Destinations in Japan

One of the next important steps in your trip planning is deciding where you want to go. With such a wide variety of cities to choose from and each one having so much to offer, this can be rather difficult. I decided to travel in major cities for the first time so I can get a grasp of what to expect in Japan. I'm hoping to make it to the following cities during my 3 week trip: Tokyo, Kusatsu, Yokohama, Kyoto, Nara, Osaka, Kobe, Hiroshima, Miyajima.

Where in Japan have you traveled?

Highschool of the Dead Recommendation

Just a quick post, I started watching a new anime called Highschool of the Dead, so far only 4 episodes have been released - and I'm hooked! All of you anime fans out there definitely need to check this out. Be prepared for some crazy gore though!

How to Plan Your Trip to Japan

As I mentioned previously, me and a few friends will be taking a trip to Japan in late March. Planning a trip to a foreign country can be very difficult sometimes, so where do you start? I will be posting updates every now and then on how I went about planning my trip (which I can't wait for)! 

To start off, of course, you need to decide a time frame. I'm thinking our trip will probably be lasting from March 14th, 2010 until April 4th, 2010. That's basically a three week time period, which during the course planning may have to be reduced a bit. Next, figure out your budget! You won't be going anywhere without knowing your limit, and no one wants to get stuck in the middle of Japan with no money, not surrounded by all the amazing stuff they have to offer. My budget has worked out to be between $4000.00-$4500.00 CAD. I have to try and squeeze my plane ticket, hotels/hostels, food, JR Pass, and any money needed to enter attractions or do some shopping within that budget.

Picture stolen from google... =3 I'll be there soon to take my own...

How have you planned your trip to a foreign country?

Peach Girl Review

When I was younger, Peach Girl was a series I could read or watch over and over and never get tired of it. It is filled with so much drama and intensity that it never got old for me. It focuses on a girl named Momo Adachi, a high school tanned beauty, which due to her tanned skin she undoubtedly gets a horrible reputation in school and is constantly bullied for it. Unknowing to everybody around her, the tanned skin is actually due to the amount of time she spent on the swim team. The bullying causes her to have low-self esteem, especially after the boy she is in love with, Toji, admits he doesnt like tanned girls. Her only 'true' friend, Sae, turns out to be a backstabbing liar out to ruin Momo's relationship with Toji. As Momo struggles to gain confidence and deal with massive obstacles, she attracts the heart of the most popular boy in school, Kairi. But who will Momo choose?

The anime certainly brings the manga to life, so don't worry about missing out on anything. The only problem is that they managed to squeeze 18 volumes of work into 25 episodes, so expect it to be extremely fast-paced. Occasionally the characters can be a little frustrating with Momo's emotional outburts, Toji's denseness, and Sae's witch like characteristics, but luckily we have the fun Kairi to even things out. I guess when I was younger all I was really interested in was the immense drama and girly moments, but even looking back now it was still an overall pretty good anime. If you like your shoujo love-triangles, Peach Girl is one of the top choices!

Genre: drama, romance, comedy

Episodes: 25

Manga Volumes: 18

What is your favourite shoujo love-triangle manga?

Shugo Chara AMV

I made this AMV for Shugo Chara a while back, just thought I would share it as I will be doing an upcoming review for SC! Stay tuned!

:)

Going to Japan!

I just received the best news of my life - I'm going to Japan! This March I'll be flying to Tokyo with 3 of my close friends, and we'll be traveling to Tokyo, Kusatsu, Kyoto, Nara, Osaka, Hiroshima, and Miyajima! I'll be writing full posts and reviews when the time comes, so stay tuned!

:)

Have you been to Japan before? Where have you traveled?

Code Geass Review

Today I'm going to be discussing another one of my favourite animes, Code Geass. The series is split into two seasons, Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion being the first and Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2 the second. Each season consists of 25 episodes combining to make a total of 50.

The story begins with the Empire of Britannia invading Japan, taking it over and renaming it Area 11 and it's people the '11's'. A young Britannian High School Student Lelouch accidentally stumbles upon a group of terrorist 11's who are hiding a military secret, and being followed by Lelouch's Japanese childhood friend Suzaku. Lelouch made a vow to Suzaku when they were young that he would destroy Britannia and give Japan their freedom back. The military secret is revealed and it turns out to be a young girl, who gives Lelouch the power of Geass, which forces anybody to obey his every order. Suzaku then takes on the role of piloting Britannia's strongest mecha, Lancelot, while Lelouch becomes the masked man known as Zero and plans to destroy Britannia with his new power.

I wasn't a fan of Mecha until my brother insisted I watch this anime, which from that point on I fell in love with it. Every episode to just continues to surprise you, there is always another twist in the plot that keeps it on the edge of your chair exciting. It continues to be very thought-provoking, always leaving you wandering what unexpected occurence will happen next. 

The characters emotions are very easy to understand, as we watch them struggle and fight for their lives and the freedom they deserve. They each have their own personal goals and reasoning for the path they chose to take, and don't stop at anything until they accomplish it. Pure evil just pours out from multiple characters, as their actions become sometimes unbearable to watch. The main character Lelouch is much smarter than you really know, he consistently works his plans out down to the very last second. Lelouch definitely is one of my favourite male protagonist characters I've seen in a while, with his quick wits yet down to earth human heart. 

The character designs were done by none other than CLAMP, drawing in both the female and male audience with the half naked girls and bishounen. The animation is top notch for the year it was released, with inspiring settings and beautifully animated characters. The only negative I have to say about Code Geass is the constant cliffhangers, right down to the very last episode is a cliffhanger, so don't expect closure as they leave you wandering even after it's over. It's still an all around fun, inspiring, heart-wrenching anime all together though.

Genre: action, drama, psychological, mecha, military, supernatural, science fiction
Episodes: 50

What did you think about the ending of Code Geass?

Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood Review

To start of I would like to discuss my favourite anime to date - Full Metal Alchemist. The manga series by mangaka Hiromu Arakawa had been running in Square Enix's Monthly Shonen Gangan since 2001, and the last chapter was released last month. In 2003 producers from Bones created a 51 episode animated series, but the series did not follow the original storyline. When refering to the anime I will be talking about Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood. The last episode was released a few weeks ago totaling the number of episodes to be 64. 

The complex story of FMA follows the lives of young Edward Elric and Alphonse Elric, who try to ressurect their deceased mother by using the forbidden techniques of alchemy. The taboo they commit leads to Edward losing his leg, and in order to save his little brother he sacrifices his right arm to affix his brothers soul to a suit of armor. Their childhood friend helps by giving Edward fake limbs known as automail. The journey then begins as they set out to search for the legendary Philosopher's Stone in order to return to their original bodies, meeting new lifelong friends while overcoming the greatest obstacles of their lives.

The story line can be very confusing and hard to understand at some points, as well as being particularily gory, so I'd say the recommended audience is 16+. The anime follows the manga with exact details and words, but watching the anime is much more enjoyable for me. The type of animation used for this season was particularily perfect for action scenes - watching them kick ass was awesome. One thing amazing about Hiromu's work is she is capable of creating characters that all have their own personal look, differentiating characters is easy as everybody is detailed and different. This is a special skill to me because I read a lot of manga and watch a lot, and numerous times they can be confusing because so many characters look so similar. The animation certainly portrays each character with their own individual detail.

On top of their own personal physical appearance, each character also has an individual personality. We see an overwhelming amount of character development throughout the story, as we watch them grow and learn from their past. The switch between past and present is easy to follow and helps us understand the characters even more as we can see why they chose the path they did. With such a huge cast of characters to work with, and only 64 episodes, there was still plenty of depth to each one. 

The setting to the whole anime is well layed out and detailed with numerous different locations. The soundtrack also provided to create a better atmosphere for the situations with intense build up. The multiple opening and ending themes were beautifully created, and each song is a wonderful relation to the anime. I already have most of them downloaded.

A story filled with epic fights, mesmerizing settings and animation, and some of the most memorable characters to ever be created, Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood is forever one of my favourites. Action galore, comedy, romance - everything included, this anime is one any anime fan does not want to miss.

Genre: adventure, comedy, drama, science, action, fantasy
Episodes: 64
Manga Volumes: 25

Have you seen Brotherhood yet?

Welcome!

Hello everybody and welcome to my blog Toronto Otaku! I'm excited to be starting up blogging so I hope plenty of people will read. I'll mainly be focusing on doing anime reviews and otaku related things, but occasionally there will be fashion related posts and travel, enjoy!

:)