Finished reading Cardcaptor Sakura

Finished reading Cardcaptor Sakura (1996, Clamp, 50 chapters) on 04/21/2017.

Kinomoto Sakura is an elementary-school student by day and magical card-collecting girl by... well, whenever magical trouble arises. When Sakura opened a dusty, ornamented book she found in her basement, magical Clow cards flew out into the world and began causing chaos and mischief. Guided by the book's guardian, Cerberus (or Kero for short) and a magical wand he bestowed upon her, Sakura vows to return all the Clow Cards back to their book before they cause too much trouble.

7/10 - Uhm... gee. Where do I even start. Alright, look, here's the deal. I watched the show before reading the manga. If you're familiar with both iterations of the franchise then you might know how I might be feeling about the manga. So, what are my thoughts? Well, a little confused. Y'see, even though the anime is the adaptation of the original work, the manga to me felt like I read a rushed adaptation of the anime. The two seem to have some, well, I wouldn't call them major differences, but they're pretty different for sure. I have to say though, I'm glad the anime decided to change a couple of things, specially toning down on - and brace yourself for this one -  the pedophiliac themes that the manga made somewhat blunt. Yeah, that's right! I really was not expecting that out of CLAMP, a group of female mangaka. Why did they do it? Why did their publisher approve it? Obviously they knew that stuff wasn't gonna fly when they adapted the manga into the show. Well, anyways, I don't wanna drag that subject longer than it needs because aside from it, it's a pretty good manga and just like in the show I just loved the whole thing between Sakura and Shyaoran. I feel like that was what kept me reading more than the magical aspect of the story. But, anyways, I think what I got out of the manga is that the anime adaptation has differences that really improved the story, added to the characters and... well, took away the unnecessary stuff. It just really makes me wonder how I would've felt if I had read the manga first.

Finished watching Macross Frontier

Finished watching Macross Frontier (2008, Studio Nue, Satelight, 25 epi.) on 6/3/2017.

Macross Frontier is a massive space colony fleet heading towards the center of the Milky Way Galaxy in search of a habitable planet for the human race. On its way there biomechanical insectoid mechas of alien origin attack and invade the fleet. Caught up in the chaos of the attack and its political and military aftermath is a love triangle between three young characters - Saotome Alto, an aspiring Valkyrie Fighter pilot; Sheryl Nome, a famed music idol also known as the Galactic Fairy; and rising star music idol, Ranka Lee.

8/10 – Hm, I don't have much to say about this show aside from it being pretty good. I feel like it was able to capture most of the themes that seem to be traditional within the franchise, like the focus on music idols affecting the plot and the ever-popular love triangle and work them into a new setting and set of characters. I think one of the episodes I enjoyed the most was the Macross Zero throwback ones. The fighter battles were pretty cool too and all the CG they used didn't put me off at all. It seems like production quality was pretty good too. Not too often did I notice anything drawn or animated awkwardly. I think it's a pretty good addition to the Macross series. However, it did leave me wondering what happened to the characters after the end of the series.

Finished watching Your Name

Finished watching Your Name (2016, CoMix Wave Films, 1h 46m) on 04/21/2017.

Mitsuha is a country girl who dreams of life in the city. Taki, is a city boy who spends his days juggling between school and his part-time job. Their fates suddenly become intertwined when they begin experiencing a phenomena that puts them in each other's bodies. While at first this confuses them, they get used to the common occurrence and attempt to communicate with each other in hopes of eventually meeting up in person.

9/10 - This is a movie that's loosely based on an older one by the same name. I think only the concept of meeting up with someone without many leads to go by is what they share in common. At first the movie explores the funnier side of swapping bodies. But eventually plot comes in and says "Hey, we got a movie to make here!" and drama unfolds the story into something that I assure you will be too much for your poor little heart to handle. All of a sudden they want to meet each other, and they plan things out and then... Well, spoilers happen, that's what! Now my heart feels played and I don't know how to handle my emotions anymore! Why are you still reading this stupid review! Go watch the movie! Nothing else can save you now! WAAAHAHHH! D:

Finished watching Crusher Joe

Finished watching Crusher Joe (1983, Sunrise, 2h 11m) on 04/18/2017.

Joe, Talos, Alfin and Ricky are a team of Crushers - folks who take up any job that pays them well. And their newest gig might be the strangest yet as they have to transport a royal woman in a cryogenic capsule to a different planet to be medically thawed. Easy enough, right? It would've been if midway through the trip the goods hadn't mysteriously disappeared and Joe's team blamed for the mishap. They must now uncover the mystery behind their mission and recover their cargo.

7.5/10 - This is a good movie. I think what I enjoyed the most out of it was the character designs. The space suits are really cool and vibrant, it was kind of inspiring for me. But the animation quality was just as good with lots of movement and light effects. Heck, there's even a disco place that gets destroyed by too much partying. Well, there was a whole fight that started out anyways. The dialogue and the characters are fun too, and the plot of the movie is really interesting. I just think the movie dragged on for a bit though. It's a two hour movie and I might've drowsed for a little bit. Maybe I'm just gettin old, hahahah! I bet I would've watched this over and over if I had a tape back in the 90's.