Blue Exorcist

I have recently begun watching the Anime "Blue Exorcist" on Toonami. So far I have been enjoying this series. It has a good artistic style, contains a lot of good animation, and has some very humorous scenes. The only thing I don't like about this series is the blue flames, as the animation for that doesn't match the rest of the animation. I think it would have been much better if they took a little more time to animate the blue flames. Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood at least animated the fire in that series and it looked awesome!

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This series is about a teenage boy named Rin Okumura who is the son of a priest named Shiro Fujimoto with his younger brother Yukio. It turns out Rin is the son of Satan and possesses demonic abilities with the help of a sword that distorts his features. When Satan kills Shiro trying to get to Rin, the son of Satan decides to become an Exorcist himself to battle the forces of Hell. Rin goes to a school for Exorcists where there are tons of surprises ready for him.

There are so many Anime series where the protagonist has some dark power of some sort in them and they try to battle against the urge to become monsters. At times, I am tired of this repeated scenarios, but sometimes there is a different spin on the thought and seems interesting in a way.

Space Dandy

(This image is from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Dandy)

I enjoy watching Space Dandy on Cartoon Network's Toonami. I have to admit, it isn't the best Anime show I have seen by far, as there have been plenty of Anime that I have seen that have made me laugh harder. Also, plenty of Anime shows have similar mixes of really good and sub par animation. However, this show definitely beats out Bleach as that series has been going downhill for quite some time now, Naruto at times when the series just drags on, and even One Piece as that series doesn't appear to be ending for another century!

This series has no consistent plot as it is mainly a parody series that makes fun of various topics. Once in a while it may have a certain new idea that might not have been seen in other science fiction shows, but for the most part, it is all for comedy. My favorite episodes are the zombie one, and the race one. Both of those episodes contain some of the best jokes by far in the series.

My biggest surprise about this show is that it premieres here in the USA in English dubbing before it does in Japan in it's native language. I find that superbly awesome! This could mean that the animation studios in Japan are realizing how popular Anime has become to the rest of the world, especially here in America and they are trying to branch out even more. This could be the beginning of a lot of interesting advancements for Anime in general as well as other media!

Toonami Returns

(This image is from http://www.animationmagazine.net/tv/adult-swims-toonami-releases-new-lineup/)

I had heard that Toonami, the Anime section of Cartoon Network, has been brought via requests by the nostalgic fans. I know I grew up with some Toonami. It introduced me to Ruroni Kenshin, Yu Yu Hakusho, Zoids, and numerous other cartoon shows both American and Japanese that were awesome. This time around, Toonami is on Saturday nights instead of weekdays. I think this is much better, because after school on weekdays Toonami could only show shows after they had been censored for a younger audience. Now they are only censored to a degree where adults can view it with blood and some foul language. Honestly, it helps most of the themes of Anime shows out there not to be censored.

I know Bleach is still being shown on Saturday nights, but I don't care as much for that series anymore. Many fans have been abandoning the manga and the show due to the inconsistent plot, the repetition of certain plot points, and how only certain characters develop while others are completely forgotten. This is an example for me what not to do with my own story.

(This image is from toonzone.net)

One of the new shows they began showing on Toonami is called "Deadman Wonderland." I was surprised at how much blood, violence, and censored swearing this show had with just the first episode. Even with all of those questionable points, it still seems like an interesting story. A young boy being framed for killing all of his classmates and he is sent to this very questionable juvenile prison called "Deadman Wonderland."

(This image is from hulu.com)

There was this show called "Casshern Sins" that was on a little bit too late for me to stay up because I had work the next day, but I have began to watch it on Netflix. It is a very interesting show of a mysterious robot who is responsible for the apocalypse for all robots, and he is constantly being targeted by robots. Casshern doesn't remember anything though, which is a common theme for many Anime protagonists. This show appears interesting because it has excellent fight scenes and some interesting themes, like robots who used to live forever suddenly being faced with immanent, unavoidable death. It makes me think.

There are other Anime being shown on Toonami now, but some of them are just repeated series.