Kevin Reynolds Performs Routine as Spike

By: Jenny

Everyone has a passion for something. Whether it's cooking, drawing, or sports, we always find a way to blend those hobbies with other things that make us feel awesome. What better way to show off your love for Japanese pop culture than during a competition?

Canadian figure skater Kevin Reynolds performed a short program in the 2016 Canadian National Figure Skating Championships this weekend. What makes his performance unique is that he skated to Yoko Kanno's "Tank!" while cosplaying as Spike Spiegel.

Kevin was born on July 23, 1990 and has started skating at the age of four. He is the 2013 Four Continents champion, 2010 Four Continents bronze medalist, and a four time Canadian national medalist. In this year's competition he scored 77.65 and was placed in third. Despite his fall during the triple Axel it was an amazing performance.

"Tank!" is not the first anime based routine that he has performed in the past. He has also skated to music from Legend of Zelda and Chrono Trigger.

ERASED - Episode 1 First look review

by Gaby

Boku Dake Ga Inai Machi, known as, Erased in English, is a newly released thriller anime with sci-fi elements.  I had heard about it so I decided to go ahead and check out the first episode when I was told there would be time travel involved.

How this starts is we meet our front character Satoru Fujinuma, a 29 year old part timer living on his own, however, he has a weird special ability.  He randomly has weird flashbacks that basically let him re-do a part of life he just lived. He doesn't know when or how far he will jump back to so he is always looking out for details to make sure that something doesn't seem odd.
One day he is on a pizza delivery on the work motorcycle and he skips back about a minute back in time in order to avoid a little boy getting run over by a truck, in this chaos he ends up in the hospital with some minor injuries. 
Satoru's mom pays him a visit and decides to stay with him for a while.  While his mom is there with him, we learn that there is a part of his past as a child that has to do with an abduction of a little girl that Satoru feels guilty about, he feels that he could have helped the little girl and its his fault she was abducted.
While Satoru and his mom are at a supermarket, he has a flashback to a few minutes back and he can't figure out why he flashed so he asks his mom if she feels strange or if she notices anything weird, his mom says that he would say things like that in the past before too, just then his mom notices a guy walking with a little girl towards a creepy van, the creeper suddenly connects eyes with the mom and decides not to abduct the little girl. Mom can't get this out of mind so she does some digging around the next day and connects the dots that this guy might be the same creeper from before. She goes to Satoru's apartment to wait for him, and when she thinks Satoru got home....it wasn't him...the creeper had followed her home.

Just watch it! I'm serious it is a really good anime, its suspenseful, it has a good sci-fi element, and the character seems legit. 

Another thing that totally got me hooked was that as the ending credits rolled, I heard the wonderful sounds of one of my favorite Japanese bands, Asian Kung-Fu Generation with their song RE: RE:.

I will definitively be watching more of this when I can, right now the first episode is available subtitled on Funimation.

Check it out!

First Blog of 2016! New Year Resolutions!

by Gaby

It is 2016,  yay we survived to see another year! Time for resolutions and planning all out all the conventions to go to this year!  To me 2015 was a rollercoaster of a year, lots of good anime that year, of course the top of the charts was One Punch Man, even the people I introduced that show to really ended up liking it!

Here are 10 new things Otaku can learn or look forward to this year...think of it as a new years resolutions type of thing if you want!

1. List out all the new anime you are expecting and make plans to watch them!

2. Plan out and start budgeting for what conventions to go to this year, lets try to at least go to half of the ones we really really want to go to!  Or if you are really on a budget...try at least one major con and 2 or 3 smaller one day cons. ^_^

3. Start building your cosplay! Or at least start planning it and shopping for it!

4. Learn a new otaku trade! Whether its learning to make video games, learning Japanese, or even just learning how to properly use chopsticks or make tea!

5.  Learn to make a traditional Japanese food or sushi...or any food in my case...yes I am a horrible cook.

6. Get the courage to do that one thing at the convention that you were too scared to last year, for example, if you were too shy to participate in a contest or a group event.

7. Meet at least 1 other Otaku every month! Or if you are really not very social one new Otaku friend this year!!!

8.  Learn a new anime opening or ending song with lyrics and everything by memory!!!

9. Try learning a new Japanese phrase at least once per month! and by the end of the year you will at least know 12 phrases!

10. Don't be afraid to try new things! Like a new food, a new store, or a new restaurant!

Why One Punch Man is Great!

by Gaby

 

One Punch Man has become a really big hit in Japan and so I decided to check it out. Watching the first episode I could already see this anime was certainly different than your usual hero anime.
Where in most stories the hero struggles with their opponent for sometimes multiple episodes, One Punch Man answers the question, "What if the hero was too strong?"

Saitama was an unemployed salary man when he saved a big chinned kid from a lobster monster, from that moment on he decided to train to become a hero, he trained so hard that his hair fell out and became so strong that now has ability to defeat anyone with just one punch.  However, he wishes there was more thrill in it, so he's a bit bored with just finishing opponents off in one punch.

The series isn't all just seriousness, there is a lot of comedy in this anime, how some of these monsters get defeated, or they surrender, and they best not ramble, Saitama likes things summarized in 20 words or less! 

If you haven't started watching One Punch Man, then do so! It's currently the #1 anime in Japan and every day gaining more audience.  Watch the greatness of Saitama and his follower Genos as they register to become recognized heroes, fight genetically enhanced creatures, and still make it on time for the Saturday sale at the supermarket!  Here are some screenshots to get you a little familiar with the show.

Knocks out opponents with just one punch

That was too easy...as usual

Genos, a cyborg hero, wants to be Saitama's disciple.

No time for games, this hero has shopping to do!!!

#OnePunchMan #Saitama #Genos #AnimeReview #pleaseanime

Anime North Texas 2015: Aftermath

by Gaby

This year Anime North Texas was at a new location at the historic Hilton Fort Worth in Downtown Fort Worth, TX.  It was actually a really good turnout with over 100% growth since last year, I believe the final numbers showed over 2,000 registered guests for the convention, which is pretty good considering this is newer three day convention.

The panel selection was so, so, from what I saw it was pretty decent.  There were at least 3 specific panels you could go to throughout the day, small but full dealers room, artist area, and even a maid cafe.

I actually volunteered in the maid cafe and I gotta say it was really great! The deal for the maid cafe was pretty swell too, $10 got you a bowl or your choice of ramen, a canned drink (green tea, milk tea, or Japanese coffee), and a pastry for dessert! Plus you got to hang out with the maids, play games, enjoy dances, and socialize!

I didn't get to take too many pictures since I was out volunteering with the maids, but this being my first time volunteering at a convention was pretty good!  The only thing is that if you do volunteer at cons, you really have to be there because you want to volunteer, not because you want a free badge.  The majority of my day was taken up by my actual event that I was volunteering for, so I didn't get to roam around the convention during the day at all.  However I did enjoy it because it was fun getting to hang out with a bunch of people at the maid cafe!

Here are a few pictures from ANT2015.

Cosplay for Fun!

by Gaby

In the nerdy fandom community there are people known as cosplayers. They dress up, act like the character, sometimes play out scenes or say lines that the character would say. 
This weekend I was at a local convention and it reminded me how great even a small convention can be when you have cosplayers getting together and being really awesome at it.

A few general tips on cosplaying while I am on the subject of cosplay.

1. Yes you can be creative with your cosplay that is perfectly fine, it is fun to do crossplays (crossover cosplay), gender benders, or anything new that hasn't been done before.

2. Whether you are actually trying to be the character or just dressing up, have fun! People don't approach someone who looks angry or like they aren't enjoying themselves, you want to have fun! Cosplay! Play is about fun!

3. Haters gonna hate but don't let them bother you.  There will always be that one person or group of people who say, oh they didn't do a good job cosplaying because they are too overweight, or they aren't the right ethnicity, this is not what having fun in cosplay is about.  Be comfortable in your skin and wear what you want to wear, be who you want to be! No one is 100% accurate, I mean come on its just a fictional character the whole world doesn't depend on what race Sailor Moon is or how thin or large you are to portray a certain character. 

Well now that I got that out o the way lets move to some pictures I took over the weekend at the G33K3 convention that was held in McKinney Texas Friday and Saturday December 4-5, 2015.

Darth Vader and company

Jenny and I cosplay, Fluttershy and Tina Belcher

Chewbacca

Donattello and Raphael

Speed Racer

Female Loki

ARSMAGNA Amazing at Dance

by Gaby

Left to right: Bak, Tatsuki, Akira, Sou, Kento

So lately I've got the dance bug and I was looking at good video choreography and ran into stuff by ARSMAGNA and woah, I was blown away, if you haven't heard of them,  now is a good time to get acquainted with these 5 amazing dancers. 

ARSMAGNA is a group of 5 guys who perform their own choreography as well as some original content in Japan, it seems the group has been going on since about 2012, their choreography to "Gigantic O.T.N" has already reached more than 1 million views on Nico Nico Douga, which is a popular video sharing service in Japan. They also form as part of a cosplay group "Chronos Senior High School."

If you want to see something really awesome, I highly recommend searching for some ARSMAGNA choreography because its pretty amazing.
It seriously seems like these guys have been modeled after an anime, I've seen some of their cosplay skit videos and they are just hilarious.  To see more dances and content from Ars Magna check out the Nicovideo.jp site and search Ars Magna.

Definitively check out these bishounen dancers see below for some sweetness videos! 

Oh and by the way their first regular album just got released this year on November 11th full of amazing original material! Perfect tie to jump on the bandwagon!  Check out the promo for their album below!

Countdown to Anime North Texas in Fort Worth!

by Gaby

Attention all North Texas anime fans, if you haven't heard of Anime North Texas, also known as ANT, then you certainly need to know!   This is a newer con but it is very worth going to.  Fort Worth is a wonderful city, ranked amongst one of the the best cities in Texas and a con in downtown Fort Worth will just make it even better.   Here are the 5 W's on ANT.

Who?  Anime North Texas! (ANT)

What? A newer anime convention full of panels, music, cosplay, maid cafes, dealer room, and more!

When? November 20-22, 2015

Where? Downtown Fort Worth at the Hilton.  815 Main St. Fort Worth TX

Why?  Because you just have to check out this great con!

and sometimes

How?  Check out http://animenorthtexas.com/ for more information on pre-registration and hotel prices. 


I will be there and I Hope to see you there too!

When Marnie Was There Review

by Gaby

Studio Ghibli does it again, another wonderful story that will leave you in tears sobbing with emotions.   Anna is a child whose parents died long ago, after she has an asthma attack she is sent to live in the country by the sea.  There she spots a house across the water where a young girl with long yellow hair seems to be, she finds her way across the water and over to the house and ends up befriending this strange girl.

The story gets a little weird maybe even a bit confusing when you start discovering who Marnie really is, there is a mystery deeper than what is shown on the surface.

By the end of the movie everything gets resolved and you would have been taken through a roller coaster of emotions.

This is surely one to see if you are a fan of Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki movies, the characters are relatable, lovable, and you can't help but just want everything to result well for them. 

Attack on Titan Part 2: End of the World Review

by Gaby

Forget everything you know about the anime that was made popular in Japan, Attack on Titan.  Now once you get that out of your head then you can watch Attack on Titan part II End of the World.
How I would describe this movie would be...someone made a fan fiction with Attack on Titan characters, threw in a couple of their own characters, changed the plot a bit, and ta da! You get Attack on Titan: End of the World.
I was hearing a lot of mumbling in the audience, mostly "What the F###?," and "Are you serious?!" and of course "That didn't happen!" 

So yes this movie totally flopped in Japan and it probably made less than the first in the US as well because...well when I went to the theater there were way less people at the showing of this movie than the first. 

SPOILERS AHEAD: If you plan to see it then you can stop here, if you don't mind spoilers keep reading. I am basically going to tell you what happened in the whole movie because it does not follow the anime AT ALL.

This movie starts off recalling what happened in the first film, basically doing a 90 second snipped of everything that happened in the first movie.  After this we see a flashback scene of Eren as a child being injected with some fluid by his father. Then some people come and take away his parents and burn the house to the ground while he escapes through a hidden passageway.

Take back forward to when Eren is captured, tied up, and iterrogated  by Kubal one of the heads of the military.  Right when Souda was about to speak up and reveal a bunch of truths he is killed by Kubal and then out of nowhere the armored Titan shows up and snatches up Eren.

Next we see Eren with Shikishima (The guy who seemed to have replaced Levi in the first movie)

Shikishima revealing truths to Eren

and this is where it starts getting weird. Shikishima starts telling Eren things that Titans are human people that the government had experimented with and that's what lead to the decline of humanity, and that Kubal and the government are using the Titans as a means to keep fear in people and basically rule over everyone with fear. So he wants to take the last bomb that they have and break down the inner walls with it...
Meanwhile the rest of Eren's friends are out with their leader Hanji looking for the last bomb so that they can blow up a part of the outer wall to fill in the main hole that the Titans are getting in from. so basically blast a piece of wall to plug up the hole in the wall caused by the colossal Titan.

Yeah...so it was getting really crazy, the Scout regiment is revealed to be a bunch of people who are followers of Shikishima's crazy thoughts, and when they run into Hanji and her team more stuff blows up and more people die by guns and explosions rather than by being eaten by Titans.

There was hardly any human on Titan battling going on in this one. In fact I don't think I saw a single person being eaten by a Titan in this part of the movie.

But we do have a Titan on Titan battle, with Eren fighting Shikishima both in Titan form, Eren wanting to use the bomb to fix the outer wall and Shikishima wanting the bomb to explode the inner wall.   Eren ends up pulling a move he used against Jean from the first movie to be victorious in this battle.

Titan on Titan Battle

Then as they are about to use the bomb to plug up the hole...the identity of the Colossal Titan is revealed as being Kubal, he transforms and tries to thwart their plans then Shikishima out of nowhere ends up coming back and taking the bomb and using it to destroy Kubal as the colossal titan which ends up exploding and fixing the wall to where the hole gets covered up.

The story ends with Eren and Mikasa standing on top of the wall looking out into a destroyed city by the ocean...who would have known that there is a destroyed city by the ocean right outside the gate.

Very crazy movie indeed. I can't really say I liked it but It was not the worst thing I have ever seen. It ended well, it had a happy ending I suppose, but a lot of stuff was left out and it did not follow Attack on Titan anime at all. Hence why I call it, someone's action fanfiction brought to life on the big screen. 

Do I recommend you see it? Not really, unless you want to see somewhat of a what if type of story...

What if Levi wasn't in the picture?
What if the plot was different?
What if Eren was a different character?
What if the military was hiding titans because they were titans?

Stuff like that basically.

Oh but I was glad that Sasha (Potato girl) didn't die. She and Hanji were the best characters. Sashi being the comic relief in the first movie and Hanji being the comic relief in this one. 

Mikasa rescuing Eren from the explosion of the bomb...amazing that no debris hit them at all.