HE-MAN and SHE-RA

HE-MAN and SHE-RA

It has been a while since my last review here is a review from a classic animation series a two in one review for both He-Man and She-Ra. Both series from Filmation and two of my favorite series during my childhood.

In 1983 He-Man series aired with 130 episodes under Filmation.

The series came out with the titular character He-Man also known as Prince Adam the son of King Randor and Queen Marlena, an earthling astronaut whose ship crashed on Eternia and married Randor the current king of Eternia. The king and queen are both clueless that their son Adam is the protector of Eternia He-Man. Since King Randor and Queen Marlena does not know that He-Man and Adam are one and the same they both wished that He-Man was also their son. Adam is not the only who transforms but also his pet green tiger Cringer who turns into a gigantic Battle Cat.

He-Man shares his secrets with the Sorceress the guardian of Castle Greyskull, Man-at-Arms and Orco a floating magician from another dimension.

He-Man transforms after he says the phrase “BY THE POWER OF GREYSKULL. I HAVE THE POWER”. He also has his sword raised as he says the phrase, after transforming pointing the sword to Cringer that later transforms into Battle Cat. His sword is called the Sword of Power a magical sword that has been given to him by the Sorceress which has been kept hidden inside Castle Greyskull to be given to the chosen warrior to protect all of Eternia and the secrets of Castle Greyskull.

His arch enemy is Skeletor a what seemed to be a sorcerer with a skull face and a body which seemed to be flesh and blood. He has been bent to take over Eternia as well as to get all the secrets that dwell within the Castle Greyskull which He-man and Sorceress protects.

Fast forward to 1985 She-Ra was then produced by Filmation as a spinoff to the He-Man series that came out in 1983 introducing the titular character, She-Ra or Adora also Princess Adora the kidnapped daughter of the king and queen of Eternia and also the twin sister of Adam or He-Man. She too owns a special sword known as the Sword of Protection which was delivered to her by Adam/He-Man when he was given a task by the Sorceress to travel to another dimension after a gateway opened inside Castle Greyskull as well as the awakening of the other sword that looks similar to He-Man’s sword.

She-Ra who known only as Adora during that time was also the Force Captain of Hordak that leads invasion forces to take over new territories. To make Adora work for him, he had his witch named Shadow Weaver to put her under a mind control spell and keeping her inside the Hord Empire to prevent her from seeing his true intentions for the land of Etheria which he plans to conquer.

Hordak once tried to rule and conquer Eternia where he worked alongside his apprentice Skeletor but ended up failing and tried to kidnap the twin babies of the king and queen namely Adam and Adora but was only able to take Adora after Man at Arms stopped him. As he escaped, he was chased by both Man at Arms and Sorceress after Skeletor spilled the beans when he was left behind by Hordak.

Adora also took her sword from Adam unknowing that they are brother and sister at the same time twins. Adam in He-Man form was captured by Adora. Well they have to make the story interesting.

Adora’s eyes was opened after seeing the truth about the Hord and accepted that everything taught to her by Hordak were all wrong and decided to help He-Man who was at the moment was being drained of his Will Power or Fighting Spirit to charge up a weapon to destroy the Rebel Base.

Adora after accepting the Sword of Protection and raising her sword with the phrase “FOR THE HONOR OF GREYSKULL, I AM SHE-RA” just like Adam she has an animal companion a horse named Spirit and turns into a winged unicorn named Swift Wind or Swiftie.

Comparing the swords of both He-Man and She-Ra both are very alike considering that the owners of both swords are twins and the only difference was their gender, for the swords the difference is that He-Man’s Sword of Power is a straight up sword with not much design while She-Ra’s Sword of Protection has a gem embedded near the handle.

Both twins have incredible strength and inhuman abilities to showcase in the series and they both keep their identities a secret but of course there are a few who knows of their secret. For She-Ra she has Madame Razz, Light Hope, Kowl.

She-Ra has an ability to understand creatures that cannot speak and her sword can turn into several forms like a shield and a rope and I think there are other forms that it turned into.

Both series were very well made for an animation series during the 80’s although there are instances that the proportions are not well balanced but since it was made in 80’s at the same time the fluidity of each movements were very well made.

Just consider the number of animation cells used for each motions of movements even though there are a lot of times that stock footages were used just like in the fight scenes. Although I never noticed it since I was just a kid back then looking for entertainment.

She-Ra came out with roughly 93 episodes a bit shorter than the He-Man series.

Both series made their mark on the children during that time and became one of the favorite series that came out.

Between the two series only the He-Man series got a live action film titled Master of the Universe where the main lead He-Man was portrayed by none other than Dolph Lundgren.

One crossover animated film was made for both He-Man and She-Ra which was a Christmas special where they were able to travel to earth as well as to celebrate Christmas along with their parents specially with their mother who is an earthling who has chosen to live in Eternia with her new family.

Another thing to note in the He-Man series was the character design made for He-Man himself he was fashioned to look like a barbarian wearing furred brief like trunks and his sword is tucked on his back which often time not seen in most scenes of He-Man making it more magical since even in the form of Adam the sword is no where to be seen and later we see him taking his sword from his back and turning into He-Man. This idea was carried over to She-Ra series where her sword is often not seen hanging from her back even in her She-Ra form. They have their own dimensional pocket in this series.

For an 80’s cartoon this is one of my favorites to watch. Both series received reboots and for the He-Man series it received a supposed sequel for the 1983 series which came out in 1990 but I have not seen it completely yet as well as the He-Man reboot which I have not finished. For the She-Ra reboot which I have seen is set for a review of its own.

I will recommend this series for the younger audience who want to see good quality 80’s cartoons.

credits to the owners of the videos and pictures

HELLSING ULTIMATE

HELLSING ULTIMATE

Post Halloween review... delayed actually I was planning to post this on the 31st of October but I got tangled up with something else.

Anyway here is my review for Hellsing hope you guys will like it.

Hellsing Ultimate is one of the two Hellsing series that came out. One was Hellsing TV Series and the other is Hellsing Ultimate.

This review will be covering only Hellsing Ultimate which came out around 2006 to 2012 with 13 episodes that runs almost an hour each episode.

This version of Hellsing starts off with the young Sir Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing the descendant of Abram Van Hellsing the Vampire Hunter who defeated Alucard the most powerful Vampire. Young Integra was being chased by her uncle who wants to kill her in order for him to inherit all of the entire fortune of Abram Van Hellsing that he has left behind along with the entire Hellsing Organization that takes out all monsters of the night.

Integra was given instruction that if ever her life is in danger, she has to go to the deepest dungeon of the Hellsing Estate where she will find the most powerful weapon of the Hellsing Organization. Upon reaching the deepest dungeon the only thing she was not a weapon but a dried-up corpse that does not pose any harm in any way. After being wounded by a gunshot by her uncle, blood splattered close to the corpse. With the scent of blood of a young virgin girl the corpse moved and began feeding on the blood on the floor and takes on a form of pure evil and destruction. The corpse was the weapon she was supposed to use. The revitalized corpse was Alucard the most powerful and original vampire.

Other than Alucard and Integra there are other characters that makes up the Hellsing Organization, one of them is Walter C. Dornez a butler that also works for Integra but he is also an assassin and one of the most highly skilled known. The other notable character in the series and also one of the reasons why I got stuck watching the series is Seras Victoria a former police officer shot by Alucard in order to kill the rogue vampire that has taken her hostage. Yup Alucard shot Seras at the chest leaving a huge hole big enough to fit an adult fist through and through, Alucard dropped the question if she was a virgin and if she wanted to survive. Waking up Seras finds herself in an unfamiliar room where Alucard was sitting next to her on her bed asking how she feels becoming an undead and a Draculina. Seras was turned into a female vampire and not a ghoul, keeping her own personality and sanity at the same time giving inhuman strength and abilities.

Seras carries huge weapons that no ordinary man can carry on their own. The Hellsing ARMS Anti-Midian Cannon Harkonnen and later the Harkonnen II. The I see Seras is a hot vampire gal that was made into a walking tank that can take out targets miles away. One more to take note, Seras still have her reflection in the mirror. Compared to her master who carries two handguns that looks like a miniaturized anti tank artillery.

Another notable character was the human, the only human that can match Alucard hand to hand in almost any combat situation as well as forcing Alucard to take drastic measures just fight against this human known as Alexander Anderson a crazy psycho path with a lot of loose screws in the head. He is also strong enough to take out a number of enemies making him a human monster to ordinary men. Alexander Anderson is armed with two or more bayonets which he carries in his person and up to now I don't know where he hides all those bayonets.

Many other characters in this series that made the entire series run very interesting to watch as well as to wait for the next episode especially for those who followed this during the time it was being released one episode at a time.

The series itself was full of blood and gore, flying limbs, undead eating human flesh, Alucard making blood puree from his opponents, pools of blood all over the place.

Just like other anime series that I have watched and finished this series has made a place as one of my favorites and I would be watching it again and again of there are no other good anime series to watch. Not a very typical vampire themed anime series which is why it got me hooked from start to finish not to mention all the juicy action scenes were given very detailed and not rushed unlike the current anime series that has been aired recently the fight scenes were seemed rushed and too compressed in a few minutes not giving viewers what they want to see just making them want more and later be disappointed since it was the last episode of the series and no season two or just a special episode to satisfy the viewers. So yes, a 10 episode and 40 to 50 mins per episode of this Hellsing Ultimate was satisfying for me although the fanservice for Seras was given in a very different way and the most awaited pantsu shot was given at the almost end of the final episode giving the Seras fanservice fans what they have been waiting for from the time she appeared in episode one (except for the molesting scene).

Among all the vampire themed anime series that I have watched this series is the only one that I have watched that has featured almost all that I want in an anime series. Full action scenes, main character not so over powered even though it has been mentioned that no one can defeat Alucard except for Alexander Anderson that can match him. There are other powerful opponents in the series that has fought against Alucard but unlike them Anderson is the only one I have seen that has enough common sense to see that there are times that he has to skip fighting Alucard or even consider his opponents a companion just like in one scene where he and his group escorted the leader of the Hellsing Corp, Integra, to a safe place and unharmed.

There are various rivalries in the series other than Alucard and Anderson, Seras herself was matched with Anderson’s apprentice named Heinkel Wolfe whose mentor is Anderson the rival of her master Alucard so seems like a likely rivalry of masters and apprentices just too bad we never got to see Seras and Heinkel get a final match but we did get to see Seras in full combat action when the Hellsing Headquarters was attacked by Zorin Blitz the Amazonian soldier of The Major whose goal is to destroy everything and make everyone his followers. In this battle Seras has already drank her first batch of blood which came from the perverted Pip Beradotte the mercenary who has been teasing Seras and has been wanting to score on her which he did right before he died in her arms and got her to drink all the remaining blood in his body. Thus giving Seras new strength and abilities making her into True Vampire which Alucard has been wanting to make her into.

Seras won many battles after she became a True Vampire giving her the strength almost similar to Alucard and also she gained the ability to fly. Pip became her familiar which form is a shadow like appearance and is connected to her body that took the place of her left arm. Yeah I know some guys out there are already imagining stuff about Pip taking control and advantage of the situation being connected to Seras’ body as a familiar and wanting to score on her.

Another interesting thing in the series are the character designs as well as how they change the facial reactions of each characters showing their good calm side and later turning into a sadistic demonic as if possessed faces making them look like a different character as the scenes change and having characters adapt to certain situations. The feared looks in each of the character’s faces were also very interesting to see as you can almost say that the drawn faces of the characters in the anime were very real and that some viewers will think if real people can have such twisted facial features having fear, anger, calmness and those puppy looks that Seras and Schrondinger has been making when they are being scolded or otherwise.

Schroinger is also another very strange character in the series since his very character is supposed to be there but he is not there at the same time making him like a shadow of another character that has been either shown in the series or was never shown in the series. Not much action was given for this guy who looks like a girl and seemed to have at first was attracted to Seras but was later seen inside Alucard as if he was killed and absorbed by the vampire during some off-scene events.

The Major is another twisted character in this series just a war hungry human that has come across Alucard in a distant past in one of Alucard’s missions along with Walter when he still a young crazy assassin and Alucard was in a young female form for some reason. The Major was never seen in action except showing his twisted war strategies where he used the undead as his soldiers and attacking everyone regardless of gender and age. Not much was shown of The Major’s history even in the special episodes where Alucard was in a female form and the young Walter. His soldiers all seems to be immortals as well considering them having incredible strengths and regenerating abilities.

There are too many interesting scenes in the series itself and while watching I can say that not everything was rushed specially those action scenes where Alucard, Seras and Anderson were involved in. All the action scenes made in the series for me all seemed well planned and plotted very well. There is no feeling of being rushed for me unless I was too entertained and did not noticed that the scenes were actually rushed and I was just carried away by how the scenes were made and delivered in each episode.

Highly recommended to those looking for a full action vampire themed anime series and I can say they will not regret watching this series specially those who has seen the old TV version and has not seen the Hellsing Ultimate which I think is very rare now unless they don’t want confuse themselves with the story flow between the TV series and the Ultimate version since they seem the same but they are not the same as well. Watching the OVA alone is enough if a viewer wants action and blood from start to finish no censors in the Ultimate just brighten the monitor and colors and you will see the darkened parts of the bloody scenes.

Credits to owners of video and pictures used in the review

CORPSE PARTY

CORPSE PARTY 

READ AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION

WARNING NOT FOR YOUNGER AUDIENCES due to content

3^rd Halloween Review Reaction

Came out as a Survival Horror, Adventure and Dojin Soft Video Game Series originally created by Makoto Kedoin and developed by Team GrisGris.

This is a manga that had several stories that came out where a story follows different characters with their different perspectives and experience in their respective manga.

I was able to read Corpse Party: Blood Covered which followed a group of High School students in Kisarago Academy which was built on the grounds of a former school called Tenshn Elementary School which was demolished after a string of disappearances and gruesome murders. A supposed gathering of friends turned into an adventure that if they survived it will be a very traumatic experience for them, if there will be a survivor.

In the manga it was very gruesome for a graphic novel having a very graphic art where readers can literally see all the innards and blood all over the place to show how brutal the story can be considering that the characters are all High School students who just got dragged into some alternate reality where the souls of the ones who died in the former school that was demolished are trapped for all eternity or until the mystery of their deaths have been solved, the deaths in the story turns out to be a repeating incidents on how the formers students died or how they met their end.

While reading this manga all my reactions were if this were read by those who are not used to these kinds of genre their stomachs might turn even though these were just illustrations due to how detailed the illustrations were. Back then I was thinking if this was turned into an anime or a live action this will be one hell of a viewing experience.

Years later an anime adaptation came out and I have not seen it yet for I am not sure if I can finish even one episode considering how graphic the manga was, just imagine how graphic and detailed an anime version would be.

The anime came out with title Corpse Party: Tortured Souls and the setting of the story is in Heavenly Host Elementary School the school that was demolished and replaced by Kisaragi Academy after the numerous incidents, disappearances and murders that happened in that school.

The group of students that got warped from Kisaragi Academy to Heavenly Host Elementary now has to find their way back home.

The anime version was based on the manga Corpse Party Blood Covered where students gathered together telling stories and stuff that would really scare someone. The group performed a ritual called “Sachiko Ever After” a ritual that was suggested to be performed by friends and that no matter where they are, they will always be together no matter what. The ritual involved a piece of paper cut out in a form of a girl. In the ritual a chant “Sachiko-san, we beg of you” nine times in their heads and later each one of them are to hold onto the piece of paper and pull it in one go. But the ritual turns out in to an experience that they will never forget. An earthquake occurred and later the ground where they were sitting on collapsed. The anime came out as an OVA with four episodes.

The anime version as expected when watching it for the first time was indeed very graphic and no censorship was included in the anime adaptation. Guts and blood were all very clearly shown in the anime giving it a rating that no child should even try to watch it due to the effect that it might end up being traumatic to younger viewers and those who cannot handle these types of shows.

After one episode of this anime I can say that I can expect more in the other 3 episodes although I have finished the entire OVA of four episodes. Expect more blood and over spilling guts all over the place.

I would say this anime is another perfect watch for those who likes these kinds of genre anime. I also want to watch bloody anime filled with action and violence but this one was topping that anime that I have watched before since this series included younger characters not to mention those characters were high school students and one middle school kid and they only have one adult in their group. The series follows the group as they try to find a way back home or wake up from this nightmare.

Overall this series is rated for mature audiences due to the theme and content of the series as well the graphic details and literally no censorship was added in the anime adaptation. Just like in the manga the artists did not spare any ink in making detailed drawings of blood and guts. A twisted anime series but for sure some viewers will like watching this series specially those who like a genre this bloody.

Highly recommended for mature audiences and those looking for blood, gore and guts in an anime series not to mention no CENSORSHIP for this series. NOT FOR YOUNGER AUDIENCES

credits to owners of video and pics

ANOTHER (Anime)

A 12-episode anime that aired on 2012 with an OVA that was released on the same year.

catchy intro

A Manga version was published 2010 to 2012, Serial Novel on 2009 and a novel on 2013

A Live Action film on 2012.

This is one heck of a series that got my jaw dropping in almost every episode. I am not mostly into horror suspense anime specially in live action films due to my crazy imagination stuff get stuck.

In this series the story follows Koichi Sakakibara a transfer student at Yomiyama North Middle School Class 3-3 from Tokyo, but he was hospitalized due to Pnuemothorax just as school was about to begin and Mei Misaki a girl in the same class and wears an eye-patch on her left eye.

This series is basically a story of a lone girl n one class being singled out as if being bullied by everyone including the teachers because of her appearance and personality. A boy appears after being absent since the first day of class and begins to befriend her regardless of the countless warnings given to him by his other classmates. Thus, after befriending the girl he gets the same treatment as the girl. Both of them were ignored whatever they do in class no one would care.

This is where everything gets interesting. One by one their classmates died at random at the same time the cause of the deaths was being blamed on Koichi befriending Mei saying that the “curse” of class 3-3 has been triggered because Koichi did not listen to the warnings given to him when he started joining the class.

This series barely had any censorship except for the dark shadows covering the blood and maimed body parts. Considering this anime came out in a generation where censorships has become a part of the animation itself and viewers who wish to see everything will have too wait for the release of the uncut version DVD or the Blu-ray release where censorships has been removed.

This series got me hooked from episode one up to the end of the series. Watching the two main characters solving the mysterious deaths of their classmates to clear themselves from all accusations and solving how to stop the chain of the curse in their class for the next set of students that will take over their class and too stop the deaths of innocent students of class 3-3.

This series is another one that I will recommend to those seeking mystery, horror, suspense and blood gore in an anime series. Also, to take note this series barely has any censorships just adjust the color and you get to see what you want to see in this series. For me I must have watched this series twice already and planning to watch it again this coming Halloween or I might watch another series with a similar genre if I feel like it.

For those who cannot take bloody anime series you might as well remove this from your list of anime to watch unless you wish to test if you can take it since it is not that too bloody or has any guts spilling out of the bodies of those dying. That is included in other anime that I have not watched yet but planning to watch as well.

THIS ANIME IS NOT RECOMMENDED FOR VERY YOUNG VIEWERS AND THOSE WHO CANNOT STAND BLOODY, HORROR and SUSPENSE ANIME

Credits to the owners of the video and the pictures in this review.