Death Note (Anime and Manga)

Murderers, killers, rapists, robbers, muggers, just about any sort of criminal, prepare yourselves to die. Kira is on the loose, and he doesn't take kindly to criminals.

What happens when a genius with a high sense of justice and sees how the world is extremely corrupt finds a notebook that allows him to kill anyone he wants to by adding their names into it? You get Death Note, one of the best animes I've watched so far, ever since I was young. The suspense between two geniuses fighting each other is always amazing, but Death Note takes it to a whole 'nother level. The difference betweeen the anime and manga wasn't much so it's not something to really fret about. The manga has all the Death Note rules written on it every few chapters though which I found pretty cool.

Light Yagami is a high school student with an IQ that exceeds standards. He also has a very strong sense of justice, which makes him resent the growing amount of crime and corruption. One day, after a regular day at school, he happens to come across a notebook called the "Death Note". There were a set of rules and "how to use" on the first page which indicates that writting a person's name in the notebook while thinking of the person's face will cause them to die. Light exploits this power and uses it to kill criminals while using his popular alias, "Kira" to show people that there is someone watching over people and sending down the hammer of justice. Secretly reknowned famous detective "L" picks up on this fact and issues Kira a challenge on who shall get who first.

This show is just absolutely gripping. No episode is without any excitement, or interest. Every turn of the story is like a mini heart attack of excitement. This is one of those very bold and outstanding animes of all time, and it's proven so, seeing that the show received countless amouts of fans and has received quite the amount of praises from critics. Death Note is just one of those animes that you just can't miss in your lifetime, and that will always be so to me.

Death Note: 10/10

Air Gear (Anime)

What happens when you combine roller skates, and small motors with high torgue? You get Air Treks. These powerful things give one a sense of having "wings on their feet" when used properly. I find that idea very interesting, and is a key concept in the story of Air Gear. A fast, fun filled anime with a nice amount of comedy, and a slight amount of fanservice. There is a manga for this, but I imagine it's not as different from the anime.

Ikki Minami, a 14 year old boy, is a delinquent in his school. His nickname is "Baby Face" of his school gang, the "East Side Gunz". After a day of getting beaten up by an opposing gang, Ikki discovers a secret hidden from him by the people who's let him live in his house, the Noyamano family. The Noayamano sisters were keeping AT's (Air Treks) from him. By the end of the day, he was able to settle his problem with the opposing gang, a Storm Rider team by the name of "Skull Saders". Ikki, after his victory, gets hooked in the world of Air Treks, and has then been building on his reputation.

The story was quite interesting to me. Air Treks, fast paced action, cute girls, and quite humorous comedy, that was good enough to get me interested. The characters were also quite nice. The main characters each send off an aura that get's a person intersted in them easily. The world of AT's should be proud of Ikki and his pals because they're quite good.

Air Gear: 8.5/10

Also, just a small side note about the series: Season 2 will come out 11/17/10.

Not really a review- Junketsu no Maria by Masayuki Ishikawa (Manga)

I was lurking around on the Questionable Content Ustream when I saw a familiar name in the recommendations and clicked it.
THEN.
This.

Fairy Tail by Hiro Mashima (Manga)

I read volume one of Fairy Tail yesterday. It seems to be about magicians and a guild called "Fairy Tail", although I can't see any real plot yet. So far, it's really good (and screams "shounen manga").
It has almost all the elements of a good shounen manga: a hero and heroine, sense of humor, good plot development, etc.

RATING: 9 salamanders.

The Passage by Justin Cronin (Book)

The United States government discovers a virus that makes humans invincible and powerful. Obviously, any country would want armies like these. The catch is, people infected by the virus also develop a very strong bloodlust. The military decides to dumb the virus down, eliminating the side effect of mindless killing. So who do they pick as lab rats? Prisoners. Specifically, killers condemned to death by the law. Meaning they killed people (already). Very, very good choice when you're testing out a virus that makes people into insane KILLING MACHINES. Yep.

RATING: 8 sparklies.

Card Captor Sakura The Movie 2: The Sealed Card (Anime, Movie)

First of all, kudos to the people who actually knows about the series. You're probably a girl or someone who's just watched a lot of animes. Anyways, CCS The Movie 2 takes place 4 months after the final events of the show. Everything's all spick and span and perfectly ordinary in Sakura Kinomoto's life, but when another Clow card is loose, havoc is spread. Sakura and her friends doesn't realize this and goes on normally with their lives. Soon, when they do encounter this "sealed card", they go out to stop it before it erases everything around it. Before, you watch the movie, I suggest watch the show. Two seasons, 70 episodes. Likeable if you want to watch something just cute with some action. The movie was pretty good. This movie is a must watch for every CCS fan out there, and I would also recommend it to the people looking for a cute romantic movie with some action in it.

CCS Movie 2: The Sealed Card : 7.5/10

Seitokai No Ichizon (Anime)

This is a comedy about a student council and what they regularly do in their "meetings" as the student council. The main character is Ken Sugisaki, the person holding the "blue chip" seat and is the vice-president. He is also a fan of a harem ending with the cute girls of the student council. The show doesn't really make up a plot in the first couple of episodes. It's just trying to be really funny at first, and they succeed at that. When a plot is kind of revealed, the episodes gets deeper and deeper into that with every episode, and the show ends with a really cute ending. If you understand otaku culture and enjoys hearing jokes about it, well, I say this is a very nice show for you to watch.

Seitokai No Ichizon: 7.25/10