Elfen lied...Thumbs up

Elfen Lied
Synopsis
A humanoid test subject known as a Diclonius escapes from a lab somewhere, protected by some sort of supernatural powers. She literally paves her way through a sea of blood of her own making and falls into a sea after a failed attempt of stopping her permanently with a sniper.
A while later, the two cousins Kouta and Yuka comes over a naked girl with a peculiar set of horns on her head standing in the ocean. Without the ability to say anything but "nyu" and looking quite lost and forelorn, the two take her with them to their home, name her... well, Nyu, and let her live with them.
What they quickly learn, however, is that some sort of organization is after Nyu. And Nyu herself seems to have another personality within her. Who is Nyu? WHAT is Nyu? And just what is going on?
Review
I'll admit that it was the unusual name that drew me towards this series, and the artwork that reeled me in. And Elfen Lied DOES, in fact, have quite beautiful art. The settings, while not all that much in the way of variation, paints quite the scenic picture. And the characters all look quite good. Or, in Nyu's case, quite cute.
Cute, however, is not quite the description I have in mind for the series itself.
You see, the first ten minutes of this film does, in its own way, give you clear warning about what to expect. Excessive, bloody, redshirt violence abounds. People being torn apart, limb from limb -- and literally at that -- or exploding in a red haze of blood in a showing unlike anything I have ever seen earlier in ANY title. It's a good indication of what to expect, but you better believe Elfen Lied doesn't stop there. Oh no.
In fact, much of the series itself is devoted to quite a few of the darker, more callous factors of human nature; Our need to control everything, or have everything under control if you will, whatever the price might be. Our willingness or lack of edicts regarding non-human life. How social disuse (or misuse) influences ones growth and maturity. The topic of pedophilia and abandonment is even covered through the inclusion of another character, a young runaway girl named Maya.
And that is what really made my stomach churn about this series. Not as much the excessive violence, but the way things are set up. Case in point; Nana. She's one of the aforementioned Diclonius, with an age of around 14-15, and when we're introduced to her, she's naked, partly covered in blood and chained to a wall. And then, we get to know she's being experimented on. Subsequently, she is sent out with orders to hunt down and kill the escaped Diclonius, which she refuses because she don't want to kill anyone. A compromise is made, and she finally sets out to track her down. When she does find the escapee, she makes the mistake of confronting her on her own, and gets both her arms and feet ripped off in the process. Being considered useless by her "owners", she is to be put to sleep.
So why, you might ask, am I watching this series? Well, that would be because, despite all that's wrong with it, it IS a good series in the end. And while Kouta and Yuka are your (perhaps too) typical cousins, it's the characters -- the GOOD characters -- that makes the show work despite its dark imagery. With Kouta being in the center of attention, he soon becomes the focal point for a lot of the characters in the show. He becomes the ward of Maya and later also houses Nana, the other runaway Diclonius, who was set free instead of being killed like she was originally ordered to be. And this is the moments that draw you back to the show, along with the desire to find out just what happened with Kouta and Nyu long ago, a recurring event that gets prompted by sudden flashbacks at key moments. In fact, the pacing of this series is near perfect, only hampered with reused footage later on, something that I felt stretched out certain scenes to unnecessary lenghts. This doesn't really reach the point of badness. You'll just notice it.
Another thing that sorta stuck out with me was the few times this series tried to insert some comedic moments, mainly through the antics of Nyu. And while I appreciated the chance to release some of the tension I felt from watching this, some of the scenes, like the one where Nyu sees fit to grab Yuka's breasts for seemingly no reason, felt a bit wrong. Given the happenings just moments before, it came across as more awkward rather than funny.
I guess I should mention that this series DOES contain a lot of nudity. Given the nature of the show, this really shouldn't be a big deal. Besides, none of the nudity is of any sexual nature, save for the one where Maya's pedophile stepdad forces her to strip for him. And given her general underageness, the scene came across as creepy as it was intended to be. In either case; yes, there are nudity, and no, this really shouldn't concern you more than the violence and other unsavory events happening in this series.
My last worry about this show, and this was one that drove me to download the raw of the last episode, was that the show itself was going to degenerate into a depressing cesspool of sorrow and grief by its end. Given the show's rather angsty-at-times nature, I didn't think it was completely unwarranted of me to feel that way. Now, I'm not going to spoil anything for you, but I AM going to say that my fears were completely unfounded, much to my relief. Is it a happy-go-lucky ending? Maybe.... or maybe not. But you can rest easy and hold the anti-depressant prescriptions, because you will, at least, not be needing those.
There are so much more I could have said about this show, but I really need to wrap things up soon. Besides, it's just a 13 episode show, and there are just so much I can say before I start giving away major plot points. The show is well written and paced, no question about it. There'll be some things that will surprise you and some that won't. Granted, this show will also take any remnants of innocense left in you and flay it to shreds, but there are some genuinely sweet moments to be had inbetween the extremes and enough enjoyment to justify the pain you have to go through to see this. That is, if you think you can deal with it.Rating: I can't with good conscience give it a five star rating, however much I'd like to do so. It's a very special show, good and bad parts taken into consideration, but it just isn't for everyone.-->-->
I can't with good conscience give it a five star rating, however much I'd like to do so. It's a very special show, good and bad parts taken into consideration, but it just isn't for everyone. — Stig Høgset
Recommended Audience: Adults only. Not for the rampant nudity, but for the excessive violence and the rather graphic showcases of the darker sides of human natures.

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INFO SUMMARY

AKA: Elfin Song, Elven Song
Genre: Horror drama
Length: Television series, 13 episodes, 23 minutes each
Distributor: R1 DVD by ADV FilmsInfo: Elfen Lied © 2004 Okamoto Rin / VAP / GENCO
Status: Full (13/13)-->
Content Rating: 18+ (nudity, graphic violence, gore, portrayal of the dark side of human nature)
Related Series: N/A
Also Recommended: I have no idea what shows play out like this, even sans the violence. One THEM Boards member has described this as roughly being a cross between Akira, Midori no Hibi, and Ichi the Killer!
Notes: Elfen Lied literally translates as "Elven Song". And the title of the show, as well as the titles of all the episodes are in German. Also, the opening theme's art is done in a style reminiscent of the art of painter Gustav Klimt. In fact, all the images in the opening are copies of his most famous paintings, but with characters from the show itself in place of the original characters from the paintings

Rate:4/5

Laughing like jackasses....

Today i realized that although a digi-cam can be considered a very cool gizmo and an awesome gift for someone, sometimes it can ruin everything. I was trying to shoot some good image using sony's smile shutter feature. But the pics i got were unncadcxasvbvfbvcxabdkb(i made this sound when i saw how my pics came) take a look>

1)Shuvojit looks like a dislocated donkey.

2)Thats not me(Alarm!)

So bfore taking pics with your camera better read thru the manual

I guess manuals are there for helping us.

Case File3# Case of my missing eyes.

Hi friends time i post my new case file. thanx for the lovely mails all of u send in last week.
Place> My house
Victim> an Unfortunate me.
Criminal> The ever hungry Shuvojit(yes he is a friend too> but he is not a hairy freak)
Act> shuvojit came to my house to complete the bio project(seriously some teacher are purposeless) and mom as usual acting sweet and elegant(please! mom as if people dont know about your demonic form) serves us golgappa(no these are not desi Octopus balls Japanese eat(Seriosly octopus's have testicles????)) Anyways shuvojit always said his mom was not a food specialist and his gorilla(his retrosexual maid(woman)) only prepared ghaat(i couldnt spell properly> Its some kind of australian mud crap) and that he has grown in a mundane food situation(he gets 1 sandwitch for lunch; A banana and somthing that looks like a raped oppusum for dinner). But seriously when he ate my mom's golgappas i saw the -i can even eat a donkey now- expression on his face and he went down and over my food like a freakshow. What is saw made my eyes pop out and since then i havent found them. so mom got me spares.......But this time i wont try to mind boggle my readers without proof. so this time i got hold of my over molested digi cam and snapped some gross pics(weel how would i know??? i lost my eyeballs).

1)Shuvojit please thats not your fake teeth.

2)Shuvojit planning to drink imli juice in an empty golgappa.

3)I cant provide for u.
Moral of the story> If one of your dear friends flash their teeth too much and they have spotless white teeth then don't let them in your house and definitely don serve them food.

See i told u................ my friends ar..................... freakshows.

Boo Hoo Hoo I hate my life.

see ya later..............

Case File#2 Case of the missing buttons

Hi here's the new case File i was working on. Not much but yes it is highly uninteresting....

Place> Torture land (again> to know more reffer to my last case file: case of the missing goat(ee))
Victim> A teacher called Sassy.

The molester, oops! i mean criminal> Arnab Mitra(Also know as drool boy)

Backgroung of story> Practice for the patriotic song competition had started. Independance day was near and students in our class were practicing the song(we were compelled( Beat up with dil**s)) called Karar oi louho kapat(I dont know if this is an assamese song!). In our group there was arnab. We never knew what was his evil(slimy) intentions behind that piece of paper(held upside down with the song written on it). At intervals he grinned and sang(stained the paper in front with nose shit in the process bcos of sinus) and left us wondering.

Incident 1>

Day> day of the bang, i mean song competition(people had already gone insane> With five of his fingers(entire hand) in his ear ryudo was chanting> La! la! la! La!)

We were all dressed up in our Panjabis(traditional wears). Arnab got this collosal negligee(Sheesh! as if i don't recognise slut clothes) but his Panjabi(Please that is so a negligee) had no buttons and had an almost naval neckline. Arnab told me his problem. i had no idea what the problem was(since i didn't know what hideous thing he had to hide> "Stop imagining shuvojit. Arnab did not grow the boop fruit." ) I innocently asked sassy for a safety pin. She was obliged to give me and when i went ahead to pin up Arnab's neck line she asked me if she could do the honour(with the sarcastic grin that suggested that she took me for a lowly creature). She then saw the freakiest thing on Arnab's chest, a Hairy Tarantula and almost got an insulin shock(Coma for illeterates). All were there picking her up when i(i am soooo stupid) looked at Arnab's chest. it was no poisonous spider but pitch black hair that grew at the centre and looked like a hairy creeper was sprouting from arnab's center(but i swear i saw 2 glowing eyes in there)

END> Arnab gave me his scary grin and i don't know why i had the creepy feeling that he did this on purpose.

Moral of the story> never stay around people who grin and drool too much.

"WHY WHY DO I HAVE THE CREEPIEST AND HAIRIEST FRIENDS"> No offence Ryudo.

Hope u enjoyed this case file. Watch out for my next issue. I'll be back with lots more and maybe some new and cooler reviews. And yes i did take this picture of Arnab with my Digital camera.

Lunar legend> Tsukihime

Here is a review of a manga my friend liked>

Lunar Legend Tsukihime
Synopsis
After being gravely injured in a car accident, young Shiki gains the ability to see strange lines on the people and objects about him. A mysterious woman gives him a pair of glasses which suppress the lines to help him live a normal life and informs him to keep them until he needs to protect someone. Years later, Shiki is to move in with a sister he hasn’t seen since the accident.
Discomfort with his new living situation is perhaps the least of his worries though. Strange murders have the town in the grip of fear and Shiki himself is plagued by a strange nightmare relating to a beautiful blonde woman. When he encounters the woman, she has more than a few surprises to tell him. She claims that Shiki killed her. If that wasn’t shocking enough, she also reveals that she is a vampire.
Dark forces are stalking the night of Shiki’s city and soon he finds himself dragged into the center of it all as the truth behind his strange childhood ability is revealed to him. All the while he is still not sure if the mysterious vampire, Arcueid Brunestud, is a friend or foe.
Review
The opening episode of Tsukihime had me very intrigued. It set up some of the background, provided plenty of mysteries to hook the viewer, and was done in a style that really communicated some of Shiki’s fear and confusion. The opening sequence and music is wonderfully evocative and I ended up having high expectations. I must admit I’m a bit disappointed. It isn’t that Tsukihime is a bad show rather that from the opening few episodes, I honestly thought it was going to end up considerably more impressive.
Overall, the plot is rather intriguing. As I noted earlier, in the beginning there are a number of mysteries hinted at both regarding Shiki’s background and the motivations of several of the people (and beings) that he associates with. Many people around him seem to be much more than they appear at first. As each episode proceeds, the show did a good job of helping to reveal small clues and pieces of information to help keep me intrigued.
About half way through, though, I realized that something just wasn’t right. There were the mysteries, but given that they had already introduced some major supernatural elements, the plot flow felt somewhat stifled. As one of my fellow THEM reviewers put it: "It seems like this show might get good at any moment now." The mystery elements and plot hints were helping to heighten expectations but it felt a bit like they were just stalling.
Once the main plot really does begin to start flowing a bit more readily, a lot of the dramatic tension and impact of several of the events is somewhat dampened by an awkward alternation between the main plot elements and certain aspects of the character development episodes. The romantic relationships between some of the main character start to, somewhat abruptly, take center stage and the episodes centered around such elements disrupted the overall plot flow. I felt they could have done a better job of smoothly integrating those aspects into the plot.
The reason behind this awkwardness probably stems from the heritage of this show. Tsukihime was based on an independently produced computer game that basically is a horror/mystery with hentai and dating sim elements. The game was very popular in Japan and the Type-Moon group has apparently produced a number of sequels (as the original game was an early work). With that background in mind, it is easy to see why the show ended up the way it did especially with the various mysterious attractive women around and somewhat awkwardly handled romantic issues. However, Tsukihime rather wisely keeps its romantic focus rather than falling into the trap of being a supernatural harem show.
Ultimately, the show just feels a bit underdeveloped. I felt somewhat ambivalent about the romance aspects. The characterization in the title contributed heavily to this. Though I could understand the motivations of the characters, they for the most part, seemed underdeveloped. The show also leaned a bit too heavily on exposition for explanation rather than actual character development. Development of the primary romance subplot seemed a bit artificial as well.
For all the built up mystery and atmosphere, when I finally got to the conclusion of the title it just didn’t have as heavy an impact as I was expecting. The earlier noted awkward pacing weakened the tension and the final episode in some ways felt like a quick exercise in tying up loose ends. Without a deep investment in the characters, I ended up being a bit more apathetic.
I felt the character design and background work was fairly good. Though the first episode had a lot of creative visual pacing, from the second episode and continuing the show was a bit more standard in that regard. The animation itself is decent enough and for the most part serves its purpose. Most of the action scenes in this show were extremely brief. They aren’t bad, but the rather basic nature of the encounters doesn’t make them all that exciting either.
In terms of music, I was somewhat impressed by Tsukihime. While the string intensive orchestral soundtrack probably wouldn’t be something that a person would want to necessarily listen by itself, it was integral in helping setting the setting the atmosphere of the show. I particularly liked their choral opening. This was definitely not the type of show where you would want to stick some random J-Pop song in as the opening theme.
Perhaps if I hadn’t had such high expectations for this title I would not be as disappointed. Tsukihime, though somewhat entertaining and atmospheric, is a title that just doesn’t fully maximize its potential. Rating: Though the show did a fairly good job of generating atmosphere, awkward plot pacing in the latter half along with somewhat weak characterization take what could have been a great title and make it instead a simply average one. -->-->
Though the show did a fairly good job of generating atmosphere, awkward plot pacing in the latter half along with somewhat weak characterization take what could have been a great title and make it instead a simply average one. — Jeremy A Beard
Recommended Audience: Well, several people die in this title. Most of the violence tends to be rather brief. In the first few episodes there are supernatural beings that tend to just disappear when killed but things get a bit bloodier later on. Some of the most vicious wounding though is never shown directly. Later on, there is a implied sexual encounter though you are only show the couple together in bed right before with some brief kissing and right after, so this is far from hentai land. Overall, it is generally safe for teens and above.

Ok! see ya around

Bye. I have been reading up new stuff. so i'll publish my latest fave list very soon.

By the way this review is more about the anime. Read the manga to gather first hand experience.

Is beauty just skin deep???

Catch a glimpse of all these Holly beauties without their makeup.

Thats a shock.

I am working on my latest case file>#2 The case of the missing buttons. So keep a look out for my latest. Don't worry i'll be comin back with more reviews and my latest fav list very soon. Bye for now.........

Case File1# The case of the missing (goat)ee

Hi friends, this is my first case file> i'll try to make this as unintresting as possible.

Place> The place called torture land... oops! i mean school.
Victim> Chibi God Sagnik(or is it Shagnick), lets just call him by the name he likes to be called- > Ryudo(or was it Ryodu?)
Aim>To molest an innocent (Yeah right!) student.
Crime> Sagnik is too proud about anything black and hairy that sticks out from his skin(ewww!)
So he commited the henious crime of growing a very bushy gotee(the thing that looks like pubic hair and sticks out from your chin croch)
INCIDENT 1> It was 16th of July 2008. We the L.S.S.C(let's screw Sagnik club) as usual was waiting for him(to do our usual). but sagnik didnt come. Somebody informed us that Sagnik was caught for having a collosal tuft of thing under his chin. As far as the recent reports he was pulled out by using his goatee which was the root of all evil. Sagnik was send home as asked to shave of his thing> if it was possible and even after Shagnik gave all outrageous reasons like> its supposed to be realigious and its very special since i thing my first tooth is still somewhere in it(ewwww! gross) our strong willed principal spanked his lowly ass and send him home.
2> Sagnik's mom is really angry and she brings the family heirloom> the holy-demonic(????) chisel to uproot sagnik's hair bfore his dad could find out that his son got (*****) bcos of something as discrete as hair.... Sagnik's dad didnt react but history mentioned him as a scary man and he lived upto it. Yes u got it. later he -------------------------------------------------Sagnik(Fill up the blank with all the gruesome words possible.)
END> Sagnik did come to school . He had his (goat)ee shaved of(pulled out). Yes we were shocked but still the excessive amnt of ear hair that was sticking out was a scarier sight(Guess what happened?)people kept staring and then it became an old story but nobody had to see that horrible sight i had seen that day. while all were busy mentally and verbally scr***ng him i saw sagnik's Goatee down there in his Tiffin Box and he was all over it.
Moral of the story> If u think people like to look Fuzz free your wrong. some are umm! hair freaks. Check it out for yourself.

Sagnick looks a lot scarier in real life. and he's got DBZ like hair. OH MY GOD!

Note> I took special permission from Ryudo to post this case file and seriosly i hope i didn't offend anyone (especially if u like to stay grizzly too) and i hope u liked the special flavour i added to one of the most uninteresting events of my life. Bye then.................

The end of Aang

AVATAR>
Finnaly Avatar the last Air Bender(legend of Aang) comes to a close and rather beautifully. I saw the last few episodes that released on the 19 th of last month. Ep 16 and 17 were realesed some days bfore while the last 4 epps were collectively shown on Nicklodean as a movie over a span of 2 hrs(the 4 parts of epp Sozin's comet)

In my post i am not going to write an eppisode synopsis since i am sure all Avatar fans out there(who haven't seen the last few episodes) know what happened and surely i am not going to go in much more details(it might turn out as spoilers) but i will list some points i liked and disliked about the show's dramatic ending>

Likes:

1) The agni kai between Azula and Zuko at the very end was amazing, although it was Katara who ended the fight with Azula. At the very end u actually feel sorry for her bcos of her disturbed past.

2) The battle between Fire lord Ozai and avatar Aang was awesome too. But it seemed more like a turn based butt whipping. First Ozai whips Aang and then aang gets into his avatar state and whips him back to win the day. But the turning point was how Aang did it. He defeated him without harming him(or killing him)> i'll let u guess!!!!!!!!!!!

3) And yes everything falls in place and we get to see a cute ending.

4)The ending was big and felt very correct.

Dislikes:

1) The mystery of Zuko's mom(as in what happened to her) was never explained although at the very end Fire lord Zuko(oops! a spoiler) asks the captive ex fire lord(moron)> "Where is my mother?".

2)For all Zutara fans, Bad luck they don't hook up.

3)For such a hyped season ending it was a bit melo. I felt it was just abrupt but anyways i felt the ending was done very beautifully(it ended with the Aang katara kiss. ewwwww! it felt so pedoish. soory about that. No hard feelings)> I know i cant make up my mind. all i wanted was that the ending just spanned over a few more epps.

Gallery:

THE END>

Jeff and his puppets

Friends have u ever seen Jeff Dunham's puppet shows. They are hilarious. Jeff has done a brilliant job as a ventriloquist. As far as i know he holds stage shows with 5 of his puppets mainly

>Peanut the pink woozle.(thats him in the pic)

>Walter the grumpy ol' man(he's there too)

>José Jalapeño on a Stick(u can guess what that is)

>Bubba J

>Sweet Daddy d

>Achmed the dead terrorist(the skeleto in the pic. Duh!)

>Melvin the superhero guy.

Learn more about him> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Dunham (this video will show a ten min show of jeff with his puppet> Achmed(my fav))

*He has released two seasons on two DVD's> sea 1: Sparks of Insanity and sea2: Arguing with myself*

Friends forever....

Finally the day's here.

HAPPY FRIENDSHIP DAY.....