The -dere Guide

Most, if not all, anime girls fall in one of these personality tropes. These tropes describe how the character acts/interacts with their romantic loved one, which is why all of these tropes are partially composed of the word "dere-dere", which means "to act lovey-dovey in front of your love interest". The names of these tropes are comprised of two Japanese words and so their meaning is a combination of these two words; for example: Tsundere is a combination of the words "Tsun-Tsun", to turn away in disgust, and "Dere-dere". 

Tsundere:

A person who initially starts out as cold and hostile but gradually warms up to the other person. This person is often embarrassed of their feelings and whose actions are a reflection of their inner struggle with pride and love. They may do something nice but then disguise it as a coincidence or make up some other motive to hide their feelings.  Generally have loud and assertive personalities. Comes from "Tsun-Tsun" which means 'to act high and mighty" (i.e. Asuka Soryu, Kirisaki Chitoge, Aisaka Taiga, Tohsaka Rin)

Yandere: Although initially nice and sweet, their love quickly turns obsessive and often times violent. These characters are often mentally unstable and have a strong possessive and controlling desire especially when they feel threatened by a love interest. Comes from "yanderu" meaning 'to be sick'. (i.e. Gasai Yuno)

Deredere: Someone who is lovey-dovey in front of their love interest and has no hesitation when expressing their affections. (i.e. Tachibana Marika)

Kuudere: A "cool" character who can sometimes be described as "emotionless", "stoic", or "impartial"; whose true feelings for their love interest are hard to detect at best. A kuudere is very calm and collected and rarely expresses their emotions. Oftentimes, they are shown being unaware of the feeling of love. Comes from the Japanese pronunciation of the English word "cool" (Mashiro Shiina, Ayanami Rei).

Dandere: An incredibly shy or antisocial character whose disposition is somewhat similar to that of the Kuudere, but whose silent and distant nature is attributed to their shyness. This shyness and tendency towards isolation often changes once they become closer to their love interest/friends. Comes from "danmari", meaning "silent". (i.e. Isla, Angel, Hyuuga Hinata)

Mayadere: starts out as and enemy trying to kill the protagonist, then switches sides after falling in love with the protagonist. The mayadere is a dangerous character. 

Goudere: a character who will do anything for her master and has somewhat of a servant and master relationship with their love interest (in their mind at least). (i.e. Matou Sakura?, Morgiana?)

Onidere: An incredibly strong and powerful character who has trouble showing her vulnerable side and doesn't want others to see as anything less than her strong and powerful self.  

Kamidere: A character who acts like a god.

Himedere: A character who acts like a princess. 

Heavy Object - Episode 1: Review

This post contains spoilers . . .

My god, I thought this this first episode was horrible. The animation, art style, and concept reminded me initially of Aldnoah.Zero; however, it appears to lack the political and romantic aspects that Aldnoah.Zero had. 

Heavy Object is set in a world where wars are frequent and can be waged over petty disputes like territory. What allows them to be like this is the invention of the Heavy Object, a massive killing machine that far surpasses and other form of military machine in both size and might. 

I felt assaulted by the slew of scientific jargon that came out of Blond Main Character 1, much like how  similar scientific jargon was utilized during Inaho's fight scenes in Aldnoah.Zero. Aldnoah.Zero's use of said scientific jargon didn't feel as out of place and utterly useless as it did in this episode because it was a byproduct of Inaho's communication with his robot (and later, with his eyeball), whereas its use in Heavy Object was the stupid blatherings of a young blond protagonist who doesn't know how to act in front of his love interest. 

I also thought that the fan service scene where the main girl protagonist was being constrained by her belt buckles was absolutely insulting. She was being strangled to death and you couldn't help her because you didn't want to touch her boobs????? Seriously??

I apologize for not being able to remember any of the character's names, that only speaks to how little of an impression they left on me. I'm really just sick of the Coodere personality trope that the girl has (similar to Ayanami Rei, the girl from Sakurasou, and Isla from Plastic Memories), and the perverted personalities of the boys disgusts me. 

This show is just fan service for otakus that have similar mindsets and big-boob attractions as those of the main protagonists. Absolute trash.

Arslan gets a Second Season in 2016!

The promotional video literally doesn't tell us anything other than that, but yeah!!! Arslan!!! I think it's pretty strange that the anime is so far ahead of the manga, but then again, there was another manga adaptation of the original light novel series that ran from 1991 to 1996 so it's not like we're waiting for more content from the original author. 

Reference: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2015-10-11/the-heroic-legend-of-arslan-gets-new-tv-anime-in-2016/.94079

"A true hero never stops overcoming the misfortunes in life!"

-- Napoleon Bonaparte

(Boku no Hero Academia, chapter 3)

Taken from Solanin by Inio Asano

Shin Megami Tensei IV: Final

A new installment for Shin Megami Tensei IV announced!!! Not much news on the characters or the premise of the game yet (doesn't seem to have any connection with Shin Megami Tensei IV), but we do know that it'll be on the 3DS and released in February 2016. 

OH! SO the story line of this game is going to be an alternate future of the event that created the setting for Shin Megami Tensei IV, the invasion of the demons into Tokyo. I like the character design for the main character :O.

Reference: http://www.famitsu.com/news/201510/06090028.html

Behind the Scenes of One Punch Man + First Episode Review

This post contains spoilers . . .

Here's a quick summary if you have yet to read the manga (which you totally should, it's great). One Punch Man is about Saitama, a man who's become so overpowered such that he can beat all his enemies with one punch. The manga follow's his everyday life as well as his interactions with several of his other superhero peers. 

As director Shingo Natsume stated, the goal of the One Punch Man anime adaptation is to stay true to the original manga; and that is what it did. The humor and the art of the manga was splendidly captured, in my opinion, and the personality of Saitama was brought out very well. 

The rough fight animations with its stark black lines gives the anime a feel akin to that of American comics. The use of dramatic explosions and background effects also contributes to this feel. Although the only way I can think of to describe this animation style is with "rough", I don't mean to say that the animation is not fluid. It exaggerates the movements, allowing you to see the ripple that passes through the muscles as a villain is throwing a punch, something you don't typically see in shounen anime (unless maybe like Attack on Titan). It also exaggerates the effects of these attacks, highlighting again the "ripple" or the recoil that passes through the face of one being on the receiving end; a showy throwback of the head after being punched in the face and the spit that gets flung out of the mouth. It is these details that make a fight that only lasts one punch interesting.

I think that the juxtaposition of Saitama's cool and not-cool sides is portrayed very well and "keeps it real" so to speak. I liked how they incorporated the scene of Saitama battling the challenging the opponents in his dream (as I was watching this I was so terrified, I'd thought they'd made a egregious mistake, it sounded so serious. Which, of course, is exactly why the director did this, to announce to everyone not familiar with One Punch Man that this is not going to be your typical shounen.) followed immediately by his harsh but comical reality. This juxtaposition depicts the mangaka's (ONE's) commentary of typical Shounen Jump protagonists.As Shingo Natsume points out, the unique setting of One Punch Man allows this to happen. Only through the presence of the Hero Association and with it the opportunity for Heroism as an occupation is the character Saitama able to be so carefree and lax with his view on being a hero, which allows him to say, "I am a hero for fun". 

I thought this first episode was great. 10/10. I loved being able to listen to Saitama's philosophical commentary throughout the episode (I also love his voice actor's voice btw); I feel like it really enhanced his character and gave us good insight to his unique (in terms of the manga world), yet average (in terms of the real world) personality. I look forward to what the rest of the anime has to bring.

Reference: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2015-10-02/viz-streams-subtitled-behind-the-scenes-video-for-one-punch-man-anime/.93690

Tegami Bacchi (Letter B) Comes to an End

The last chapter of the monthly manga will be released on November 4th in Shounen Jump Square.

I just started reading Tegami Bacchi after seeing this so I'm not particularly saddened by this news. My first impressions are that the art is pretty nice (difficult from the typical shounen; looks a bit more fairy tale and kiddish, imo?) and that it seems to be geared to a younger age group than I'm interested in but it's really too early to judge.  

Reference: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2015-10-04/tegami-bachi-manga-ends-magazine-run-on-november-4/.93786