Women in Anime: Bungou Stray Dogs

Women in Anime: Bungou Stray Dogs

Tuesday, June 25, 2019 / No Comments

WARNING: ANIME AND MANGA SPOILERS AHEAD!

In anime (mainly shonen and seinen), it is not uncommon for female characters to solely exist to further the character development for “more important” male main characters, as well as to serve as love interests for the main characters. These female characters also usually have bodies that are way too developed for their age, but somehow still manage to sound like 6-year olds. Bungou Stray Dogs does a fantastic job at avoiding these tropes, by giving their female characters depth and rich backstories that make them unique individuals with their own set of struggles. They also have more natural-sounding voices and are barely ever sexualised (their sexiness comes from within).


Yosano Akiko 

Yosano is an extremely capable doctor who has seen her fair share of battles. She worked under Mori Ougai’s supervision as a clinical assistant from the young age of 11, attending to injured soldiers at war. Yosano is usually calm and composed, carrying herself with grace and dignity, but as soon as she is belittled in any way, she has no qualms about starting a fight and standing up for herself. There was a scene in the anime where she accidentally knocks into a man, causing him to fall. Being a considerate and well-mannered member of society, Yosano apologises and asks if he is okay. Instead of accepting her apology like a real man, he degrades her by implying that she should apologise to him through sexual favours. Yosano’s reaction is priceless, and she defends herself in the best way possible.

Ozaki Kouyou 

Kouyou is cynical – she believes that people who belong in the darkness cannot escape from it, and are doomed to live in it forever. In her youth, she attempted to escape from the Port Mafia, hoping to live a more meaningful and honest life with her lover, but failed, which resulted in her hatred for the “light”, as it provided her false hope that she had a second chance at life outside of the vicious cycle of suffering within the Port Mafia. Because of this, she is extremely protective of Kyouka, perhaps because she sees a previous, more innocent and hopeful version of herself in her, and is afraid that Kyouka will be easily tempted by the “light”, only to be hurt and jaded just like Kouyou herself. Kouyou truly loves and cares for Kyouka – she took it upon herself to take Kyouka under her wing, playing an important, parental role in the child’s life. Her obsessive need to protect Kyouka from the world outside the Port Mafia, while well-intended, is unhealthy and detrimental to her upbringing. 

Nevertheless, while we see Kouyou’s faults, her actions are fairly justified considering her brutal history with the Port Mafia, making her an interesting character worthy of redemption.

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Izumi Kyouka 

Kyouka is only 14 years old, yet she is one of the main characters in the anime, and for good reason. When she was just a child (she still is), her parents were murdered right in front of her eyes, by her own ability, Demon Snow. This, along with other lies that the Port Mafia fed to her, led Kyouka to believe that she was a murderer undeserving of love, hope, and even life. Kyouka was emotionally manipulated into working for the mafia, and her ability was heavily exploited, turning her a killing machine void of emotion. Within 6 months of being in the Port Mafia, she had killed 35 people. 

By age 14, she is desensitised to death and struggles to empathise with her victims – she merely sees her assassinations as tasks that she is obliged to fulfil for the Port Mafia. However, her life changes when she meets Atsushi and the rest of the Armed Detective Agency. They made her realise that there is still hope for her to change her ways and turn to the light. Unlike the Port Mafia, the ADA treats and respects her as a human being rather than a powerful weapon of destruction. We see her grow and learn to love again in the agency, living the life that she truly deserves, and it is very emotionally gratifying to witness as an audience.

Akutagawa Gin 

Nobody even knew Gin was a girl from the start. She was known to be a skilled assassin and her peers in the Port Mafia always thought she was a man. Her work outfit doesn’t give anything away, a mask covering half of her face. However, she does look like she could kill with a single swift flick of her knife. It was only after Dazai exposed the truth that Gin timidly blushes in protest, revealing her voice to be sweet and gentle. 

In an episode where she is spotted in civilian clothing on the streets of Yokohama, she looked so demure and dainty that she made Katai fall in love with her. Even after Higuchi knew about Gin’s real gender, it never once crossed her mind that this beautiful young lady was Gin, because of how differently she acts in the Port Mafia. Gin fully embraces her femininity while maintaining her reputation as a revered assassin – what a strong, competent woman.

There are other female characters in the anime who are also brave, loyal and intelligent, such as Higuchi Ichiyo, Lucy Maud Montgomery and Louisa May Alcott, which makes Bungou Stray Dogs a great anime to watch because it pays a lot of attention to character development, not only to the main characters, but to supporting ones as well. If you haven’t gotten to it, I highly recommend this anime as it explores rather important themes such as redemption and recovery, and most of the characters are morally grey, struggling to find their place in life. It’s a little depressing, but watching the characters grow throughout the anime is very emotionally rewarding.


Written by yin

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Female Anime Hairstyles: The Weird, and the Favourites

Female Anime Hairstyles: The Weird, and the Favourites

Sunday, June 23, 2019 / No Comments

As an avid BanG Dream! player, I often keep up with their comic strips that they release occasionally on their official Twitter platform. There was a recent comic strip however (comic strip 92), that really brought my attention to the topic on how unique some girls' hairstyles are in anime. Before I begin, I would just like to plug in the comic strip, with courtesy of Max who shared it with me. 

Basically, Kasumi's hair is styled like that of cat ears, and asides from that, they even hold up well after a rain, which defies all kinds of physics. In another case, in episode 21 of the BanG Dream! Girls Band Party PICO short, Yukina, a cat-lover mistakes the silhouette of Kasumi's hair to be that of an actual cat, and is highly mesmerised by it. 

She surely has a unique and rather eye-catching hairstyle huh... 

This brings me to my next point: other weird hairstyles that I have seen on female anime characters from anime series that I have watched. 

I shall start it off first on the mild side of the weird hairstyles with Momo Yaoyorozu from Boku no Hero Academia. 

Okay, so, I know, it's not that weird... But when I first saw her on BNHA, I was momentarily stunned by her hairstyle. I was wildly intrigued by the spikiness of the hair, as well as the way it could hold up so much volume. It reminded me of a cross between the back of a rooster and a peacock. However, it was very easy to get through the way her hair was styled and overtime I actually began to appreciate how unique her hair was. 

Next, I have Celestia Ludenburg from Danganronpa.

Yes, our favourite hair drills... The first encounter I had with this type of hairstyle was when I watched Danganronpa. All I could think of was, "how is she able to stand tall without slouching with the weight on both sides of her?" Oh, and I also couldn't help but think of curly fries from Macdonalds…

Moving on, there's Ragyo Kiryuin from Kill la Kill. 

First off, what is that deliciously colourful and gravity-defying hair that manages to glow? Somehow, despite it's oddness, she still looks really badass, and it doesn't take away any of the power that she clearly possesses. Still, does her hair remind you of a certain detergent brand? (*cough*, Tide Pods *cough*) Either that, or those galaxy-designed bowling balls.

Finally, I have decided to end my personal 'weird' hairstyle list with Ritsuko Kunihiro from Shiki. 

It's not as bombastic as Ragyo's hair, neither does it look too heavy and voluminous like Celestia's hair drills, but something about Ritsuko's hair is simply unfathomable. It's a hairstyle that seems to belong to this anime character only, because I have never seen anything like this on any other characters before. Just like my puzzlement, her hair seems to be trapped in an impossible maze. How does it grow? How does she brush it out? Where will her hair stop at if she actually manages to brush and straighten then out? It remains a mystery, and as such, remains at the top of my 'weird' female hairstyle list. 

Some honorable mentions: 

Akari's (Yuru Yuri) detachable hair buns that caught me off guard once she removed those tiny buns off her head to attack an UFO.

Mahiru's (Revue Starlight) 'helicopter antenna'. 

Sena (Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukanai) and Rin's (Yuru Camp) over-the-top bun hairstyles styled by their friends. They were only temporary. 

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And now, I shall talk about some of my personal favourite hairstyles on female characters in anime. 

The Hime-Cut 

 Rinko Shirokane from BanG Dream!

Harumi Taniguchi from Citrus 

Jabami Yumeko from Kakegurui 

Ara ara, ohohohoho~ If it ain't the ojou-sama with the hime-cut. In this case however, my favourite characters with the hime-cut are far from the typical ojou-sama. In fact, there's an interesting mix. Rinko is a shy and introverted girl who is honestly such a precious cinnamon roll. Then there's Harumin, the cheery and optimistic self-proclaimed gyaru who is honestly the best gal pal/wingwoman anyone could ever have in an anime. And finally, we have the explosive gambler Yumeko, who terrorises anyone she faces, all with her wits and horrifying sweet laughter. Please, don't ever attempt to cheat in a gambling match with her. To conclude, hime-cuts on various characters provide a varying mix of personalities, and that's why they are one of my favourite hairstyles. 

The Ponytail 

Hitagi Senjougahara from the Monogatari series

Kyoko Shirayuki from Keijo!!!!!!!!

Kanan Matsuura from Love Live! Sunshine 

There's nothing more powerful than a female character with a high ponytail. It automatically exuberates so much confidence, and makes me feel like I want to depend on them. Or in Senjougahara's case, I wouldn't really want to offend her because she can probably be capable of ending my entire life with just her sharp-tongued nature.

The Loose Braids 

Botan Kumegawa from Anne Happy

Kaoruko Moeta from Comic Girls

The loose braids are often an alternate hairstyle, more so than a main hairstyle-at least from anime that I have watched so far. Hence, Botan and Kaoruko are probably the only girls I can think of, and it's no coincidence that the both of them are my favourite characters from the respective animes! There's just something about these characters that makes you want to protect them because they are just too wholesome, a little silly, but also probably the most lovable characters you could associate with. 

The 'Forehead'

 Nana Osaki from Nana

Haru Okumura from Persona 5 

Ah, we are all familiar with the term 'forehead' whenever it comes to female anime characters who do not have bangs, considering that bangs are sort of the norm for girls in anime, as well as in Japan. Nevertheless, that's what makes this hairstyle special and I look forward to seeing more of such in future.

Honourable mention:

Carole's (Carole and Tuesday) short afro ponytail.

Any other weird hairstyles you might have seen in anime you watch? What are some of your favourite female anime hairstyles? Or even for the males? Do discuss if you'd like. Cheers~

Written by kimizomi 

An Amateur Guide to Bungou Stray Dogs: Tales of the Lost

An Amateur Guide to Bungou Stray Dogs: Tales of the Lost

Thursday, June 20, 2019 / No Comments

Hey my fellow intellectuals! If you didn’t know, the anime series by Studio Bones, Bungou Stray Dogs, is also available as a mobile game for both iOS and Android devices. Whether you’re a new fan of the series or an old one that has yet to discover the joys of this game, here’s an amateur guide to what it’s about.

The mechanics are fairly simple, shoot a marble around, kill enemies and clear levels. 

Yet, despite the game’s simplicity, it is 100% addictive because of its main attraction – scouting (which basically means it’s a gacha game). The main currency of the game is ability stones, or as most people call them, “moons”, and they can be spent to obtain characters from the series.

Characters come in different rarities: R, SR, SSR, UR -- in increasing order of rarity (you can refer below for a Dazai in each rarity). Most of the time, scouting gives R or SR characters, though our main aim is to get as many SSRs as we can. The maximum levels for each of the rarities are level 40, 60, 80 and 100 respectively. If you get duplicate cards, you can combine them to power up the skills of that character. Of course, you can also choose to sell duplicates which gains you “bungou points”, another currency in the game, albeit less precious, which you can exchange for other items. 

 

             

Besides that, there is also what we call “evolving” and “awakening”. Evolving basically means that you can add a “+” sign to the character’s rarity once they reach their max level. For instance, a level 50 SR character evolves to SR+, where it can they hit its max potential of level 60.

Awakening refers to a character completely graduating to its next rarity, usually for SSRs to URs. This happens when your SSR+ is at level 80, and it awakens to a UR. However, URs are an exception because the character does not continue on from level 80, but returns to level 1, and the character picture also changes. As a result, awakening characters are rare and can only be awakened when their respective events are released, such as the Akutagawa event below.

There will always be a permanent scout in which you can try to get your hands on the standard SSR characters from the ADA and PM. However, special timed events with deadlines are released frequently in which you can obtain exclusively-themed SSRs, for instance Halloween-themed characters or New Year’s characters where the characters are dressed for the respective occasions.

Another appeal of the game is that some SSR characters come with voice acting from the series’ VAs themselves, and some content is even exclusive to the game itself, the most notable example being the permanent Gakuen AU (basically, an alternate universe in which the characters are all students).

Of course, obtaining our coveted characters isn’t as easy as it sounds because they are "expensive" and it becomes increasingly hard to grind for moons when you level up. So how do we get moons? Basically: 

-   Completing main story levels
-   Reading through main story scenarios, which are basically condensed versions of the anime episodes (don’t worry though, a quick life hack is to just view one frame of the story and then click “skip”, and you still get your 1 moon)
-   Login bonuses every day, more if there are special events going on (essentially FREE moons)
-   Complete daily and weekly tasks on your roster
-   Since season 3 is still ongoing, you get a free 25 moons every Friday when a new episode is released!

If you’re super desperate, you can spend some moolah on moons (which I have regrettably done on 2 instances), but it’s not very cheap at all.

For myself, I normally save my stones for events and avoid spending them on the permanent scouts. It’s up to you to smartly ration your moons, because not every event released might have characters you fancy, so you can skip those and save up your moons for the next one! That being said, many people still participate in these events for the sake of completion.

But! If you’re as stingy as me, here’s a list of the kinds of abilities that exist for you to choose which characters are worth saving up for:

-    Nukes (deal a chunk of damage essentially, on either 1 or all enemies) – usually people’s favourites
-    Status effect cancellers or ability to inflict damaging venom on enemies for a certain number of turns
-    Attack boosters (think “bulk up” or “calm mind” from Pokemon)
-    Health recovery (useful for very hard battles)
-    Increasing the size and force of the marble, or allowing it to explode to clear more orbs
-    Increasing enemy turns (might be useful if you do not want to be attacked by strong enemies every turn)
-    Filling beatdown gauge (useful for prolonging the marble’s volley time)

Speaking of events, there are a few main types – points exchange system and drop events. For the points exchange system, you aim to gather as many event points as you can (from completing battles) to exchange for items and characters. Drop events are much more straightforward; when you defeat enemies, they have a chance of dropping suitcases which contain items or characters (see below). This does depend on luck though, because the drop rate for beginning players isn’t exceptionally high.

 

If you have a Twitter account, it might be useful to follow this account for daily updates:

Twitter: @bungotales

I don’t usually play mobile games because I’m a console kind of person, but I’m an absolute goner for this game because I’m head over heels for the anime. If you would like another way to destroy your life, download the game for free and watch yourself become an even more unproductive human being!

Side note: the picture used to be Dazai, but it's Shin Soukoku now after a recent update (the fangirl in me is quaking)

Written by Gin

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Game Review: Yakuza Kiwami 2

Game Review: Yakuza Kiwami 2

Wednesday, June 19, 2019 / No Comments

Yet another remake of the successful Yakuza series by Sega and Ryu ga Gotoku Studio, Yakuza Kiwami 2 is sure to blow away all fans, new and old alike.

Genre: Action-adventure game
Developer: Sega, Ryu ga Gotoku Studio
Initial release date: 7 December 2017
Platform: Playstation 4, Microsoft Windows

Storyline

The story takes place a year after the events of Yakuza Kiwami with a shot of Kiryu's lean and muscular body in the bedroom. Woken up by the sweet and adorable Haruka, they both decide to make a trip to pay respects to their own family. Things took a turn for the worst when they witness the fifth chairman of the Tojo Clan, Terada, assassinated in cold blood. The group of hitmen revealed that they are from the Omi Alliance of Sotenbori, Tojo Clan's equivalent of Kamurocho. With an anxious grip on the letter Terada gave him, Kiryu makes his way to the Omi Alliance, in hopes of making an alliance between the two overlords of the Japanese Yakuza world.

However, his trip gets interrupted when he meets the son of the current chairman of the Omi Alliance, Ryuji Goda. Also, known as the Dragon of Kansai, Ryuji Goda is a headstrong man with strong ideals. Naturally, their ideals and interests did not align with one another, resulting in Ryuji saying a few words that established a tension between the two dragons.

"There is only room for one dragon in this world."

Gameplay

In Yakuza Kiwami 2, the team over at the studio brought extensive changes to the gameplay. Firstly, brawls felt more natural and lifelike. Not only that, fights can even make its way into several buildings and stores, giving the game its realistic effect. One change that made fans across the world rejoice was the fact that you could now enter buildings without having to wait an eternity for it to load, which ruined the immersive gameplay Yakuza had to offer.

More importantly, the graphics in Yakuza Kiwami 2 underwent a significant upgrade, without having a major performance impact. The streets are crowded with detailed bystanders that have their own stories. They even cheer you on in a fight from time to time. This made me feel as if the Non-Playable Characters (NPCs) were actual humans behind a screen as they even had topics to talk about. The two towns of the Yakuza series look even better than before with the latest engine and graphics update. Kamurocho, like always, is a hustling and bustling city that offers a wide range of services; bars, eateries, arcades, and even a batting centre to satisfy your baseball needs. It brings out the liveliness of the town with every NPC chatting amongst themselves while walking towards their own destinations. Sotenbori, on the other hand, is packed with massive billboards, signs, and advertisements. It's the perfect place to have a great time with your friends and family. They even give you the freedom to travel between Kamurocho and Sotenbori to sightsee freely, something which you could never do in preceding Yakuza games.

Substories

Similar to all Yakuza games in the series, substories are incorporated in the game to spice up the interactions Kiryu has with the civilians of Kamurocho and Sotenbori. They are basically side-quests that you can do in your free time or whenever you want a pause from the usual punch and kick scenarios in the game. They add a certain level of enjoyment in which players get to see Kiryu interacting with NPCs and his amusing reactions to their ridiculous requests. From preventing a scam to even buying a pair of briefs for an unfortunate gentleman, substories cover all aspects of entertainment, sometimes even adding in a touch of modern-day issues for the player to relate to.

Majima Saga



Unfortunately, in Yakuza Kiwami 2, you can't play as Majima in the main story. However, don't fret just yet. Once you have advanced to a certain part in the main story, you'll unlock Majima Saga. What's that? Well, instead of incorporating Majima into the playable main story, the folks over at Ryu ga Gotoku studio instead made a separate story for Majima. You can play as Majima and have his own fighting styles, which I personally was a huge fan of ever since Yakuza 0. However, since it's a side story, it isn't as long as the main story. Despite that, by the end of Majima Saga, I'll guarantee that you would have gone through a box of tissues.

Cabaret Grand and Bouncer Missions

If you were an aficionado of the cabaret club mini-game that existed in Yakuza 0, rejoice! The mini-game is back in Yakuza Kiwami 2 with more beautiful hostesses. Tackle your way through the Cabaret Grand Prix, a league formed to find and advertise the most popular cabaret club in the business. As you progress in the Prix, you will unlock platinum hostesses, which are your best ones. Moving forward, you can trigger special events with said hostesses that will reward you, or rather, them with plenty of experience. All in all, the end goal of the cabaret club is to make sure that each patron leaves with a massive grin.

Bouncer Missions, on the other hand, are bounties with varying difficulties that you can take up in a certain club in Kamurocho. Most missions end with you having to take out a mini-boss, while certain ones have a time limit. They reward you with items that may help you progress easier into the main story, so be sure to keep an eye out for them!

Overall Impression

Whether you're a fan or not of the Yakuza series, picking up this game is definitely worth its inexpensive price. You get tons of content that can easily stretch up to over a hundred hours if you decide to complete the game to its entirety. If you enjoy a game with a simplistic goal of beating up every bad guy into a pulp while having its serious and emotional moments sometimes, this is the game for you. From the main story to the ridiculousness of some side-quests, you will be on the edge of your seat seeking more.

Overall rating: 4/5

Written by Yeon Hee



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