers. November of last year Funimation announced out of practically nowhere they simuldubbing Yamato 2199. This was significant because Yamato 2199 was constantly used as an excuse to justify piracy. Voyager, the company who licensed the original series was basically sitting on the rights to this remake, only releasing 16 episodes across 4 DVDs and doing nothing else. Once the DVDs went out of print the only way the watch the anime was to go on illegal sites. So for Funimation and Crunchyroll to not only stream the anime, but also provide a home video release and license the sequel Yamato 2202 almost felt like a miracle. Now as for the show itself, Yamato 2199 is the

Zoids: New Century Zero I'm not really confident that this is my first anime as that could've easily been G Gundam, Pokemon, or Digimon but I'll pick this one because I remember being more fascinated with it than anything other show when I was a child. Zoids New Century Zero is the sequel to Zoids Chaotic Century. In Chaotic Century Zoids were beast mecha used for war but in New Century Zero they were used for competition. However, New Century Zero was released in the U.S. first so that change in direction or any significance that came from it wasn't on my mind. I just wanted to watch cool robots fight and it delivered on that. I rewatched the first episode before writing this and it was better than I remember it being. Granted it didn't thrill 23 year old me as much as did Six year old me but it kept my attention for a full 22 minutes. Bit Cloud despite his silly name immediately clicked me a protagonist. He's introduced as a scrap dealer looking for par