The Garden of Words Review By Grail Nikephoros

[The Garden of Words]

"A faint clap of thunder
Clouded skies
Perhaps rain comes
If so, will you stay here with me?"

Takao, who is an inspiring and is training to become a shoemaker, skips school and is sketching shoes when it rains in a garden. He keeps meeting a mysterious woman, Yukino, who is older than him. Then without any time arrangements they two start meeting each other in the garden whenever it rains. They grow close to each other and deepen their relationship and open up to each other, but Takao stops showing up when rainy season ends.

If Five Centimeters per Second is a five on five, then The Garden of Words is a Shinkai on five. Yes, The Garden of Words is that great, not only in visuals that have reached vistas but also the relationship he narrated in his latest work along with gentle soundtracks. The Garden of Words is a perfect example that an anime need not to aim higher and deliver something great, but can just follow and execute what it had set out to. The Garden of Words is a personal and short story of Akizuki Takao and Yukino. It captures the brief period of time they spend together in a garden during a rainy season. It was interesting how the events in the film could not be considered as significant for either. It was not the beginning nor the ending of the either of the characters. But, The Garden of Words effectively explored Takao's and Yukino's struggles and problems they faced in the brief period.

About the animation, I've got nothing to say about the animation for this one, hopefully, I might link some screens I've captured to this post. The animation only got better since 5 Centimeters per Second. But it is only natural to praise the animation is Shinkai's works. The soundtrack composed by Daisuke helps set the mood throughout the film. Still, Kashiwa does a good job establishing the tone of the film, with his arrangements mostly composed of unaccompanied piano pieces. The score is simple yet perfect for a movie of this level. And the ending theme, Rain, by Hata was downright amazing. It was a lovely acoustic music, which plays out well with the end of the movie.

Miyu Irino, voice actor of Takao, did a splendid job with his task. Irino has a very mature and masculine voice which speaks a lot about Takao. Despite being 15 years of age, he knows what he wants to do with his life, and takes his goal seriously. He is mature enough and is level-headed that we forget that he is a high-school student. Kana Hanazawa, voice actor of Yukino, did a great job too. Her soft gentle voice suggests a woman who isn't quite ready to grow up just yet and struggles to maintain that image of someone who is warm and in control of her life.

As said earlier, this movie isn't the starting nor ending of Takao or Yukino. It was just a period of their meetings with each other. The ending doesn't not conclude anything. It doesn't show us that Takao becomes a successful shoemaker or Yukino is happy with her new job. I like how the movie concludes, it ends with both characters being honest about their feelings towards each other. Yet, there was no use of happy-romantic ending. They both go on their separate ways, not concluding anything and leaving it to viewers' imagination.

"A faint clap of thunder
Even if rain comes not
I will stay here
Together with you."

~ A review by Grail Nikephoros

Publisher: Unknown - 08:47

Code Geass Review By Grail Nikephoros

The story is now set in an alternate timeline and the world is split up. The premise is melodramatic, stagy and assertive enough. The story is set after the Britannian Empire's hammering on Japan and stripping the people in it off their rights and proclaiming it now as Area 11 and declaring the citizens as Elevens now. Lelouch is a Britannian prince who is ostracized to Japan as a deal along with his sister Nunally after his mother is killed. Lelouch now embarks on a quest to obliterate Britannia through the use of his intellect and Geass, impelled by revenge and virtuously abstruse altruism. He decides to use his Geass, which he can use to command anyone once, and find out about the murder speculation of his mother, blemish the Britannian Empire and create a better world where Nunally and he can live happily. Promptly, in the process he becomes the leader of a resistance group, The Black Knights and seemingly gaining power from other resistance groups for his rebellion.

Frankly, this was my first anime of Sunrise. And also I was never a fan of Clamp nor I'm well-familiar with it. The character designs were original, peculiar and pretty, they as much impressed me. Though, they ARE good and attractive, they look weird and strange when looked at from certain angles. The animation was well done, and the colors were used brilliantly. The music is appropriate and mostly unobtrusive, whether the mood is serious, exciting, relaxed, mischievous, dramatic or tragic. Loved C.C's themes and other characters' themes too. And the opening and ending sequences were decent, now they are good, really good, but a series like this could've orchestrated something more fitting for the milieu of the show.

Lelouch who practically carries the show by himself receives the most character development. Lelouch procures a subtle personality, such as his emotional range and a sense of humanity emerging from his internal conflicts which sets him apart. C.C is enigmatically perplexing character with a mysterious past, as we've only seen bits and pieces of information regarding her background, yet she is an engrossing and fun character by virtue of her interactions. Other characters get decent amount of attention as well, but I feel that too many characters were introduced, though, this shows needed them equally. The secondary characters were fun to watch too.

Spoiler, skip this section if you haven't watched the first season.

The reason there is a separate section for Suzaku is as he is the most despicable and hated character in the series. But, I didn't 'hate' him. There was no reason to hate him. He is way too self-righteous. Most of the people reason that he always puts his life before others and wants to die. There is clearly nothing wrong with this. This may be subjective, the whole Suzaku thing, but he isn't as despicable as people deem. He is weak, thus, he decides to protect anyone and everyone putting his life on the line. Lelouch wants to protect too and he is buffed with human consideration but he has Geass and he can 'change' the world or so he thinks. But, Suzaku being weak and considerate doesn't find anything wrong with losing his life for someone else. He killed his father to prevent a war when he was a kid, this is something people can only think of. He doesn't like unnecessary blood-shed, though his character flaws from time to time. I'm poorly wording my thoughts, but people who've watched Pandora Hearts can juxtapose Suazaku with Oz.

I tried my best to avoid mecha as much as I was capable of. But I made an exception for Code Geass and I have to say that I really liked mecha, or the use of mecha in the series. Though, mecha is the only driving aspect in the show. Code Geass features Knightmare Frames which are of humanoid shape and are considerably tall than someone piloting it. I've really started liking mecha and would love to watch more of those.

I never wanted to compare it, but I might as well do it. I'll most probably contrast Code Geass with Death Note. The animation, the animation used in Death Note was fitting for it, but Code Geass' animation was way better. The audio, Code Geass delivers appropriate and a variety of soundtracks but the opening and ending sequence weren't fitting as the ending and openings of Death Note are. Death Note was rather slow when compared to Code Geass but it was intense. Code Geass has its intense moments as well, but they are not substantial and are not always good. But, Code Geass is wonderfully well-paced and didn't fail to bore me, even in some of the stagy episodes.

I thoroughly liked and enjoyed Code Geass. The first season was appreciably entertaining and seldom boring. I genuinely appreciate both well-done proportions of the show and absurd scenes and flaws. The show is not a masterpiece, for everyone, nor it'll please each and every viewer. However, Code Geass is an iconic anime, it’s not perfect, and maybe a little overhyped, but there’s still a reason people get so excited about it. Watching Code Geass brought me many hours of joy, and that’s something none of its problems can take away.

~ A review by Grail Nikephoros

Publisher: Unknown - 08:40

5 Centimeters per Second Review by Grail Nikephoros

“Hey… They say it’s five centimeters per second.”
“What do you mean?”
“The speed at which the sakura blossom petals fall… Five centimeters per second.”
5 Centimeters per Second is a three-part movie. The movie is set in Japan, 1990 and gradually ending in modern day times. Part one is called "Cherry blossom", part two is "Cosmonaut" and part three is "5 Centimeters per Second".
The first part, set in early 1990's, introduces us to protagonists of the movie, Takaki and Akari, shortly after becoming friends in school. Later, after they graduate Akari moves away, but they later stay in touch by writing letters addressed to each other. In one letter Akari mentions that her family is planning to move farther away and therefore making it nearly impossible for Takaki to visit Akari ever. Now, after learning this Takaki decides to take a train to visit her and confess his feelings towards her. The trains scenes are really well paced and the anxiety growing in Takaki as the time was working against him is something I liked.
The second part, set in mid to late 90's, switches perspective to Sumida. She is a young girl and indecisive is how we can describe her. She is not certain about her future whilst people around Sumida are certain about the future they are headed to. She doesn't think as she thinks that no one knows what future has in store for us. She isn't confident about her future as she can't figure out what she wants out of her future which frustrates her. She has strong feelings towards Takaki, and she is confident in her feelings towards him. Although, she loves Takaki, she knows that he can't return her love back, which is beautifully shown in a sequence.
The third part, set in 2008, follows a now-adult Takaki. We get a brief glimpse of Takaki's life. Which shows his failed relationship with a girl and his decision of leaving his job. This segment shows him struggling to cope with depression, leaving us to think what has brought about this state of his.
In the first episode Takaki and Akari are separated by only a train distance and write letters to each other. In the second episode, they are in different town and the distance between them clearly expands since they no longer in touch. In the final episode, the distance between them no longer exists as they are both in Tokyo. But their reunion is as good as impossible as things have changed so much.
Despite the almost too typical and simple plot, the movie stands out from other ones by employing uncommon method of storytelling along with beautiful still images related to characters telling their feelings while only their voices are heard.
There are, but, only two main characters and one secondary character along with unnamed girlfriend of Takaki from the third part. Takaki is a transfer student, so is Akari. They are our typical transfer students until they meet each other and grow close to each other as they share similar traits. The thing I like in the characters is that they all want Takaki in a different way, but as they learn that there is some other girl he yearns for they accept it and move on with their life.
The animation is downright beautiful, gorgeous. The animation is stunning and breathtaking. The color hues perfectly work to reflect a particular act. In "Cherry Blossom" act the animation of flash-backs uses bright tones which goes well with spring. I'm sure that any scene from the movie won't disappoint anyone. Tenmon's beautiful score backing-up the animation of the movie makes this one a masterpiece. The soundtrack of this particular film is a perfect fit, plain and simple. The movie uses classical music in way that it doesn't dominate it nor is too subtle. “One More Time, One More Chance” by Masayoshi Yamazaki is a nice way to end the movie, written in a memory of deceased and longing love fits perfectly.
Life changes as time goes by, this fact is something which cannot be altered. Instead of trying to change it we should focus on dealing with the changes. Akari represents people who let go, accept and move on with the life. She is married and lives a happy life. On the other hand Takaki represents people who cannot let go, clinging to the past which is already lost. He keeps looking for something invisible and neglects his surroundings. Later, in the third part, he achieves to let go of that and stops clinging to what he lost. Akari and Takaki live their lives and never reunite. In the end nothing , like, a miracle happens which makes them together again. The ending is however really sad, but realistic. This atypical ending makes 5 Centimeters per Second a distinctive anime from the other romance anime I've watched.
5 Centimeters per Second holds a special place for me. Most of the people who watch the anime brush it off due to the sad ending that the anime delivers. The director wanted to deliver a sad yet realistic ending rather than a conventional ending. Lot of people interpret the ending as something that made their watch unworthy. They fail to interpret the ending properly. A 15 year old boy is shown dealing with his first break-up. This shows that some people couldn't accept reality of being heartbroken. The ending shows people that it is unwise to remain cynical, cold, depressed and lifeless when we can't face reality. Takaki finally accepts the reality and moves on. They wanted to show that it isn't good to cling on to something which we've lost and remain lifeless. People perceive the ending as extremely depressing one; Takaki and Akari never seeing each other walking down their paths. Takaki was slowly learning to live happily again, he finds himself walking through the same streets as once he walked with Akari. With spring and sakura in bloom, he realizes that he shouldn't stuck in the past, and we se him content to his heart for the first time since Akari moves away. And people think that it is sad, do you really think it is? Isn't that what we all want, to be content with our lives despite all the darkness in our lives?

- A Review by Grail Nikephoros

Publisher: Unknown - 05:49

Mushishi Review by Grail Nikephoros

~Mushi-shi Review~
|Genre| - Adventure,Supernatural,Detective,Drama,Fantasy

|Episodes| - 26

I'm going to breakdown the review now!

[*] STORY:-
Mushi-shi is the only anime that I've come across which is unique than any other I've watched.The narration was totally awesome and the whole concept of "Mushi" was provoking.Mushi is a phenomenon/entity which is neither animal nor plant.Some of these "Mushi" are quite dangerous and Mushi-shi are people who research on mushi.The protagonist of Mushi-shi was treating the people from mushi rather than researching on them.This section isn't exactly Story,it is a Concept actually.As for the story,this series an episodic anime and each and every story of a "mushi" holds a great lesson.

[*] Music:-
I don't expect the original score of any anime to be fantastic.The Opening of this series,The Sore Feet Song,is totally awesome.The background music synced really with the appropriate scenario and I totally loved it.

[*] Visuals:-
The art of an anime which makes me watch it without losing interest whatsoever and Mushi-shi did a pretty well job(actually ArtLand).The scenery and landscape were gorgeous and beautiful and made me stick with it.But I was totally disappointed with the character designs,each and every character than Ginko encounters in each and every problem he runs to are same,except that the kimino are different.Of course,there are some exceptions but most of the characters were identical!

[*] Character:-
I'm not going to discuss about the character design here.Ginko is the one of the highlight-kinda thing in this anime.He loves what he does and treats mushi equally.Every character in the anime are present only in one episode.There is an exception here I guess,the doctor who likes to collect antiques.My favorite character is (lel) Ginko! and and the twins that appear in one episode.

[*] Enjoyment:-
Truth to be told,I dropped it once after second episode and again after seventh episode.This is purely because I've been watching anime of totally different genre and later I forced myself to watch it and it was really boring and later it was interesting when Ginko's past was shown,I wanted to see more of Ginko's past but they restricted it to one episode again. I didn't enjoy this series as much as I enjoyed the other series because this was my first episodic anime but to my surprise they did a pretty good job.

Mushi-shi is also one of the most underrated anime and everyone watch it asap.

[*]The Final verdict:-
Story-5/5
Music-4/5
Visuals-3/5
Character-4/5
Enjoyment-2/5
Overall-3/5

A must watch!

- A Review by Grail Nikephoros

Publisher: Unknown - 05:21