The world as we know it, has been turned upside down by the Covid-19 virus. Singapore has not been spared by this pandemic. Despite our best efforts, the number of infected cases keep on rising. Many people are now staying at home to ride out this storm. The virus taught us a painful lesson. It requires everyone of us to look at our personal hygiene and how it affects the society. There will be a new norm after the world wakes up with a new beginning. In the meantime, let us stay united and positive. We hope this Queen Bee "WE BEE-LIEVE" stickers can brighten your days, remind one another to Stay Home and convey words of gratitude to our Frontliners.
Most importantly, Stay Home and ride it out.
Queen Bee is an original character of MILKCANANIME
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Netflix has been busting out anime originals for a while now, with total busts and utter wins like Knights of Sidonia and Carole & Tuesday (this anime's soundtrack is GOLD I tell ya). The latest is Beastars, which didn't pique my interest at first actually! I only watched it because I heard from a Japanese friend that they'd heard the manga is REALLY good. Hearsay hearsay. Well, I heard this say for sure. If you're into Badass Terminator Panda counsellors, chickens that sell their eggs and pride themselves on the quality, Bunny Playboy Bunnies (is this a pleonasm?), a pride of lion Yakuza, and inter-species relationships probably based on hunger idunno, then you're in for a ride!
Be warned: **SPOILERS** because, well, review and all.
Beastars is set in a world where animals live together and are supposedly all vegetarian. We follow the (overly protected) life of high school students at Cherryton Academy. The first few minutes of this anime starts with the murder of Tem, an alpaca who is a 'herbivore'. He is hunted by a 'carnivore' and killed for its flesh (is what we and Tem assume). This murder introduces a world in which herbivores and carnivores live together in 'peace', with incidents like this happening from time to time causing tension between the groups. Are all herbivores victims? Are all carnivores murderous beasts?
Tem was part of the theater group, the only group which consists out of both herbivores and carnivores. This hints to the fact that the two groups are usually quite separated. The next few episodes don't focus on the murder or Tem, and just show us an unusual slice-of-life type of high school life of these furries. This is where the show started to lose me a little bit, but the whodunnit pulled me through till the end. Like, who murdered Tem? What's going on with this anime, it seems all light and fluffy (pun intended) but I got a feeling it has gotten a very, very dark side to it.
We follow the story through Legoshi, a grey wolf who is struggling with being a carnivore and trying to keep a low profile. This causes some interesting internal conflicts, as he is a carnivore with strong instincts on the one hand, but on the other hand just a harmless sweet cub. He is part of the theatre club that Tem belonged to. In this club, we also see Louis, a handsome and immensely popular red deer with a dark past. And we are also introduced to Hal, a bunny who has always lived life to the fullest but is actually just really promiscuous ok no shaming here move along, as it can end any minute because of her very weak position as a small, defenceless rabbit. Legoshi meets Hal and falls in love with her (not because she immediately upon meeting him offered to have intercourse, nope, probably not, is it?). Little does he know, she is already in a relationship with Louis. But we still have a murderer carnivore running around eating herbivores. What's love got to do with it? Well, everything, apparently, because Legoshi is a carnivore and Hal a (physically very weak but mentally quite strong must I add) herbivore. Also, Legoshi actually tried to EAT HER the first time he smelled saw her. The whole is-it-love-or-lust or just an empty stomach is something that runs like a red thread through this story.
Next to this, we have Louis, who also has a relationship with Hal but has a fiancee that's arranged by his family already. He's aiming to become the next Beastar, which is a hero of some sort, actually it wasn't that clear to me and during season 1 they don't go into it too much. It might be important to future seasons. *Shrugs*. The story is interesting enough without this, but it does add an interesting political angle to the story.
Legoshi and Louis have a complicated sort of frenemy relationship. Legoshi is always trying to keep a low profile and not hurt/offend anyone, while Louis is out there, and doesn't hide his hate for carnivores. I kind of like these characters, as they are still drawn to each other even though they are supposed to be mortal enemies. The very humanistic portrayal of these animals draws interesting parallels between this world and ours.
While we do the whole will they or won't they with Hal and Legoshi, the theatre group is getting ready for an important festival called Festival of the Meteor during which they honour their 'ancestors'' mass extinction. I wonder if they pray to the T-Rex. Because of recent events of herbivores getting eaten attacked, only a group of carnivores are allowed to leave Cherryton academy for a meeting at city hall. Louis warns them not to go to the black market, where meat is sold and can easily be attained by herbivores. This of course, seems like a very bad thing, because someone had to die in order for this meat to be sold. Was it obtained legally? Illegally? How does this all work in a world where animals are all equal unlike the world we live in?
One might argue, peace is kept because the carnivores don't have to fight their instincts and can still eat meat. Try putting a dog or a lion on a vegetarian diet, not sure if that works. When the theatre group sets foot outside the academy, where do they end up "accidentally"? Of course, the black market.
Fresh fingers! Fresh fingers! Got em all here! Left hand right hand pick and choose! Ring finger pinky finger thumb, pick, lick and chomp!
After meeting Mr. Finger(less), they realize they have come to the Black Market. It kinda looks cozy and fun though.. I won't mind trying that Kalbi don on the right. One portion please! Take away, because of COVID-19 and all.
Legoshi gets upset and runs away from the group, realizing that in order to keep some semblance of peace, there's a darker side to the society they live in that's silently being accepted. Welcome to adulting, babes. While he's contemplating on life, he gets knocked out by a panda called Gouhin, who basically forces counselling on carnivores that come to the Black Market. Mistaking Legoshi for one of those, but then learning about his feelings for Hal, we get the most interesting exchange of this anime. It reminds me of interracial dating or relationships transcending social class. There are many people with different opinions on this, and the same happens in this anime. In this anime, there are even different hotels - carnivore or herbivore only, even though mixed ones exist, there is still a clear boundaries between the two. Are Hal and Legoshi basically Romeo and Juliet in a furry setting?
BSDM basement vibes much?
Are you really into that bunny or just want to eat her? Here, the latest of Wild Kick, find out if you're a "wet wet bunny" loving pervert or just hungry.
And then there's Juno, another love interest for Legoshi. A young grey wolf that is seemingly perfect for Legoshi. It would make everything so much easier for him if he went for her. No one would question their relationship, no one would give Legoshi an adult magazine with wolves to see if he's REALLY into his own kind or not.
From here on out this anime becomes really interesting. During preparations for Festival of the Meteor, Hal gets kidnapped by the Shishi-gumi, basically lion Yakuza, only to be offered as a snack to the boss. This raises interesting political questions as Louis confronts the lion mayor who then doesn't do anything about it to not ruin his image. He even had plastic surgery done to look friendlier. If the public found out about the lion mafia, the city may fall into chaos and order will crumble. Louis is also told not to do anything about it, even though he is in a relationship with Hal. Is it worth sacrificing one life just to keep a very delicate peace? Your loved one has been taken and the city and your own ambitions to become this hero, this Beastar, depend on you doing nothing. What would you do?
Yeah, still creepy though.
Legoshi gets help from Gouhin and rescues Hal. Louis shows up after they leave, and his own troubled past makes it seem like he has lost it. He guns down the boss, and he's never to be seen again, at least not in season 1. Hal and Legoshi stay at a hotel that allows herbivores and carnivores together, and we assume things will start getting heated. But then the most ridiculous thing ever happens.
I get that he feels this desire, this instinct to hunt and eat this small animal. But I doubt that bunnies in the wild throw themselves in the mouths of wolves or try to have sex with them for that matter. Nothing happens, and they go home. At the Festival Juno tries to draw Legoshi's attention, but Legoshi only has eyes for Hal. We end the first season there.
This anime is brilliant at sucking you in and leaving you hungry for more. We are left with so many questions, what happened to Louis and Gouhin after the altercation with the Shishi-gumi? Who killed Tem? What will happen to Hal and Legoshi, will they ever be accepted? Will this society be even to hold up under these circumstances? Will there be an internal strife? I am getting very invested in this show, and I definitely can't wait for season 2 to come out. An honourable mention for my gal Legom, the hen. She keeps fit just to lay the best eggs, which then are used in the sandwiches that Legoshi eat. He can even taste the difference between her eggs and others, she has the best ones! This episode was hilarious and ridiculous and had me in stitches.
Sitting next to Legom, he never knew... but she did...
That the sandwiches he loves so much.. are actually eggs coming out of HER, his classmate right next to him.
YESS Legom, yes!! Lay those eggs girl!
Check those eggs.
Sleep early.
Even exercise. All for those perfect eggs!
All in all, I would give this anime a 4/5, I only deduct one point because it started out slow. Also, the female characters could be fleshed out more (no pun intended). I feel like Juno and Hal are only there to make the male characters feel all these inner conflicts. They fall a bit flat next to the complex Legoshi and Louis. Anime wise, it's exceptional. The art is amazing, the fluidity is excellent, and I love how the world is a mix of Europe, the U.S.A, with Asian style "yatai" and who knows what. It kind of felt like a dark Ghibli story, which I am all for. This anime is not over the top crazy, but crazy enough to keep me hooked on its mysterious world and I can't wait to explore it more.
Stuck at home with nothing other than free time on your hands? Bored of re-watching your favourite anime series for the fourth time this week? Need something to fill your time and boredom in? Don't fret, I have the perfect something for you! In this blog post, I'll be reviewing a game, Arknights!
First and foremost, Arknights is a PVE (Player vs Enemies) gacha tower defense game where you use units you obtain in order to defeat enemies and clear levels for exciting and worthwhile rewards. I'll leave the official trailer here for you to watch (Definitely recommend to at least watch once, the music and trailer itself is really good!).
Arknights Official Trailer
If you're not familiar with the word gacha, it's the form of spending virtual currency for in-game items such as cosmetics, characters, items etc. In this game's case, it's operators that you mostly will want and will obtain.
Of course, you can also spend real currency to exchange for virtual currency in order to get the items you want.
However, that is not to say that you cannot play this game without spending real currency. In fact, you can finish all story content in this game with the units you have, albeit with a little strategy. This is also one of the reasons why I like this game and why this is my first gacha game, it doesn't require you to spend real currency on the game, unlike other pay-to-win gacha games.
An example of a gacha roll in Arknights
Moving on, I'll now talk about what Arknights is really about. Like what I mentioned previously, it's a tower defense game where you defeat enemies with operators that you obtain. By completing these stages and levels, you get a reward that can be useful in either upgrading your operators themselves or your base, which we will get to later on.
Arknights Main Menu
At this point of time, Arknights has 5 main story chapters released for players to enjoy. These chapters consists of stages and levels for players to clear in order to advance in the main story. With animations and cutscenes to further emphasize on the story, Arknights has one of the most intriguing story for a mobile game thus far.
Arknights Main Story Content
Arknights Chapter Stages
Furthermore, completing these stages helps you unlock some of the other features this game has to offer such as resources stages and your own base. Below are such stages mentioned.
Firstly, there are 5 resources stages, namely the Tactical Drill, Tough Siege, Resource Search, Cargo Escort and Aerial Threat. Completing each of these stages rewards you with different items that can be used to further improve your gameplay such as leveling your operators and upgrading your base.
Resources Stages
The Tactical Drill stage rewards you with tickets to level your operators, the Tough siege stage rewards you with certificates to buy certain items in the shop that can't be bought anywhere else, the Resource Search rewards you with base materials to upgrade your base, the Cargo Escort Stage rewards you with in-game currency called Lungmen Dollars for leveling and upgrading expenses and lastly, the Aerial Threat stage rewards you with skill books to upgrade your operator's skills to further maximize their ability in stages. Don't worry if those descriptions are a bit lengthy, all in all, they're stages to further improve your gameplay.
An example of one of the resource stage, Tactical Drill
Not only that, there is another stage that is also quite important. The reason being is that it rewards you with in-game currency to roll for more operators to add in your squads. This resource is called Orundum and is only used for rolling for operators. However, unlike the other stages that are open for only 3 days a week, this stage is open 24/7.
An example of the Annihilation stage
There is a catch however. You can only farm a maximum of around 1600 to 1900 Orundum per week. All in all, it is a good system set for the players so that they don't have to spend real currency to roll for operators but because of the weekly limit, players also can't abuse it. I have nothing but praises for the system they've implemented here.
Speaking of operators, there are two ways to obtain them. One is by spending in-game currency, Orundum to roll for them and the other way is to use recruitment permits to recruit said operators. What's the difference you ask? Well, the former uses the limited in-game currency, while the latter only uses recruitment permits which are easily obtainable through the in-game store or daily and weekly quests.
An example of the headhunting system
An example of the headhunting system
These are banners, where you roll for operators. New banners will have a condition where you will be guaranteed a 5 star or higher after 10 rolls, which is beneficial to players since those operators are generally harder to obtain.
Recruiting operators using recruitment permits
However, recruiting can take a long time depending on yourself. It also has a very low chance of awarding you with 5 or 6 star operator, which are some of the best operators in-game. However, in the event where you obtain an operator you already have, you're also rewarded with operator certificates.
What do you do with these certificates? Well, there are a number of ways to spend them. In the in-game store, you can exchange these certificates for valuable in-game materials such as leveling tickets, operator development materials, more recruitment permits. Even better, you can use them to buy headhunting tickets to roll for operators in the banners. However, these types of certificates are harder to obtain than the normal operator certificates.
The certificate store in Arknights
Now, we can get to the technical aspect of this game, the base. In the base, you can use resources to build facilities such as factories, power plants workshops etc. These facilities can help improve your gameplay in the long term with factories producing valuable materials such as leveling tickets and/or gold bars to exchange in the trading posts for Lungmen Dollars. You can also set up dorms for operators to rest after being stationed in said facilities. Moreover, the fun part is that you can interact with the operators in their 'chibi' form to get a reaction from them that are usually very cute and amusing.
An example of a base in Arknights
An example of the dorm, with operators resting in it
Now that we've gone over the game, let's talk about what I like and don't like in this game.
First and foremost, what I like about this game is that there is so much to do in this game to the point where you will not get bored of it anytime soon. First, the main story stages. They're the bread and butter of this game and provide a lot of content for the players. Furthermore, there are the resources stages, which I already explained as well as the Annihilation stages.
Additionally, I previously mentioned that you can level your operators and did not explain much. There is so much more to operator development!
The operator menu which unlocks many possibilities
Here you can see one of my operators which I have nurtured and developed. In this menu, there is so much you can do to improve your character. The button on the top right allows you to level your character. The "Promotion" option allows you to Elite or upgrade your character's limits per se. The "Potential" option allows you to improve your character as you get more tokens or copies of the same character. The "Skill Upgrade" option explains for itself. Lastly, the "Trust" bar on the left side of the screen gradually fills up as you bring that operator into more battles and stages which in turn improves the operator's base stats.
All in all, there is so much more to do than just leveling your operators, which means that players, or Doctors as we call them in this game, has to do.
Another thing that really surprised me when I first played the game is the intuitive and beautiful UI/UX experience. UI/UX being user interface and user experience. The menu and controls in this game are beautifully simple and does not bring up any confusion over it's functions or anything. Also, since this was originally released in the Chinese region for a bit before releasing worldwide on IOS and Android devices, I expected there to be some localization issues. However, there almost close to none! And where there were some, the updates and fixes to the game are really fast and the developers even compensate players for said maintenance with sanity packs or even Orundum!
Intricate and beautifully designed main menu
Now, I'll go over the only complain I have for this game so far. The sanity system. Before I mention anything, I have to say that I don't think what they have done is wrong, just that it can be improved. Right now, stages and levels requires sanity or in other terms, energy, to initiate. So if you don't have enough sanity, you can't complete any levels. Sanity recharges every 6 minutes or so. So to most players, you'd have to wait for your sanity to refill before you can attempt a stage.
However, there are more ways to refill your sanity rather than just waiting for it to refill passively. You can use sanity packs that I mentioned previously to refill your sanity for a certain amount or you can use your in-game premium currency, Originium, to refill your sanity. Don't be confused over Orundum and Originium. The former I already explained while the latter is basically currency you can get by paying real currency. This premium in-game currency can be used to refill sanity to your maximum capacity for each Originium or you can use it to exchange into Orundum for gacha currency.
Refilling sanity through Sanity Packs
Refilling Sanity through Originium
However, you can only refill your sanity with Originium 10 times a day, which means that once you used that 10 refills, you essentially can't play the game anymore until the next daily reset. This is my gripe with the sanity system. I hope that sanity can be regained faster while also removing the daily limit for sanity refills. Other than this issue I have, I have been having fun with the game so far.
Finally, I'll be giving my overall review as well as give my thoughts for who this game is for.
Arknights was the first ever gacha game I've ever played and I caught wind of it through scrolling through Twitter. Ever since then, I had anticipated its global release so that I could play it as soon as possible. When I first played the game, I expected to lose interest over 2 weeks since I never really got into mobile games. However, this game proved its worth with its intriguing and in-depth lore that got me hooked, and its surprisingly beautiful and well thought out design. To me, this game isn't just a game to fill my time, I genuinely enjoy every second of this game.
As for who this game is for, I'd say it's for everyone! With its easy access to most people as well as it being really easy to play, most people would find it enjoyable. If anything, I'd say the game isn't for you if you dislike gacha games which I don't think it's a valid reason for this game since it's PVE, not PVP. So there aren't any advantages or anything that you might find unfair.
And that's all for this review of the game Arknights! I do hope that you give this game a try in the future! Oh, I'll also put my friend code under so that anyone can add me in the game!
With that said, thank you for your time and do stay safe in these turbulent times!
As cities all around the world go in lockdown, people stay at home for x amount of time. As a responsible citizen myself, I try not to go out too much but as I am a hermit I didn't have a life anyway and never went out so nothing changed really. I caught up on several anime I wanted to watch or needed to catch up on: Rising of Shield Hero, Mirai Nikki (I got some strong opinions on this one but lemme shut up), Boku no Hero Academia, Beastars (still halfway) and lots of Rupaul's Drag Race. I know I'm a little behind, I watched most anime after their 'peak' of popularity had already passed (and some by like a decade, merp).
I just love isekai, ever since I was obsessed with Digimon and Spirited Away as a kid. The most recent one I watched is The Rising of the Shield Hero, which I just finished this morning. To be fair, it was quite entertaining but not as good as Re:Zero, Gate, or That time I got reincarnated as a Slime. Still, it has very strong characters like Raphtalia, which I wish they fleshed out a bit more (I mean that one glimpse of drunk Raphtalia?? That looked HILARIOUS, more of that please!).
Haaa?? What YOU lookin' at? Drunk Raphtalia looks like someone I'd party with.
And Filo is quite a one-sided character, I know I KNOWWW it's supposed to be this KAWAIII character but I'm in my 30s OK I need more depth and darkness as I am a bitter old woman now to my characters and stories nowadays. And there's so much potential there (I mean that torture bit with Raphtalia..). I kinda hoped they would do the same as Slime, and rescue a lot of slaves/people and make them part of the party. I guess that will happen as at the end of the show they are rebuilding the village and start training people. I somehow really like the heroes from the other world like Glass and L'Arc as well and want them all be freeeeenz. Otherwise it kind of gives this Bokurano feeling, which world is more worth saving? Everyone wants to stay alive/save their own world.
I really like Glass, she seems to come from this feudal Japan Tokugawa Ieyasu type of timeline/world. I also like this 'stats' kind of feel that this anime has. I'm not a gamer but it's pretty cool to me.
Who wants to hang out with Trash and Bitch anyway. Hopefully this village is the setting to some great stuff!
And MORE Kung Fu Granny please! Can't they just add her to Naofumi's harem HAHA now THAT I want to see. Some comedy added to his harem :D.
I am also really, really looking forward to this summer as one of my favourite isekai anime will come back: Re:Zero. I loved this show, it gives you the right combination of action, desperation, slice of life, harem and a generous pinch of groundhog day. All these isekai animes have harems, and I'm starting to get tired of it. Rising of Shield Hero, That time I got reincarnated as a Slime (which I REALLY loved by the way, NEXT SEASON PLS OK TNX), Knight's & Magic and etc. Although the latter is more of a mecha based story in isekai, basically the mecha software developer otaku's wet dream. Unfortunately there were only 13 episodes and I followed them in real-time a few years back (one of the few I followed in real-time). I guess I have a love-hate relationship with this genre. The whole moe-moe GOSHUJINSAMA thing is not really appealing to me as a woman. I didn't mind the opposite in Fushigi Yuugi tho ahem ahem. It's a bit too much, can y'all recommend me an isekai anime without all that? I will still watch them but roll my eyes at all the 'goshujinsama's.
Ohhhh .... ROLLS EYES. Of course you too, little cute one. Of course. Even tho this seems kinda illegal as he's practically her dad.
Lately I have stumbled upon this older Webtoon called God of Highschool, which is basically the Korean version of Dragonball in a Tenkaichi Budokai setting with Isekai tropes. We even get to see nyoibo again! And Ox King is a Queen in this version. These 'gods' are like stands in Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. It starts out with a tournament trying to decide the best fighter in South-Korea. The winner of the tournament can get their wish granted, any wish (sounds like DB yet?). But during this tournament people get extra powers that appear like stands. These are 'borrowed' powers (from Gods I guess, it's never really clear to me).
Hello there Sun Wukong, I mean Son Goku, I mean Mori Jin.. Monkey King!
Then we go on a ROLLERCOASTER, we go to isekai while this story is happening as well, go back to the real world, shit goes down, more shit goes down, fights are happening all over. The story is all over the place but somehow I am still holding on for dear life to my rollercoaster seat and definitely in for this ride. Crunchyroll announced that they will release the anime of this, and more! I will definitely check out these other Webtoons as well. The tower of God I already had in Dev's to read list, I will add some more to it after this trailer.
Well that's it for now I guess. I will go finish Beastars and watch some more anime. I want to know what your favourite isekai is, and are there any that I should watch? Am I the only one that gets this annoyed by harem? Let me know your opinions! Please don't attack me for hating harem.
