Horror Movies from Japan - Pt. 2

Hello! I'm back this week with my thoughts on Corpse Party and As the Gods Will. First up, is Corpse Party!

Corpse Party (link)

Game Play-though

It started out pretty dark as the lights were off in the haunted/abandoned school, but came back with some color. It really didn't seem so bad til I saw one of the evil beings murder someone...then I was scared and covering my eyes. Remember, I'm a scaredy cat that has to watch horror movies with the lights on. ^^;

Anyway, It was pretty close to the video game for the most part except that some characters were either replaced or missing from the script which I felt took away from the story. I also will NEVER EVER play Sachiko Ever After. Why? Because I don't want to risk being murdered by a vengeful spirit. 

One thing that I thought was weird was of the five spirits of Tenjin Elementary, one was more of a zombie than ghost. That made the movie 1000% more scary for me. ^^;

There's a post-credit scene, so watch to the end if you plan on seeing this. Japanese level of this movie is pretty advanced, so if you have been out of practice or a beginner, subtitles are your friend. 

If you love seeing guts and brains all over the place, this movie is right up your alley. You can watch the game play-through which is what I prefer over the movie.

As the Gods Will (link)

For my second movie this week, I watched As the Gods Will, based on the manga of the same name, or Kami-sama no Iu Toori (神さまの言うとおり). 

It jumped straight into the action with the heads of high school students exploding in a "game" called Daruma ga Koronda. It seems to be played like Red Light, Green Light except if you're caught moving, off with your head. This is just the opening, too. Aside from Daruma-san, Maneki Neko and some Kokeshi show up to "play" with the students as well. 

I haven't read the manga yet, so I'm lost as to who one of the characters was. There were also quite a few flashbacks that cleared things up, but some things were still confusing. This was pretty awesome, but if I were in the same situation as the main characters, I'm sure I would have died. If you play these games without the death, they could actually be pretty fun.

The Japanese level in this movie is also advanced, so you'll need the subs if you aren't on that level. There's lots of blood and a psycho in this movie, but not as much guts as Corpse Party. I actually was able to watch this without hiding, though Daruma-san is pretty creepy.   

Horror Movies from Japan - Part 1

It's Halloween season, so that means horror movies! Or, in this case, Japanese horror movies! This week, I watched Keitai Kareshi and POV: A Cursed Film. 

Keitai Kareshi (link)

Keitai Kareshi (Mobile Boyfriend) is about an app where girls can make their ideal boyfriend and exchange texts with him. The game is over when you reach 0% or 100% on the Love Meter. Doesn't sound so bad, right? What makes it scary is that if it's game over, the player dies. 

You can have your boyfriend taken by other girls if your love meter is too low which is pretty awesome as that could save your life.  

Another thing that makes it scary is the faces of the boyfriends. The're so creepy, I was pretty close to giving up on watching this. Trust me, they're more creepy than the opening music.  

Level of Japanese in this movie is beginner-intermediate, so it's easy to understand without the subtitles. If you want to see blood, there's not much of that in this movie. It may also put people off otome games or cause people to play them more depending on the person. CG in this is pretty bad, so some parts are more funny than scary. I'd say more, but I don't want to give away any of the good parts. ^x^

  

POV: A Cursed Film (link) 

The second movie is called POV: A Cursed Film which is a bit like home video footage that's being recorded by the crew of the web show that the main characters are on. 

One of the girls is being haunted by the spirits of her old junior high, so they go there to try to get rid of them with the help of a psychic. Things are pretty much normal until dark when crazy things start to happen. If ghost hunting is your thing, I'd say give this movie a shot.

There's disclaimers at the beginning to scare viewers, but that's how most movies like this start out. Again, no blood in this movie. Subtitles are necessary, though they're not very good...the person who added them thought they would use numbers to replace letters and question marks, sometimes making the subs more scary than the ghosts.

Anyway, if you like these types of movies, it's pretty good. It does start out slow at first, but got chills later in the story. I think it would be scary to watch it in the dark, which is NOT what I did. Sorry, I'm a scaredy-cat. ^^;;

Anime Review: Level E

Most of you are probably saying: "It's about darn time!"
And I'm saying it too. So without further ado, we will start to review anime instead of just recommending anime.

Reviewing is a tough game because, review too much and the good parts of the show are spoiled and review too little and no one knows what the heck your talking about. Reviewing too little can almost be like a Judge in a cooking anime... very vague... "This has so much flavor, and the texture is very rich, but the aroma!..."
They can make it work but we can't...

So I'm going to set up a review system. When you watch an anime there are certain things that we all look for. They are as follows: Character Development, Artistic Appeal, Opening and Ending Originality and Interestingness, and Plot Complexity. These are our FOUR anime judging qualities and by reviewing this way we can avoid spoilers, I think. So let's begin!

LEVEL E

Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Horror, Science fiction
Level E is about the prince of a planet called Dogura who comes to Earth to keep from being bored on his home planet. His name is Ki El Dogura but his nickname given to those who know him is Baka because he likes to play pranks to keep from being bored. Ki El Dogura is a genius and possesses one of the highest intelligences in the Universe. This show is about the various people he "influences" both from Earth and from other planets. This show is also about the prince's three bodyguards who serve as comic relief throughout the show.

 The Prince of Dogura is the main character

Character Development

Character development is low in Level E because the series is only 13 episodes long and is broken up into three mini-arcs about different people that the prince influences to pass the time. Some reviewers have said that they would like to see more of one character or another. I think the story would have been better if it was longer so each of the arcs could have more character development. 

Yukitka, the baseball jock that many people wanted to see more of in Level E. Was it because he acted a lot like Yusuke Urameshi from Yu Yu Hakusho?

Artistic Appeal

The artistic appeal of this show is good, it could be better to compare with other anime. The style of animation is a bit like a new Yu Yu Hakusho. Some scenes are aesthetic such as the depictions of space from Earth. 

Opening and Ending Originality and Interestingness

The opening and ending themes are both interesting. They are not that generic type of anime opening. I think the ending is better than the opening, that's just because I like male J-rock bands better. Check it out for yourself!

Level E Opening

Cold Finger Girl by Chiaki Kuriyama

Level E Ending

Yume Mugen No Kanata by Vivid

Sorry there's no ending theme on youtube...

Plot Complexity

How many times does the plot "get good" before the end of the series basically. Since the show has four mini arcs, each one has a suspenseful twist. This makes me recommend this show. But since it has four mini arcs you don't know much about the characters by the end. The message the show gives off is that aliens are just like us, they're no more good or evil than we are (well people in Japan).

OVERALL: RECOMMENDED