Hello!
Welcome to The Anime & Manga Review!
It has been my dream to create a world on TheO where users can go for anime and manga reviews and finally here it is! I plan to make this world an active, exciting and helpful place for learning about and finding entertaining manga and anime to read/watch.
LUCIFER AND THE BISCUIT HAMMER
Alternate titles: Hoshi no Samidare, Samidare’s planet／star
Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Romance, Seinen, Supernatural
Author: Mizukami Satoshi
Oddly not the strangest name for a manga I’ve ever seen, but still very weird. So what is it about? This is a VERY unique, interesting and great story! The story begins with our main character waking up to find a lizard on his bed nothing sums it up like the first two pages of the manga itself “One mourning I woke up. There was a lizard in my room. We stared at each other. And the first to break the silence… was him.”
When I read that I was hooked. The lizard then continues to introduce himself to Amamiya, our main character, and explains that Amamiya is the lizard knight, has the ability to use special powers and is destined to fight against the golems and the Mage to save the world from being smashed by the biscuit hammer. Understandably he has problems accepting this which leads to fun scenes.
He is then introduced to the princess, and other main character, Samidare. It is then that the princess recruits him to help her defeat the mage so that she may be the one to destroy the world. By now you’re thinking this is a silly silly manga with no serious moments but you couldn’t be more wrong. As Samidare and Amamiya meet with the other knights there’s an intense tension that's built from their desire to save the world and Samidare and Amamiya’s secrete desire to destroy it. The knowledge that this will mean they will eventually have to fight their friends and turn against the world creates a surprising amount of tension.
Their battle is intense despite the strange premise, and you feel connected to the characters both in the manga’s good and bad moments. You might even find yourself crying.
Personally I love this series because it has everything I love in a manga! Its funny, but is also heartfelt and serious, it has great action scenes but doesn’t focus just on the battles.
I strongly recommend this manga to anyone who wants an interesting and unique scifi/action/drama/comedy and to anyone who’s just looking for something new and different. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed!
Have you read this manga? did you go read after seeing this? Just want to comment?
Feel free to discuss this here! ^-^
10 anime I’ve never seen, but are on a ‘top ten anime you should see before you die’ list, looked good and now I am watching them.
For those curious what they are here's a link to the list I'm using: LINK
Man that’s a long name for my first ever segment on this world! But I do think this is a good place for a review site to start! As I watch these anime I shall be posting who would like it, who wouldn’t, and my opinions on them! My personal rules for these are 1.) I must finish the anime (every last episode!) before I can post! 2.) I must give no spoilers 3.) I must watch them in a timely manor! No more than 20 days between posts! If I post on the 1st of the month I have to post again by the 20th! 4.) If I break a rule I must make a wallpaper for every person that's commented on any post in this series of posts. (Luckily I’m not expecting many commenters! ^-^)
Ok let’s do this!!!
First up Paranoia Agent!
Ok Paranoia Agent… where to start?
Well first off I enjoyed it and it was weird. I had wanted a nice normal first review for my new world… but oh well, at least this anime was interesting!
Created by Satoshi Kon. Having seen a lot of his work I can tell it is very much his style. In case you don’t recognize the name, some of his other famous works are Tokyo Godfather, Millennium Actress and Paprika. Paranoia Agent is actually kinda similar to Paprika in style of story and art. If you’ve seen Paprika you know what I mean, for those who haven’t here’s a bit of a plot synopsis.
Paranoia Agent follows the evolution of Shounen Bat, a boy who has been (seemingly) indiscriminately riding his golden roller blades and attacking people with his ku shaped golden bat (ku looks like this “く”). His victims don’t die but they do get injured. Each episode focuses on a different victim and the events that led up to the attack. The real fun in this anime is seeing how all of the victims are related in a chain, showing you really are just three people away from knowing everybody!
Ok opinion time!
My initial reaction to watching the anime occurred during the opening credits to the anime… “Hmmm” I thought, “all the characters are laughing and smiling! But something’s off about it…” As the show progressed I came to the realization that they were laughing with tears of desperation. The theme is really a microcosm for the anime in that all the weird imagery in the opening makes complete sense at the end. Watching all the pure strangeness of this anime come together to a glorious conclusion is really very fun! (This is something I noticed Satoshi Kon likes to do.) In addition to that this anime explores a vast verity of plots and animation style that make it special and unusual.
Overall?
I’d say it’s for people who like a good physiological mystery and drama but also for those who want to try out something different, unique and odd. If you’re a fan of Paprika or Inception or other things like that then this is a must watch!
You wouldn’t like this anime if 1. Weird’s not your thing… you want a straight forward reality in your anime 2. You aren’t looking for a drama 3. You’re not looking for something that will make you have to think a bit.
Rating: If it were to play in an American theater it’d probably be PG-13 for violence, some adult situations and cursing. All in all it’s not as violent as the plot synopsis would make you think. There is a little sexual content but not much is shown so much as suggested.
Hehehe Here’s a fun section I am going to try to put at the end of reviews! (May contain slight spoilers and this doesn’t count to my no spoilers rule)
Things Learned
(But are only funny after you’ve seen the anime and maybe not even then…)
The bond between a girl and her dog can be a dangerous thing…
Trains hurt more than you’d think.
Golden roller blades look kinda cool…
Red capes, goggles, and a radio. That’s all you need.
