#Remade my introduction since the old one was from March or so.

[socialyawkdude]

Top 10 animes for first time viewers

Hello, my socially awkward friends,

I’m back after a much-needed vacation to bring you the content, which you crave. In recent weeks, I’ve been approached by friends and colleagues, about what amines they should watch. To say that it was a loaded question is an understatement. With the world of anime and manga being so vast, it's hard to know where to start.

After thinking it over, I’ve decided to follow suit of my supernatural top 10 and do a top 10 for anime for beginners.

Today's post will cover amines for first-time viewers. Let me start by saying that, This Is my Opinion! Please do not jump my bones because of the line-up. Now with that being said, let get this party started.

 (10) Sailor Moon/Sailor Moon Crystal

Written by Nanoko Takeuchi

Genre/subgenre: Magical girl, action, romance, shoujo, superhero

Manga original run: (December 28, 1991, to February 3, 1997)

Anime Run: Sailor Moon (1992-1993) 46 episodes

   Sailor Moon R (1993- 1994) 43 episodes

   Sailor Moon S (1994- 1995) 38 episodes

   Sailor Moon Super S (1995- 1996) 39 episode

   Sailor Moon Sailor Star (1996- 1997) 34 episodes

The series follows the adventures of the protagonist Usagi Tsukino, a middle school student who is given the power to become the titular Sailor Soldier. Joined by other Sailor Soldiers, they defend Earth against an assortment of evil villains.

 Let us start with a classic, remade for the modern-day. For quite a few of my generation, Sailor Moon was our introduction to the world of anime. I can remember watching sailor moon, in the early morning before the school bus came. Sailor Moon was the beginning of my love affair with anime.

 Now here is what I got to say on sailor moon. It is a bit wonky, timeline-wise. Sailor Moon's overall timeline can be a bit hard to follow. That is if you are going in-depth with it. As long as you stay away from the headache inducing timeline, you’ll be ok.

 (9)Bleach

Written by Tite Kubo

Genre/subgenre: Action, Adventure, Shonen, Supernatural, Comedy

Original manga run: August 7, 2001 - August 22, 2016

Original anime run: October 5, 2004 - March 27, 2012

366 episodes 

 What can I say about Bleach? It is one of my favorite anime’s of all time. It's not perfect but what is? You have a diverse cast of characters, a good story and plenty of action. In my opinion, that makes a great anime for beginners. For me, Bleach was my return to anime, after years of not watching. I think that I've watched this anime from beginning to end, one too many times. 

 I'm talking watching the U.S. airing up to the point that I had the watch in Japanese. I finished the anime a full 2 years before the finale aired in the U.S. I would highly recommend this anime to any beginners.

 (8) Restaurant to another World

Written by Junpei Inuzuku

Genre/subgenre= Fantasy, Isekai

Manga Original Run: November 18, 2016, to June 25, 2019

Anime original Run: July 3, 2017, to September 18, 2017

12 episodes

 I was recommended this anime by a friend of a friend. I am going, to be honest; I didn't know what I was getting into. This would be my first experience with isekai anime. Looking back on this anime, it is quite an anime. Not much action, but at a great story. I would not recommend watching after a 420 session, you will get the munchies.

 (7) Sword Art Online

Written by Reki Kawahara

Genre/Subgenre= Isekai, Fantasy, Action, Adventure

Light Novel Original Run: April 10, 2009, to present

Anime original run:

Sword Art Online = July 8, 2012, to December 23, 2012

Sword Art Online II= July 5, 2014, to December 30, 2014

Sword Art Online Alicization = October 6, 2018, to present

  And here we go again with another isekai. The genre in itself is pretty much the same across animes. Someone dies and is sent to another world, but Sword Art Online is different. Instead of dying and going to another world; our main character is trapped in a virtual world and if he dies there, he dies in the real world.

In general, I've been pretty hard on SAO because of its a little too real world for me. It deals with some very real-world issues. To give some examples: Death, rape, incest, and other issues. To top it all off, with it being 2019; we are only months away from when the anime begins. (Where is my damn nervegear?)

If you can get past all of that it's a decent anime. The first arc is by far the best. The second arc is OK and the third I haven't finished yet. Sword Art Online is a good anime for beginners, in my opinion. Plus, Sword Art Online always puts out a beyond great soundtrack.

 (6) The Saga of Tanya the Evil

Written by Carlo Zen

Genre/subgenre: Isekai, fantasy

Manga Original run: April 26, 2016, to present

Anime original run: January 6, 2017, to March 31, 2017 

12 Episodes

 Here we are with the last isekai on our list. I understand that there have been quite a few listed, but besides the honorable mentions, there are no more. The Saga of Tanya the Evil is the perfect end of the isekai on this list.

Following the usual isekai tropes, Tanya the evil can best be described as a fantasy, historical alternative reality anime; taking place in a world similar to World War 1. As of this post, I'm only eight episodes in and quite enjoying it. I highly recommend checking it out.

 (5) Fairy Tail

Written By Hiro Mashima

Genre/Subgenre: Shonen, Action, Adventure, Fantasy

Manga Original run: August 2, 2006, to July 26, 2017

Anime original Run: October 12, 2009, to Present

328 + episodes

 It was around 7 years ago that a friend recommended fairy tail, to me. At the time, it wasn't my cup of tea. I was following Bleach, at the time, and hadn't leaped into the world of anime. Fast forward several years and it is still not my cup of tea. Now here is the thing, even though I may not be into fairy tail, ii know a good anime when I see it Given that fairy tail is entering its last full season; it a great choice for beginners and old alike. This is why I’m giving it the number 5 spot.

 (4) Attack on Titan

Written by Hajime isayama

Genre/Subgenre: Dark fantasy, post-apocalyptic

Original manga run: September 9, 2009, to present

Original anime run: April 7, 2015, to present

 Attack on Titan is one of those manga/animes that is a hit from day one. With a post-apocalyptic feel straight out of someone's worse nightmare. This isn't the zombie apocalypse folks; this is something far worse. The following that Attack on Titan has garnered is on par with American shows like The Walking Dead. 

Along with the manga and anime, Attack on titan has spawned a live-action movie in 2015. In my opinion, the movie was just as gory and the anime, but a little toned down. If your a fan of post-apocalyptic shows like The Walking Dead, this is one that you have to check out. 

A little piece of advice, do not watch the movie until you have seen the first season.

 (3) Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid

Written by Coolkyoushinja

Genre/Subgenre: fantasy

Manga original run: May 25, 2013 to present

Anime original run: January 11, 2017, to April 6, 2017

13 episodes plus OVA

 If there was ever an anime that should be the official anime of this blog, this is it. Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid has been one of my favorite animes that I've seen in recent years. This is not the usual action-pack thriller, that you'll usually see from animes that make there way west. It the cute and funny story of Miss Kobayashi and how she ended up with a dragon maid and the adventures that follow. I would recommend this to anyone, anime watcher or not.

 (2) Fullmetal Alchemist/ Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood.

Written by Hiroma Arakawa

Genre/Subgenre: Adventure, dark fantasy, science fiction, shonen

manga original run: July 12, 2001, to June 12, 2019

Anime original run: 

( Fullmetal Alchemist) October 4, 2003, to October 2, 2004

51 episodes plus the movie Conqueror of Shamballa (2005)

( Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood) April 5, 2009, to July 4, 2010

64 episodes

 Here we are at the number 2 spot. This was a toss-up for number one, but I decided against it. I would suggest watching Brotherhood because it follows the manga beginning to end. Fullmetal Alchemist ends at episode 51 and it is up the movie, Conqueror of Shamballa to bring an end to the story. I saw Conqueror of Shamballa and overall the movie was great. Well deserving of the praise it got from film festivals around the world. Do yourself a favor and check out this anime.

 (1) Dragon Ball /Z/GT/Super/Heroes

Written by Akira Toriyama

Genre/Subgenre: Action, Adventure, martial arts, shonen

Manga Original run: 

Dragonball= December 3, 1984, to June 5, 1995

Dragonball Super= June 20,2025 to present

 Anime original run: 

Dragonball(1986 to 1989)

Dragonball Z( 1989 to 1996)

Dragonball GT( 1996 to 1997)

Dragonball Super( 2015 to 2018)

Super Dragonball Heroes(2018 to present)

 And here we are at the number one spot. Come on, everyone should have seen this coming. Anime lovers and non-anime lovers have heard of the Dragonball series. While I was fighting for Fullmetal Alchemist to be in the number one spot; it wasn't going to happen. The Dragonball series is perfect for new anime viewers fro many reasons. One of the main reasons is if you get confused, there is plenty out there to help you understand what’s going on. The Dragonball series has been around in manga form since 1984 and anime form since 1986. There is plenty out there to help newbies and confused them, at the same time. Just don't watch the shitty American made live-action movie.

  Honorable mentions: Konosuba, Ghost in A Shell, Food Wars and Naruto

   Like always my friends, don't forget to like/share/reblog and follow. To get more of an idea of what's coming, you can follow me over on twitter at @socialyawkdude. 

[amisbro]

Impressions/Review:  Shining Live

Alright...here we go friends and neighbors.  Since we have hit our main roadblock on the game right now what better time but to do an “Impressions/Review” on the game “Shining Live” from the “Uta no Prince-Sama” franchise? This impressions however isn’t just going to be about the game but we are going to give a history on the series from its inception to where we are now because all of that is going to be factored in for a specific reason Oh and since we are in this for the long haul...this is going to be under a read more as well.  Also all information comes from the wikipedia page for UtaPri as well as the .com site and Broccol.co.jp  I did my research for this piece when I knew I was going to review it With THAT out of the way...shall we get started?

Uta no Prince-Sama was announced by Broccoli in the Summer of 2009.  To be exact the post that was placed on the website is from August 8th of 2009 and you could go to the website from there.  To this day if you wanted to go to the original version of the site you could...just hit up internet wayback machine for it. The first game’s release came in June of 2010.  June 24th is the day that is referred to as the proper Anniversary of the series and this year will be 8 years for the franchise.  Can you believe it will be 10 years in 2020?  HOLY CRAP! ANYWAYS! As you will see for the rest of this review there will be release dates from the game series and there will also be dates for the Anime seasons.  This is for a reason as you will see when we actually get talking about the game but I wanted to make sure this review was a 100% thorough breakdown for everyone both old hats and new peeps coming into the fandom.  With that in mind let us continue Uta no Prince-Sama as a “Visual Novle/Otome” has currently 9 games in their “Main” series between the PSP and VITA.  The Original game (Uta no Prince-Sama has been remade 2 times since its original version and they came out on August 11th ,2011 and January 26th of 2016 respectively.  The rest of the ORIGINAL games came out around the following times Amazing Aria - 12/23/2010 Sweet Seranade - February 10 ,2011 Debut - May 24, 2012 All-Star - March 7th, 2013 All-Star After Secret - February 26, 2015 Now all of these are important because around some of these dates a season for an Anime came out and all of the Seasons fell under the “Maji Love” banner starting with 1000% in July of 2011 (July 2nd for those keeping score at home) and running to September 24th of that year.  Of the four seasons so far this is the only season to have a a “Summer” Release as the other seasons (2K ,Revolutions and Legend Star) all fell either in the Spring or Autumn season.  2K and Revolutions both released in April of 2013/15 and Legend Star was in 2016 Okay okay I know what you are all thinking “Josh we know all of this...hurry up and get on with the friggin’ review” To which I say “I’m getting there but we need to do just a LITTLE MORE setup because the next part is important to Shining Live” When the first season of the Anime (ML1K) aired it was around “Amazing Aria” and “Sweet Sernade” and so the writers were writing to introduce you to basically STARISH as a 6 Member group with Cecil being a guest start basically (because when the first game happened 6 members were dateable from the start and one in Cecil was unlockable).  When Season 2 aired in 2013 Debut and All-Star were a thing but they had to introduce QN (whom briefly appeared at STARISH’s debut concert at the end of Season 1) so they would do just that When Season 2 premiered in 2013 the first episode was titled “Poison Kiss” and in it introduced the boys of QUARTET NIGHT whom would take the roles of “Seniors” for STARISH for the season.  Later when “Revolutions” happened 2 years later they would become the “In Agency Rivals” of STARISH to try and win the sport of the performer at the Triple S. HOWEVER Season 2 also sought to bring in a new monkey wrench into the fray by introducing the group “HEAVENS” led by Eiichi Ootori as he was flanked by Kira Sumeragi and Nagi Mikado and would face off in a “Must Win” scenario at the UtaPri awards where the loser would be forced to disband.  STARISH won but HEAVENS would be spared from disbanding as the President of Shining Agency stepped in and made sure that that stipulation wasn’t fulfilled.  They WOULD come back later as a 7 person group where each member was an opposite for a particular STARISH member and this season in particular (Revolutions) would be the last season also to aired around the release of a game.  “Revolutions” aired around April of 2015 the same year that the final game for the PSP (VN wise) released which was in February. Now there is a reason we just went through this History lesson (and if I fucked anything up I apologize) but its because we NOW are going to talk about Shing Live! LET’S GO Okay when we talk about Shining Live we are going to break this down like this Story Gameplay Translation (This is a translation of a Japanese Rhythm game so this one is important) Overall fun factor Just so you know...I am tempted to talk about the translation LAST because of the fact that it is a bit of a hot button but with that in mind...LET’S GO! Story I know that UtaPri isn’t typically known to some for its story but if you pay attention enough the story and plot are some of the most interesting things in the series.  I can’t tell you how ,when I watched every episode (52 and if we count the OVA then 53), I was always looking forward to what was going to happen in the next episode because the characters were compelling as all hell (and still are) and their personalities ,while some kind of grated on me over the years, were still varied enough that you could have your favorites So what IS the story of this game?  Well QUARTET NIGHT and STARISH are performing a joint concert called “Shining Live” where they showcase the groups that President Shining Saotome has on display.  In this case those groups are STARISH and QN. When the game starts the player (that’s you) are greeting by intros with each of the characters and that is our first introduction to ,not only the new translation for the game, but also the personalities of each character that will be on display at this time.  I say “At this time” because we will be talking about the future soon enough. After an introduction from all the cast they play “Welcome to UtaPri World” which is your introduction to the gameplay.  I’ll talk more about that in bit but basically tap the buttons in accordance to the song and as you do you will eventually progress to the title screen and go about your business After this the real story begins but...which story IS IT? See the game has 3 types Main Story Side Story Event Story The one that you will play a lot (or until you run out of certain items which I will talk about in a minute) is the Main Story.  This starts with after the performance of “Welcome to UtaPri World” (which doesn’t count towards clearing songs on the setlist) and your first chapter consists of a story with STARISH AND ONE WITH QN where the STARISH boys want to try and get better than their Senpais to eventually overtake them.  To do this they know they need to get better and to do that they need to keep on having performances and getting stronger.  QN however knows this and knows they need to get better as a group themselves but of course we know they have their own issues too right? To clear a chapter of the game the player must play each song and clear them.  Now there are 4 difficulties in the game so you have to play the one you are comfortable with but remember this Higher difficulties consume more LP (That stands for Live Points in this game) and can cause problems later on higher player levels...it can also help you progress faster in the game though with the XP system. As the player progresses in the story more and more songs become available.  Remember that you need tickets to play the stories so not having them puts you in a position that is no fun so playing the songs repeatedly helps out greatly Speaking of...LET’S TALK ABOUT GAMEPLAY Gameplay The game play of this game is not unlike say...Klab’s Love Live.  Rings come from a beam of light and your job is to tap them as close to perfect as possible and get the best score possible. Now this is where we are going to have differences in the way the game scores your taps.  In the JP version the scoring went JUST PERFECT PEFECT GREAT GOOD BAD MISS Getting all “Just Perfect” and “Perfect” scores meant you got a “PERFECT COMBO” and a special purple board came around the screen.  a Full Combo was just orange text When the Global Version was released they changed up two things and one was the grade for the note taps PERFECT GREAT GOOD BAD MISS Notice something:  Yeah they removed the “JUST PERFECT” rank from the score.  The belief is that having those would confuse the International audience so they scrapped “JUST PERFECT” and just left those in.  Also now you can get “ULTIMATE COMBO” just for getting “Perfect” and “Great” grades all the way through...its the equivalent to the Crown in Music 1 or the Gold in Music 2 You also get a score rank in the game The game ranks you scorewise from D to S (although C is the first one on the rewards chart...more on that in a second) and as you score in the song the bar goes up.  The better you grade on a note the more points and the better your shot of getting the elusive S rank on a song. How high you can go on the score meter is determined by a few things How well you tap on a note (although that can be wonky sometimes) The level/Grade of your phots Your traits for you and your partner in the song The first one we already explained how that kind of works...the others might be “Huh?” for some people so let me explain Every card has 4 rarities Normal Rare Super Rare Ultra Rare The higher the rarity of the card the better you have a chance to get an S rank...thing is your level matters too because every card gets EXP that participates in a song (BTW I know they are photos but I for some reason always call them “cards”...its a Yu-Gi-Oh! problem with me) so you want them to be in as much as possible.  There is also the BOND of the card though too Alright how to explain this We all have favorite characters and we want them to get to know us better right?  Well this game has a thing where has your number in the star of each character goes up you get new voice clips and the like from them...you also get rewards from the game as the game has missions based on songs ,player level and bond level between you and a character.  The goals are always every 10 levels and you usually get 10 prisms for doing it each time so that is def something to keep in mind Oh right...that is another important aspect of the game and its getting the new cards So this game has a gacha system which involves a photoshoot (for the record B-Project also has something kind of similar too) and there are many different kinds.  Some are based off of events like an MV for a particular video or even a Gacha that has cards from previous sets in it!  Some might even be themed after a Holiday (There is an event going on right now where Natsuki is the UR for Valentine’s Day and if you are lucky enough to pull him HE WILL BE SO HAPPY!) and there is even a Photoshoot which I think was the very first one they ever did that is a standard (Its one with the Military Outfits..you’ll know it when you see it. There are also two other special ones for special tickets that you can win either in a slot machine or I think you can get those in a shop.  I know for the V-Day you could get the SR+ one for sure in exchange for Presents! Some Photoshoots have an expiration on them and some are split into “halves” meaning that they will have one half have one UR card on them and then there is another half with another.  An example of this would be Nats being the UR for this particular half of the V-Day and Ren is beginning on the 13th of this month. NOW SPEAKING OF THINGS WITH DURATIONS LETS TALK ABOUT THE EVENTS! @baku5ds asked me to talk about these so I will...ONLY COS SHE ASKED ME TOO! So the game has events that last for about a week and the way they work is not unlike the events of “Stand my Hero” (a Match 3 game with Otome Elements that has some of the UtaPri VAs in it) EXCEPT all of these are ranked! Here is how they work From about 1:59 PM JST (That’s 11:59 PM EST for us) and for the next 6 days the player engages in a battle with other players to try and win not ONE new Photo but TWO! The Photos are related to the Event Story we spoke about earlier as the characters on them are portraying characters for the story.  The stories HERE (unlike for the main story) are 10 parts long BUT you get 5 Prisms each like you do for playing a side or main story chapter...that’s 50 prisms! You’re goal is to do one of two things in these 6 days 1.  Make it all the way to the cards on your points ladder (good luck because every so often the points increase by 500 so to get to the UR card its every 3500 to get the next reward) OR 2.  Finish in the top 10% of the rankings and you get TWO nice new shiny photos.  IF you got both copies already on the points ladder this just means you get a 3rd of at least one of the photos so enjoy This is legitimately one of the most exhausting things the game can ask a player to do because you aren’t just playing other players but you are playing yourself as your will and endurance get tested because you are playing THE SAME SET OVER AND OVER AND OVER again...it can be exhausting BUT if its for cards you really want you will suffer for them and it will be worth it!  I got a nice shiny UR for my collection so I’m happy :-) Are the events LONG...yes but if you have the patience and the endurance you can get through them easily...otherwise WHY ARE THEY SO BLASTED LONG?! (again that was for @baku5ds) Now let’s address the elephant in the room Translation (I know I said I would do “fun factor but...eh put that with the events thingy) The translation in some respects seems to be a bode of contention and I can respect that.  I think for ME it hasn’t been an issue because it feels like when they did the translation they wanted to make it more “lighthearted” as an experience for new players (and potential new fans) as possible.  If the story was “Angsty” as all get out how many people outside of the general base would play it? Does it have its issues?  Well there was a part in the last event when Syo said to Natsuki “Hey want to come with?” and I mentioned this to a friend of mine and they thought it might have been some old slang that got in. One that became a meme was when Ren at the beginning of the game goes “Hello Ladies.  Ren Jinguji is in the house” and I actually chuckled which I think is something this game wanted us to do from the start.  Have a lighthearted romp through UtaPri and get to see the characters in situations that might not happen in the Anime because of the fact that the series is 13 episodes each season and 22-25 minutes a pop.  A little lighthearted fun never hurt anyone (and let’s be real...we all needed that after Season 4). So now that I wrote what is no doubt a College Thesis on this game would I rec it for a new fan? SURE! The thing that you have to get over is sometimes the hit detection is wonky af when it comes to hitting notes and if you can endure the events when they feel like a Boston Marathon then you got that going for you too! All in all Uta no Prince-Sama Shining Live is a game that ,even if you aren’t a UtaPri fan but you love Rhythm games...check it out you won’t be disappointed!