“It lived up to my “You’ll find a refreshing “’No Game No Life’ reminds us “There are times when I’m filled with expectations in terms ode to gaming that you can that whoever or whatever you a feeling of euphoria because of the of presentation and really get invested in, full of are, the sky is a limit that can fantastic execution” – Entravity direction as well as its wonderment, suspense, and be surpassed” - GMA underlying message” quirky humor” – AniTAY – ANIFILE Anime: No Game No Life Episodes: 12 Studio: Madhouse Genres: Adventure, Comedy, Ecchi, Fantasy, Game, Supernatural
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No Game No Life is about a brother and sister, named Sora and Shiro, who are both NEET (Not in Education, Employment, or Training) gamers who are pretty popular for their intelligence and strength in various games. One day, they were summoned to an unknown world by a boy named ‘GOD’ filled with 16 different races, and how “everything is decided by games” – where each player bets something, and then the winner receives it. The race Humanity has been in the bottom of all the races for a while now, and soon to be extinct. Can these 2 NEET gamers, Sora and Shiro become the “Saviours of Humanity”? Sora The anime No Game No Life was adapted from the light novel (short novel) which is written by Yuu Kamiya. The light novel debuted in April 2012, and since then both the sales and popularity have continually increased. In April 2014, it was reported that all 6 volumes have sold 1.1 million copies in Japan, making it in the top 10 most selling light novel series in 2014.
Yoshitsugu Matsuoka Sora is tall and thin who is extremely outgoing and confident. He can be very manipulative through his negotiations, and can predict what the player’s next move will be. Shiro Ai Kayano
My thoughts on No Game No Life No Game No Life – from the title itself already, I knew I was going to fall in love with it. As a gamer, living in a world which everything is decided in games is a dream come true. The games they included could be as hard as chess, or as easy as Tic Tack Toe, but can determine the way your race lives. With the addition of the 2 NEET gamers alike, Sora and Shiro make you feel on the edge of your seat from all of their strategic planning. It can be predictable of who will win the game, but it’s ‘how they win’ which really makes the show interesting. The art style is another reason to die for. The use of Vibrant, bright colours it makes you feel the ‘fantasy’ in this strange world. The anime has a couple of references of games out there, like Phoenix Wright’s “Objection”, and the Yu GI OH card game. If I have to say a negative thing in the anime, it would be the ‘Ecchi’ scenes in it. They can be a distraction to the main plot towards some people, rather than a pleasing view. Rather than that, No Game No Life is one of the best Animes in 2014, and I highly recommend it.
Shiro is genius in logic and in problem solving. She also rarely shows any emotions on her face, and connecting through others. She also has a serious brother complex. Stephanie
Yoko Hikasa Stephanie is in the Imanity race (humans/ humanity) that cannot hide her emotions very well. She joins Sora and Shiro to help her beloved Imanity race back on top.
“turned out to be a very “an entertaining cyber- “Sword Art Online II is bland “Excellent production values may make interesting arc that punk mystery in a fu- and predictable” – TheEscapist “Sword Art Online II” sheer eye candy” managed to add on to the ture not too far removed - GMA story from the first season from today” – Kotaku without feeling inferior” AniTAY Anime: Sword Art Online II
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Episodes: 24 Studio: A-1 Pictures Genres: Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Game, Romance
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Sword Art Online Season 2 takes place one year after the SAO incident. Since then, the players who were still alive after the game was completed, continues to attend school and get back to society. We see Kirito (Kazuto Kirigaya) gets requested to investigate a new VRMMO game called Gun Gale Online (GGO). Apparently there is a bizarre incident where a player with a jet black gun was able to kill someone in the game, and die in real life. Kirito accepted the request, and finds himself in a completely new world to Sword Art Online, where everything is about killing each other with guns…… or is it? The Sword Art Online Series has first started on light novels (Short Novels) in 2009, which is written by Reki Kawahara, since then the series have been getting excellent sales. The light novels has sold over 16 million copies worldwide, making it one of the most popular light novels to get so much attention outside of Japan. A game has also been released about its series called ‘Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment’ for the PS VITA last year, and have sold over 400 000 units worldwide.
Kirito (Kazuto Kirigaya) Yoshitsugu Matsuoka Kirito is an excellent gamer, who has able to adapt to the VRMMO world who has travelled to multiple games, and beat some of the hardest players in the world. Shino Asada
My thoughts on Sword Art Online II The second season of Sword Art Online had me intrigued with the world of GGO; from the swords in SAO, and the magic in ALO, to the world of guns. In GGO, they are able to capture the same experience you get from those games, but a lot better. With the addition of Death Gun, they are able to show the feeling of dying in real life from Kirito and Sinon. Death gun also makes you keep thinking who is the person behind that mask, and how is he able to kill players in real life. Sadly the anime didn’t capture me in terms of the characters and the story development. The story was mainly focused in one tournament, where we got less shooting and killing actions, and more of Sinon and Kirito’s development from their past, which I did not feel any empathy toward the both of them. They had the themes in the correct place, but along the way it somehow lost its connections to the audience. Only if they had more interesting strategic actions, then it would have made it up for the weak character development. In the end, the second season has many flaws in terms of the characters, but it will still keep you watching, in finding out about who is this Death Gun, and how did he did it all.
Miyuki Sawashiro Sinon is a female sniper in GGO, who also guides Kirito in the world of GGO. Sinon has a childhood trauma concerning guns, when she killed a robber while protecting her mother. Death Gun
Soichiro Hoshi Death Gun is the mysterious player with a jet black gun, who kills a player in the game, and end up dead in the real world
“It builds a hauntingly violent world filled with multilayered characters living in an excellently well thoughtout society” – Kotaku
“it’s not worth a watch unless you enjoy excessive gore” – theArtifice
“Tokyo Ghoul will depend “Tokyo Ghoul is on how much you can showing that it’s deal with seeing gallons still possible to come of blood” - Ani-TAY up with something unique and powerful” – AnimeLab
Anime: Tokyo Ghoul Episodes: 12 Studio: Studio Pierrot Genres: Action, Mystery, Drama, Horror, Supernatural, Psychological, Seinen
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The story takes place in Tokyo, where people are afraid by these mysterious “ghouls” who fills their hunger by killing people, and eating their flesh. These ghouls have the same characteristics as humans, but can only eat humans. One day, college student names Kaneki, meets a girl name Rize who’s have the same interest as him. But he didn’t realize that meeting her could change his life forever. The anime Tokyo Ghoul was adapted from the manga, written by Sui Ishida. The manga was first released in September 2011 and ended in September 2014, which has a total of 14 volumes. The manga has gained successes over the years; in 2013 it sold about 2.6 million copies, while in 2014 it was the 4th bestselling manga series in Japan, with 7million copies sold. As of now, the series have sold over 10million copies in Japan alone.
Kaneki
Natsuki Hanae Kaneki is your ordinary college student who likes reading various novels. Little did he know that one night could transform him into a half ghoul and half human. Touka
My thoughts on Tokyo Ghoul Tokyo Ghoul captures a society of having 2 different creatures, ghouls and humans, living in the same land, and breathing in the same air. It also showed them theme of ‘Change’ and ‘belonging’ through the male protagonist, Kaneki. He was a human, but turned him into a half ghoul, were he belongs in both the ghouls, and in the humans. The fight scenes between ghouls and their kind, and between the CCG group is also very intense to watch, having the ghoul special powers, and the CCG’s weapons going all out on each other. The large amount of characters in the anime can be enjoyable to watch, but the lack of back story and development, can make them seem very ‘unimportant’. Another thing I dislike in the anime is the overuse of censorship during and after the fight scenes. I do get that they have to put it because of laws about age ratings, but it can affect your enjoyment of the anime. Tokyo Ghoul is an amazing show to watch were we are able to connect into both worlds, and continually ask ourselves “which side should we stand for?”.
Sora Amamiya Touka is a ghoul who tries to live just like an ordinary human being, where she goes to school and works as a waitress at a café. She saves Kaneki at one point, which made her guide him to this ghoul society.
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1 E N 2 South Korean girl group 2ne1 released their highly anticipated second full-length album ‘Crush’ in February 2014.
2ne1 is a South Korean girl group, who was formed by YG Entertainment in 2009. The group name is from the word “21st century” and “New Evolution”, this describes how their music is very unique. The group consist of members Minzy, CL, Dara and Bom (from left to right). Their debut single “Fire” was released on May 6, 2009. In that same year the group has won the ‘Best New Female Artists’, ‘Song Of The Year’, and ‘Best Music Video’ in Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA). Since then, the group has followed many successful songs such as, “I don’t Care”, “I Am the Best”, and their latest single “Come Back Home”.
Their latest album ‘Crush’ was a major hit in South Korea. Their title song ‘Come Back Home’ was #1 for two weeks in Gaon, and #1 for the entire month of March. The album also ranked No.61 on the U.S Billboard 200, making it the Highest Charting, and the Best Selling Kpop Album in the U.S.
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COME BACK HOME “Come Back Home” is the main single in the album Crush. It is written and produced by YG main producer, Teddy Park which he described the song as “a mix of R&B, reggae and hip hop genres”.
2ne1 has won various awards in 2014, with their title track ‘Come Back Home’. They won the ‘Video of the Year’ in the YouTube Music Awards, and the ‘Best Electronica Song’ in the Melon Music Awards.
The music video is set in a future city, which had the concept of people preferring the virtual world over the real one. The music video cost more than half a million dollars to produce with the use of extensive computer graphics. The music video has also gained more than 37 million views on YouTube.
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