Month: June 2016

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Lenni Reviews: “Puella Magi Madoka Magica” vol 2 by Magica Quartet and Hanokage

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*Spoilery review

Nadoka’s friend, Sayaka, enters into a contract with Kyubey in order to have a wish granted: for the hands of a boy she likes to be healed. On Sayaka’s first outing as a magical girl, another girl shows up named Kyouko, who has been killing familiars for a long time. Kyouko reveals not only is it the task of a magical girl to hunt and kill witches and their familiars, the girls eat the witches. After killing a witch, a grief seed is left behind. The girls supposedly use the seed to clean their soul gems and get their magic back but in reality, the grief seed is being consumed. Not only that, those cute little soul gems aren’t just a talisman, they are the girl’s actual souls! Their bodies are just empty shells; effectively, they’re DEAD.

What the ever-loving fuck…

While Sayaka works on getting the hang of the killing familiars thing, Homura is desperately trying to keep Madoka from getting involved. Turns out Homura’s special ability is time manipulation and she knows exactly what Kyubey is and what it’s planning. Then the guy Sayaka essentially died for hooks up with someone else and loses her fucking mind.

There are only three volumes of this and there seems to be a lot getting thrown out at the reader. I haven’t seen the anime (I plan to) and I won’t watch it until I finish the books, but I shudder to think how this will wrap up. So far, it’s compelling, screwed up, and a bit disturbing.

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Finally Watched It: One Missed Call

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Whenever there’s an American remake of a foreign movie, I make it my business to track down the original; which is how I found out about the REC series. When I heard about the American movie, I skipped it and went for the Japanese version. I just assume it’s better on principal now.

The premise of this movie is that this group of young people start getting calls from their own numbers. Upon listening to the voicemail, its the audio of their own deaths; essentially making it a call from the future bout how they will die. Obviously, they all run around trying to avoid their fate and solve the mystery.

What I like about films like this is the slow build, the quiet, the dark lighting, and thoughtful dialog. It is just simpler and – to me at least – more frightening than all the fancy CGI, slow-mo, and dramatic music. It makes everything feel so much more unsettling. It can drag a little sometimes but it’s nice to see any media take it’s time with you rather than inundate you with images for instant gratification.

I don’t particularly want to inflict the American version on myself to compare the two but if repeatedly asked, I may do so.

As I work through these movies (I have a list!) I am hitting more good movies than not, and I’m grateful for that. I’m sure I’ll come across some duds but seeing these has been awesome.

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Lenni Reviews: “Puella Magi Madoka Magica” vol 1 by Magica Quartet and Hanokage

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I heard this series was fucked up and right in the first volume, it lives up to it’s infamous reputation.

But I get ahead of myself…

We start our story with Madoka Kaname starting a typical day at school A new transfer student joins her class and its the same girl Madoka dreamed of the night before! Sure enough, the dream is prophetic as a little creature named Kyubey offers to make Madoka a magical girl. All Madoka has to do is make a contract with Kyubey and she will have one wish granted in return. But the new girl; Homura Akemi, tries to warn her against it and Madoka soon learns wishes come at a price and being a magical girl isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

I think the shock of this manga comes in the marketing. You look at the cover with the bright colors and smiling girls, you read the blurb on the back and it’s pretty standard for a magical girl book; but then you read it and some girl gets her head bitten off. If this book was marketed as a horror, I don’t think people would be as shocked. It’s nice to see a different take on the magical girl genre, though. The tone reminds me of Titans: Sissors, Paper, Stone; which I read a million years ago (and probably have a copy somewhere…); as it’s a commentary on the glorification of superheroes. It’s all fun and games until shit gets real. Seeing as how Puella starts off dark pretty quick, I doubt things will get any better for the characters.

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Have Pity for My Kindle

With all the reviews I’ve been doing lately, you may wonder how I’ve come across all these books or where the hell I keep them. Some I do own hard copies of but most of them are eBooks I purchased while they were free or deeply discounted, or borrowed the eBook or hard copy from a library.

And I filled my Kindle. I didn’t think this was a thing that could happen but when you put a subject into a search and put them in order from lowest price to highest then buy every book you are remotely interested in that’s free; yes, you can fill it.

It’s gotten to the point where there’s so little space left, it cannot process certain commands. So, I’ve been making an effort to read more than I buy. I have thus-far failed and settled for turning the WiFi off so the books I buy don’t immediately go onto the device – which I have named Booga.

I realize things have gotten completely out of hand and I am on a serious mission to clear these books off. I currently only have 676 MB free and I need to double that free space before I can get anything else.

Operation Free Booga has commenced!

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Lenni Reviews: “Your Lie in April” vol 7 by Naoshi Arakawa

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After Kosei’s amazing yet still uneven performance, he is able to process some of his conflicting feelings about his deceased mother. But he was playing alone! What happened to Kaori?

We also get some backstory on Kosei’s best friend, Tsubaki. I have to ashamedly say I’d been so focused on Kosei and his struggle that Tsubaki’s changing feelings for her friend went totally under the radar for me! I feel bad because she’s a cool character. I like her! Hopefully, she will have more of a presence as we go along.

And Kaori ended up in the hospital! I knew she was too happy and quirky not to be ill in some sort of way. We don’t find out yet but when that ball finally drops, I’m sure it will derail all the progress Kosei has made.

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Lenni Reviews: “Noragami: Stray God” vol 14 by Ndachitoka

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After the horrible events caused by Yato’s father, Hiyori and her family do their best to cope. But Yato blames himself for all the hardship befalling her and he runs away; refusing to go back to her until he’s a true god of happiness.

As an aside to this story, one of Bishamonten’s shiki was injured during the previous battle and her name begins to crack; causing her memories to return. Even under the threat of her shiki turning into a demon, Bishamomten is attempting every other option available other than releasing the spirit.

I love how this series is getting darker and more layered. Sadly, I’ve caught up to all the published volumes and have to wait for the next one but this story is very intriguing. I love how we learn more about Hiyori’s family. Apparently, seeing spirits is a family trait! And Hiyori’s grandmother is a badass archer! Very awesome. I wonder if she will factor in the inevitable battle with Yato’s father.

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Lenni Reviews: “Your Lie in April” vol 6 by Naoshi Arakawa

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Kaori receives an invitation to play at a gala concert to celebrate the winners of the competition where they didn’t manage to advance. Seizing this chance, Kaori chooses the song she and Kosei will perform and begins the grueling practice immediately. But the piece Kaori picked is the dame song Kosei’s mother used to play all the time and Kosei, understandably, has difficulty staying focused and motivated. With his mother’s friend, Hiroko, mentoring him, Kosei will once again attempt to take the stage and make that piano sing.

Kosei is still working through his pain and anger and, while I would like to see this kid get some real therapy; stepping up to face his fears is admirable and inspiring. Major props to his character. This is definitely a story about working through loss bit by bit and coming back into life through sadness instead of letting it consume you or keep you from living to the fullest. I am really enjoying this journey.

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Lenni Reviews: “Your Lie In April” vol 5 by Naoshi Arakawa

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Kosei, mid performance, sees the phantom of his mother and can’t keep playing; effectively ruining his chances of winning. When his rivals seem him stop, gather himself, and continue without a stitch of regret, they begin to see a flash of the young boy who played with such passion in the past.

Right now the story is all about Kosei rediscovering playing music because he loves it and not because he’s trying to make his mother happy. He still can’t get though an entire performance on stage without freezing up but his friends are still there to support him; including Hiroko Seto: Japan’s leading pianist and a former friend and classmate of Kosei’s mother. Hiroko saw what Kosei was going through under his mother’s heel and offers to help him out. It’s great to see this character making these small steps in coming to terms with his past for the sake of his future.

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