Anime VS Manga

There is some who watch and read both, others is more reading the mangá than watching the anime and vice-versa, myself I'm more into reading mangá than both of them, when it comes to adaptations.

Some don't read it because of having disabilities or difficulties in reading and others for being lazy, mostly laziness...simply not into reading...even if is small texts.

When a mangá is adapted into anime, usually there is many problems, such being faithful to the manga, having only what's important, it's a rare jewel when it is faithful, it's even more rare when in terms of storyline and character is better than the mangá (but in this case, it's more of matter of opinion), usually I prefer the manga thousand times more than it's animated adaptation, the only exception to me when I prefer the adapted anime than the mangá was Angelic Layer.

One of my favourite animes of all time, I re-watched so many times, 4 times, I believe.

Also there is animes are adapted into mangás, in these cases, I just watch the anime, since the original story comes from the anime anyway and sometimes the adapted mangá changes too much and back away too much from the original story.

I give you few mangás adapted into anime that were horrible animated adaptations: Fruits Basket (way too many plot points left out even from where it ended and changed some plot points, etc, it didn't go to the end, many of us wish a remake and this time faithful to the mangá), Black Cat (they changed the sequences and good amount of the plot, it could be such a good anime), etc.

I'm fine with few changes, as long as is faithful to the plot such as Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (you don't even have to bother in reading mangá, unless you want more few details), Death Note and some others with no fillers or fillers arcs that many times changes or mixes with the plot to the point of making very confusing instead unlike some animes I could mention *cough*Naruto*cough*Bleach*cough*One Piece*cough*Fairy Tail*cough*Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters*cough*etc*cough*

that's it for today :p

Rant: likeable and unlikeable characters to evaluate quality of a game/tv show/book/movie, isn't subjective?

I do always have an issue when people make a review about a game or tv show or film or book or comic book or graphic novel, they write or say for example:

"this A game has likeable characters so it's good" or "This B animated show has dislikeable characters therefore it's bad".

With these examples, that's where my problems resides, a quality of a story doesn't reside if the characters are likeable or not, because people have different opinions on what they consider likeable or not, it's quite like in Harry Potter books and movies, each person who read the books has a different vision of the characters, so of course the actors wouldn't be like exactly or very similar to the character as the readers had in their minds, so the right way to evaluate a character is by analysing and see how well-rounded they are, not if likeable or not.

The purpose of well-rounded characters, it's not with the intention to make the character likeable or glorified or to be a role model but to treat as a person first with flaws, virtues, strengths, weaknesses, vulnerabilities, the amount of resilience, convictions, ideals, not a black-white character but much deeper and complex, more to the character than what meets the surface.

Many people has the bad habit of judging a character or evaluate them basing on what's on the surface of their actions, don't even question why he/she did, when given reasons is:
"because he is a jerk" or "because she is annoying" (each person has a different ideas of what they consider annoying or jerk) and when they say why they think a character is annoying or jerk:
"because it did A,B,C,D,etc.",  but the actions/reactions/personality traits and why he/she did it, that's what a well-rounded character is. Remember Understanding is different from Liking, understanding a character doesn't mean you like the character.
It's noticeable likeable and dislikeable is a matter of a personal subjective opinion and not an evaluation.
If the characters are well-rounded or not, it's an evaluation.

there is many well-rounded characters I dislike, Umbridge, Voldemort, Amon, Lucius Malfoy, "Father" Homunculus, etc.
as much there is many well-rounded characters I like and love, Atemu/Atem"Yami No Yugi", Yugi Mutou, Harry Potter, Izayoi Aki, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Azula, Aqua, etc...(yeah, too many to list).

also there are few well-rounded characters which I feel indifferent or like and dislike, Snape (sorry fans, but he is in my like and dislike list, in another words, in the middle :p), Mazaki Anzu (same with Snape), most of the Homunculus, etc.

I hope I was clear :).

My favourite mangás - that makes me want to re-read again Part 1

To change a bit of pace, since I have been writing about Legend of Korra Book 2, Harry Potter and video games lately...
since I haven't been focusing much on it except on Koe No Katachi, so I will say my favourites and then some are the mangá&anime I'm reading and watching...

Yu-Gi-Oh!

My favourite of all time (I think I read 2 or 3 times), just because is my favourite doesn't mean I'm saying is the best (because saying best or worst is extremely subjective), please don't mix.
It's adaptation in anime, specially the dubbed version make the series very underrated, despite the very beautiful original story drawn and written in the mangá by Kazuki Takahashi with well-rounded characters, amazing development in many characters, specially some of the main characters, the ones who move the story along.
If you want to read more details about this series, click here...


Fullmetal Alchemist

My one of favourites for sure, because it's a very good story and also all the characters all well-rounded, it's one of those stories with very good well-rounded and strong females characters which is a treat (since it's rare to happen in shounen specially), between my most favourite female character is there, they also have an excellent anime adaptation, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (which by the way is rare to happen to come a good adaptation of a manga in anime).

Fruits Basket

Okay, this one I can confirm you to have read 3 times, both crying each time, we could say is one of my favourite shoujo mangas together with Shugo Chara, funny enough, in this shoujo, the romance isn't the centre of the plot at all, it's about the characters, the ones that the main character has bonds and meets, it's essentially a drama, slice of life and comedy literally, the concept of the manga it's the centre of the plot and how it affects her  and the secondary and supporting characters, all the characters have amazing depth.

Rurouni Kenshin

It strongly affected me personally, emotionally and idealistically, very thoughtful, the same applies for the characters, even though the manga is from the 90's, no matter how many years pass, it's still a very good manga and story.

This is not exactly in order, except for Yu-Gi-Oh!, but I assure it's in my Top 4, it's funny is more shounen than shoujo, I guess it's because shoujo has tendencies to be repetitive, since it's usually the romance the centre of the plot making it repetitive (there is exceptions though), action, drama and comedy mangas, it can be more versatile and take different shapes and pathways, it's better the romance being a sub-plot instead of main plot.

Manga: Koe No Katachi One-Shot

this is a one-shot manga chapter, 61 pages, I never cried so much like waterfalls since I read Fruits Basket, it's very very very emotional, it was so well executed and themes explored by reflecting society and the cruel side of humanity, I like the artwork very much, I like how it focus in the two main characters, the girl Nishimiya Shouko who is bullied for her disability (for being deaf) and the Shouya Ishida was the bully who became scapegoat and start becoming bullied by his former friends.

it's 15-30 minutes read, definitely worth the read, so check it out!! you just can click the picture to read.

get yourself ready to be emotionally moved...

I heard is getting serialised.

Rant: Strong Female Characters

Hello, yes, it's a rant about it, it's some complaints I have about it in some sections.

I do love mostly strong cisgenderly female characters, if there is androgynous, the better, the variety, the better.

my problems is that in some cartoons, animes, comics, movies, mangas, mostly anime and manga and video games, strong female characters tend to be stereotypically treated...most of the times it's always the sexy and attractive or beautiful woman with much less clothes, or loli and moe or tsundere  or "boyish" traits, not much variety or relatable, from what I know, there is some I know it has a good variety, Fullmetal Alchemist, Naruto, Fruits Basket, Otomen (specially male characters, which is great), Shugo Chara, Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Tekken, Kenishi: The Mightiest Disciple, Code Geass, Black Lagoon. 

Shoujos is so rare to have decent female characters, they are very repetitive, in special the main characters, I was fortuned to find good main female characters, like Beauty Pop, Tonari No Kaibutsu-kun, Shugo Chara, Switch Girl, Watashi Ni xx Shinasai...

that's my only complaints regarding the subject, even though there is many with good female characters but compared to the rest, it makes the many few...I'll tell you what's the problem with the stereotypical ones, they first think as a "girl" then is a "person", when it should be the other way around, that's why books, animated series, series, films that has good females characters always go for think of the character as a person first and then you can worry about it's gender (whatever which is).

it's a wake up call, give more variety in characters (I'm including males) would be nice.

now series, films which has good and great female characters and a nice variety:

the ones mentioned above regarding manga and anime and games...;

• Harry Potter;
• Game of Thrones (I never watch or read it but I heard a good deal);
• Avatar The Last Airbender;
• Legend of Korra;
• The Mentalist;
• The Big Bang Theory;
• Brave;
• Mulan;
• Tangled;
• Princess Mononoke;
• Howl's Moving Castle;
• The Secret World of Arietty;
• My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic;
• etc.

there it goes, I think many of you understand what I mean, right?

I hope it comes great characters in future with more variety

Here is my list of my female characters...

Mangá&Anime:

• Olivier Mira Armstrong (Fullmetal Alchemist)
• Kino (Kino No Tabi)
• Kiri Koshiba (Beauty Pop)
• Izayoi Aki (Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's)
• Amu Hinamori (Shugo Chara)
• Hawkeye (Fullmetal Alchemist)
• Machi Kuragi (Fruits Basket)
• Shizuku Mizutani (Tonari No Kaibutsu-kun)
• Kujaku Mai (Yu-Gi-Oh!)
• Saki Hanajima (Fruits Basket)

Video Games:

• Aqua (Kingdom Hearts)
• Lightning (Final Fantasy XIII)
• Leo Kliesen (Tekken)

Animated series:

• Korra (Legend of Korra)
• Azula (Avatar The Last Airbender)
• Toph Bei Fong (Avatar The Last Airbender)
• Asami Sato (Legend of Korra)
• Lin Bei Fong (Legend of Korra)
• Katara (Avatar The Last Airbender & Legend of Korra)
• Tylee (Avatar The Last Airbender)
• Zhalia Moon (Huntik)
• Sophie Casterwill (Huntik)
• Twilight Sparkle (My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic)
• Pinkie Pie (My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic)
• Rainbow Dash (My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic)
• Lor (The Weekenders)

Films, series, books, comics:

• Hermione Granger (Harry Potter)
• Luna Lovegood (Harry Potter)
• Ginny Weasley (Harry Potter)
• Lily Evans Potter (Harry Potter)
• Narcissa Malfoy (Harry Potter)
• Professor McGonagall (Harry Potter)
• Princess Merida (Brave)
• Mulan (Mulan)
• Teresa Lisbon (The Mentalist)
• Alex (Modern Family)
• Claire (Modern Family)
• Leslie Winkle (The Big Bang Theory)
• Rapunzel (Tangled)
• Belle (Beauty and the Beast)
• Gretel (Hansel and Gretel Grimm's Fairy Tale)
• Vesper Grey (Plume)
• Anya (Phoenix Requiem)
• Arietty (The Secret World of Arietty)
• Vanellope Von Schweetz (Wreck-It Ralph)

If you have noticed, the smallest list is Anime & Mangá (imagined if was divided in 2? it would become much smaller) and the video games. As you see, it's very hard for me to like a female character, even if there is many good females characters, but it's still not enough, I'm very picky.

Rant - Analysis: Fascinating Characters

Characters always give different feelings, understandings and thoughts, whether we like them or not.
Some people can get confused about their feelings about some characters...
You can dislike a character but still respect and find the character fascinating at the same time, I know it because I have many characters I dislike and hate and still respect a lot and think they are interesting to watch, see and read.
there is even those we don't mind but we find interesting, just because you find fascinating a character doesn't mean you like them.
the usually kind of characters we find fascinating, they are very complex, makes you wonder, makes want to discover more and understand more about them, it's what make great characters, having weaknesses and strengths, their worst and best, their questions, their views, their background story,what makes them the way they are, etc.

I'll give you the list of character I really dislike and hate but has my respect and I have some fascination for them:
- Lord Voldemort/Tom Riddle
- Professor Umbridge
- Lord Ozai
etc, don't remember more now, lol...

now the ones, I just don't mind but also good and great characters:

- Severus Snape
- Misaki Anzu
-etc, don't remember more...

the ones I love:
- Princess Azula
- Prince Zuko
- Toph
- Hermione
- Ron Weasley
- Pharaoh Atem
- Yugi Mutou
etc...

Rant: Shipping

I know what you may be thinking, I'm gonna bash or defend shipping, it's both and none of it.
If you don't know what shipping is...it's being fan of pairings even if is non-canon(not official, impossible, technically, it's pretty much like inside a fandom there is more fandoms (shippings).

there is cool and fun stuff about shipping but also there is uncool, stressing, annoying and problematic.