Last week I had a chance to rent one of the very few animes movies at my local Blockbuster. One of them happen to be the subject of this blog, and its one of the best anime movies I ever seen (look at a bunch). The name of the movie is Grave of The Fireflies:

This movie was originally made in the late 1980's, but was released to DVDs by A.D.V films this year. This movie doesn't have any top notch animation, but doesn't even require it. What drives this movie is the relationship between Seita (male above) and his little sister Setsuko. The movie takes place during the WWII era, and their lives are greatly effected by the war.

Scene at the beginning where they flee bombing planes

As the movie progresses the two start to become more dependent on each other.They windup living with relatives, but they soon leave due the lack of compassion from their aunt. The end up living in a bomb shelter were they promised to look after each other. Despite the tragedies going on around them Seita does wonderful job trying to be a good brother. While their parents are gone its Seita who has to fill in both roles as parents. The more hopeless the situation gets, the more determined he got to protect his sister from reality.

Some of the good times the two spent together.

Though Seita was a great support to his sister, the effects of the war continued to loom over them throughout the movie. Many food supplies were rationed, and the value of money plummeted.The hearts ofthe nations people also become cold, and indifferent to the duo's situation. Still Seita foundways to get around their hopeless situation ( by stealing).

A river they lived by in the later parts of the movie.

As the story progressed their living conditions become more unbearable, and forces Seita to risk his life to get their next meal. With everything thing going on Setsuko slowly loses hope, and clings desperately to her brother.

Setsuka waiting for her brother to return with food.

The movie was real eye opener to the effects that war has on it people. The bombing wasn't ultimately the primary threat the two faced, but crushed spirits of their countryman (and women). As the war progresses they recived less help from those around them and eventually they had to look after themselves. With no one to support they led solitary lives that eventually overcame them. I highly recommend that this movie be viewed with Kleenex's because of the many powerful scenes in this movie. Many of them were difficult to watch but came together beautifully in the end. Whether your touched by the story or not the struggles of these kids are unique and very tragic.

The fireflies play a significant role in the movie, and ironically symbolizes the two perfectly.

To those still reading I have a treat for ya. If you want to watch the move here a linkto a streamed version of the movie. Non-subscriber's to megavideo can only watch 45 minutes of the video, so keep that in mind (half now and half later). Anyway I'm tackling the move Voices of a Distant Star this week. It promises to be another emotionally charge move, so wish me luck.

Greetings to those who are still on my friend list lol. Been a while since my last update, however finally found something to talk about. Since the beginning of this year I found daily life to be stressful, but manageable. Even though my days are pack with school (and work), I found some interesting things to do in my downtime. This includes watching up to 100 anime shows this year. It sounds crazy, but most channels were I live hardly air them anymore. I found that the Internet is a great place to watch old and new anime alike. Though I have to pay 10$ a month to watch them, I feel like its worth every penny. Anyway I would like to share the names some of the anime I seen so far this year.I'll try to describe them in a few words. I recommend checking them out on wikipedia.com to learn more about them. Anyway here is a list of the ones I seen this year:

01. Black Lagoon (Punch in the face anime with plenty of violence and shaky morality)

02. Lucky Star (Cute anime parody on Otaku culture)

03. OutlawStar (Anime full of action and surprisingly likable characters)

04. Soul Taker (A dark anime where kid's mom kills him to save him)

05. Fate Stay Night (Interesting characters that have you hooked till the end) (Based on a doujin game)

06. Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventure (A very good harem anime with tight mech action)

07. Soul Eater (Goofy anime that has great balance between comedy and drama)

08. Wolf's Rain (Love this anime to death. Last few episodes will leave you sobbing like a baby)

09. Banner of the Star series ( A pleasant space drama between a male human and Alien princess/captain)

10. Neon Genesis Evangelion (The darker side of mecha drama)

11. Speed Grapher (Adults only anime filled to the brim with violence and sexuality)

12. Hellsing ( Brutal vampire action without the sissy factor lol)

13. Tsukuyomi Moon Phase (Cute romance between loli vampire with her slave/lover human)

14. Zero No Tsukaima (Cool anime drama featuring a witch (tsundere)and her human familiar)

15. Gurren Lagann (A great anime that taps into every emotion. Has alot of memorable moments)

16. Strike Witches (Loli's plus suprisingly good military action)

17. Seto No Hanyome (Unique harem anime with ALOT of likable characters)

18. Honey and Clover (Heartbreak and acceptance abound in this one. Very tough to watch)

19. Baccano! (Very interesting Adult crime drama featuring a wacky cast of characters)

20. Buso Renkin (Action packed anime featuring characters that can summon weapon to battle)

21. Ah My Goddess (A guys life throw upside down by a family of goddesses)

22. A i s h i t e r u z e Baby (A High School student takes care of his five year old cousin. Very good anime.)

23. Excel Saga ( A very lame anime, but it did have its moments)

24. Queen's Blade ( Very ecchi anime with lots of fanservice. Action and character are decent though)

25. Gunslinger Girls (Very very very sad anime. Girls brought from the verge of death to become an assassin)

26. Dragonaut: The Resonance ( Dude falls in love with a girl that happens to be a mecha dragon)

27. Witchblade (One of my personal favorites. Amother harnesses a evil blade to help support her daughter)

28. Kannagi: Crazy Shrine Maidens (Dude gets mixed up with a goddess he met in his childhood)

29. Kikaider and Kikaider 01 (Great look at defining ones existence, and the price that comes with it)

30. Gungrave (Features a loyal man that fights beyond the grave)

31. Code Geass (Huge fan of this anime. The characters and story are beyond excellent. Must See!)

So far thats all the anime I seen this year. With the exception of Excel Saga, every single one is okay in my book. For those that watch anime online I highly recommend that you checkout some of the ones I mentioned above. Anyway It will be a while before I'll reach one hundred, but I'm already enjoy taking the time to watch them.It will be a while before my next update, but I'll have a new list of anime to share. Thanks for taking the time to read up to this point, and I hope the best in all aspects of your daily life. Peace my fellow gamers 8D

It been a while since I last did a blog, but I figure that now is a good chance to do one. Since my last blog thngs have gotten financially tough for me. The last portion of my college course requires me to attend clinicals, which means I will have to take alot of medical tests. These test promise to drain me of any bit of money I may have. The good news I like to share is a arcade stick I order last month arrived two days ago. This stick was made to come out with the fighting game Blazblue, which I been hyped about playing for a while now. Here is a picture of the stick:

Ive been playing fighting games with the Dualshock controller, so my current skills with the stick are at 0 lol.Even though I'm steadily improving, I still won't fight decently until a month or two. One advantage I notice when using the stick is the motion for some attacks (like the dragon punch) feel more easier to pull off. Another advantage having axcess to more than more finger when pressing buttons. Now that I have the arcade stick,the wait for Blazblue's release this coming week alot easier. Anyway thanks for listening to my random rant