Blood Shower Anyone?

I’ve been meaning to watch Akame Ga Kill for some time and I finally bit the bullet. This was the conversation at the start of the anime I had with my husband.

Me: Oh God is this a harem?

Him: Just watch it and find out.

Me: (sees blushing female) This IS a harem!

Him: Why do you write off anime because it is a harem. It is more than a harem.

Me: Do not!

Him: (Looks at me)

Me: Fine, I’ll give it a chance.

End verdict: It is a harem with a lot of blood showers.

However, I am proud of myself that I finished a harem. Usually I give up once girl number three falls in love with the male potato.

And it really wasn’t all bad. I’m a fan of darker graphic anime so bring on the blood showers! Spoilers ahead matey!

The Good

There were a lot of good things about this anime. I honestly think if they would have taken out ALL the romance it would have been fantastic. (I know weird to hear me say that. I just commented on another blog that another anime needed more abs and romance).

I mentioned this in my other blog about antagonists and I think some of the stronger parts of this anime were well developed “bad guys.” They had motivation and conflict and I found their reasons for fighting a lot more believable than Night Raid.

My major issue is that they have a freaking bad ass psychopath as the leader. Esdeath doesn’t even care about the minister just just wants the strong to survive. Then they make her get all blushy over a man? PLEASE GOD WHY??? WHYYYYYYYY?????? She is psycho just let her kill things! Character ruined.

Welcome to your fulfilled wet dream.

I guess we can’t have a crazy killer female have purpose unless she loves a man. *takes deep breath.

Another good thing I really liked about the anime is the magic. I thought the story behind the “weapons” and how they were used was quit unique. My favorite was Susanoo.

You ordered another blood shower?

I mean all is fair in love and fan service and it was about time we got a hot male. I loved the fact that he was probably my favorite character from Night Raid. I think I just wanted one for my own. This guy can build a house and cook dinner. Also with his OCD my house would be super clean. Whenever Susanoo appeared on screen I glared at my husband who sat on the sofa eating potato chips. I asked him if I could trade him for Susanoo and I don’t think he appreciated it.

Anyway…. The magic of organic and inorganic weapons and the bonding process was a hit for me. I liked the fact that if you insulted it or thought it was ugly it wouldn’t chose you. I mean that really does make sense.

So I liked the magic and most of the villains. And honestly I really liked what the plot could have been. I’m a fan of those who are trying to over throw a corrupt dictatorship. The conflict and motivation were really there. Then they had to add in all this romance. Sigh.

The Bad

Cool characters focusing on a boy. This is honestly where all my hatred comes from for harems. Honestly, they are not my thing. If you love them I’m so happy for you. I don’t know if it is just because I’m a woman or I hate that a female characters agency is always taken away from her when she “falls in love.”

I think there are good harems out there I really did like Re: Zero. There are a few reverse harems that I honestly love (Host Club and Yona of the Dawn). When I look at those what they did right is that the male characters still had purpose and a story to tell besides their crush.

I would have been okay with most of it, but honestly there were a few moments that just ruined it.

They decide to risk their lives to go save him from his execution. Earlier in the anime they told him that he couldn’t run off and kill himself to save someone and now they run after him. Taking huge losses to save him. This was not a wise decision in a war and they should have let him die. Seriously. This rescue went against everything they preached up to that moment. Yeah they claimed it was to save moral… But they were okay with losing others before. WHY DIDN’T YOU CARE ABOUT MORAL THEN? Because it is a WAR people DIE.

Honestly I’m surprised that they were still alive at this point if they made choices like this.

Then another weakness is when there is so much death in an anime there needs to be more time for us to like the characters.

At one point you really just don’t care that they die. Then when you start hoping they will die so the anime will end you start to question your moral character.

We got some backstory but it wasn’t enough to make us care. We mostly got face in boobs and that left me not caring much about the characters in Night Raid. I was more sad when anyone in the jaegers died.

 

In the end it was a gory watch. Which I didn’t mind. I rate this 1000 eye rolls because that is all I did when another girl fell in love with Tatsumi. Or should I call him Tatsumi the promise maker. Because that kid kept promising that no one would die, and kid sorry to tell you people die in wars.

 

So this harem did not change my mind about harems. Do you have any suggestions that would?

Until then

Happy Watching!

 

I will take my freedom

Happy Friday and welcome to another blog post going through characters from one of my favorite anime/manga Yona of the Dawn aka Akatsuki No Yona. I guess I’m going through all the dragons first haha! They are great characters and so unique which can be very rare for reverse harem anime.

So the honor this week goes to the green dragon Jae-Ha the self claimed heartthrob…

I’ve mentioned this before but all the dragons have different feelings about the powers they are born with and Jae-Ha is no different. He looks at his ability (which is in his leg) as a jail sentence. Something that he didn’t choice but was force upon him. It also could have something to do with the fact that his village kept him chained up since he kept trying to run away. So it is no wonder that when he senses the dragons and Yona that he doesn’t want anything to do with them.

His power gives him great jumping abilities and strength in his leg, but it is also ugly to him so he keeps it covered. He is very obsesses with beauty and loves women. One of the best parts is that he tries to get Hak to join in on womanizing.

He and Hak also have an interesting relationship. Jae-Ha sees how Hak and Yona are around each other and loves to give them no end of grief and teasing about how they feel. Sometimes he can push Hak too far with his flirtations with Yona and his teasing.

One thing that keeps him around is that he wants Hak to join his crew on the ship since he admires Hak’s fighting skills.

He also wants to protect his found family that he made and the more fighters that he can get to join the safer they all will be. Not only does he have strength in his leg he also has great skills with throwing knives. Something that he picked up with his time on the ship.

I admire his desire for freedom. He does spend his childhood chained down and just sees Yona as another chain. Jae-Ha wants to make his own choices with his life. Once he sees what Yona stands for he decides to join for a “little bit” to see what happens. I think part of the reason is so he can tease Hak about liking Yona…

An odd member for sure, but I think he fits in well with this motley assortment of characters. One thing is that I don’t think he would have joined if he would have meet Yona in her early stages.

One thing that this anime does well is that Yona slowly learns how to fight and become braver. This is towards the end of the anime where she can show off her skills and her bravery. I think Jae-Ha seeing her willing to risk herself for others was a great factor in him deciding to travel with them. She isn’t weak, and he needs to follow a strong leader that won’t enslave him.

He cares and protects others and now he finds two families to be with. Another great character.

Thank you for reading another post about Yona of the Dawn, if you are curious about my other character posts please check them out!

White Dragon

Blue Dragon

Yona

As always Happy Watching!

Responsibility – Duty – Honor

Happy Friday! I’m excited to make my third entry in my series about the characters in Yona of the Dawn/Akatsuki No Yona.

Yona

Blue Dragon

This post will be about the first dragon who joined Yona:  The White Dragon- Kija.

I have to confess I thought that his story and character would be the easiest to tell, but looking deeper into the character I found myself in awe once again at the intricate details of these dragons.

I want to mention that they all feel the burden of their responsibility to be loyal and fight for the Red Dragon (which is Yona, not really a spoiler, but you kind of figure it out from the intro and Yona having red hair). They were born into this role. The dragons never got to chose to have these powers and were chosen at random. In the Blue Dragons case the village tried to not let the former blue dragon -for lack of a better term- breed, but they blue dragon was still born to a random family. The white dragons village was a bit more… Well… Cult like…

They revered the white dragon and made sure that the line continued. I wanted to say that Kija’s childhood was a bit happier than the Blue Dragons, but in the beginning you get the shot of his back…

This was explained further in the manga…

I again already mentioned in the last entry that the old dragon loses their life and power, but where as Ao the former blue dragon saw his death as freedom in the white dragons case it was a sense of not fulfilling your purpose in life. In the white dragons village they were born to do only one thing and one thing only so they lived their whole life waiting for the Red Dragon who never appeared. Talk about a recipe for severe depression.

Kija is very dedicated to fulfill his duty and seems to have no regrets on the outside. This is all he knows. He was sheltered in the same way that Yona was sheltered from the outside world. Raised to give his life for someone he never met, he rises to the challenge and really does give up himself.

I also see his joining with Yona as a sense of freedom to see the world and feel like he has a purpose in his life. It is saddening to think of all the other white dragons who felt like failures and useless. Can you imagine questioning your very existence?

With his powerful arm he protects Yona, and she in turn protects him too. The fun thing about the white dragon is that he has a very funny personality. It is a mixture of a fanatic with someone who has never gotten down and dirty in nature. He tends to fight too hard when they have their first confrontations and his stamina isn’t great and he passes out after many battles. He doesn’t know how to hold back.

The repertoire between him and Hak is pure gold. Kija is consistently jealous of Hak’s relationship with Yona and Hak loves to tease Kija. His favorite nic name is White Snake. Hak doesn’t understand why Yona wants to gather these dragons, but she is doing it to protect him… More on that later ;).

Since Kija was raised with people who showed him respect he actually knows a bit more about the other dragons and helps Yona find them. Apparently all the dragons can sense each other and that is what first leads them to find the Blue Dragon.

Kija says goodbye to the woman who raised him. Another tear worthy moment in this anime.

The dragons never have an easy past, but they all find a family together with Yona. She doesn’t force them to join, and wants them to find their own happiness. The burden like I said is great, but in the end the White Dragon finds meaning in his life and doesn’t get stuck in the endless cycle of waiting.

If my former entries haven’t convinced you yet to watch this anime I hope you give it a chance. Until then Happy Watching!