Update 2/23/15

So you all are probably angry at me for breaking my promise of posting every Sunday. Life is a cruel thing. I promise...give me a few more weeks and I will be back on a regular schedule. So let's begin.

Guys, I am feeling lost again. This is the downside to my depression. I am usually able to hold it back but when I put on a farce, such as being an extrovert at work, I struggle to hold it back and I start to feel horrible where I don't want to do anything and just sleep. If this carries on I may need to talk to my doctor...or get a therapist. It scares me that I am not okay that something in my brain triggers these emotions and then I take it out on you guys by not uploading my blog because I'm not feeling up to it. I apologize. Shazai shimasu.

So today, you guys are going to get two blog updates.

Let's begin.

Anime Review: Laughing Under the Clouds

Guys, I am a loser. I spent ALL of Valentine's Day working. I was working seven to one on my last Saturday at my desk job and then two to six at the clinic. Did you all have any fun plans? Yes? No? Well either way, I hope you enjoyed your Saturday. Even if you didn't celebrate a silly commercial holiday about fattening up your loved ones with candy that will be stale in a month and flowers that will wilt in two days. My favorite presents for Valentine's Day are stuffed animals. I've bought my sister's stuffed animals several years in a row (not this year though...unfortunately). They even bought me a stuffed monkey once. 

But you didn't come here to listen to me ramble about Valentine's Day. You came to listen to me ramble about anime. 

Well I've got a great one for you. One of my favorite shows of 2014. Laughing Under the Clouds. 

This was one of the first shows that FUNimation tried their BroadcastDub on and I would say it worked. Here is the list of the cast: 

Tenka Kumo - Yuichi Nakamura/Christopher Wehkamp

Soramaru Kumo - Yuki Kaji/Dave Trosko

Chutaro Kumo - Tsubasa Yonaga/Terri Doty

Shirasu Kinjo - Takahiro Sakurai/Robert McCollum

Botan - Rina Sato/Morgan Garrett

Hirari Abeno - Kenichi Suzumura/Micha Solusod

Nishiki - Mamiko Noto/Jaime Marchi

Sousei Abeno - Kosuke Toriumi/Eric Vale

Kliko Sasaki - Sayaka Ohara/Colleen Clinkenbeard

Seiichirou Takamine - Hiroki Yasumoto/Christopher Sabat

Mutsuki Ashiya - Yuki Fujiwara/Clifford Chapin

Zenzou Inukai - Takahiro Fujiwara/Cole Brown

Rakuchou Takdea - Hiro Shimono/Joel McDonald

Naoto Kagami - Shinichiro Miki/Ian Sinclair

Kotaro Fuma - Koji Yusa/J Michael Tatum

Taiko Kumo - Keiji Fujiwara/Sonny Strait

Kagemistu Kumo - Daisuke Kishio/Josh Grelle

There are so many awesome things about that list. And if any of you follow me on Twitter you have seen that I am having an intense voice love with Clifford Chapin's voice. Oh my. 

Now a thing that is my absolute favorite thing about this show. The music. It is so beautiful and fitting for the show. I don't think they could have chosen better. The first opening is Biran no Kaze by Ryuji Aoki and the second opening is Ruten no Hi by the same artist. Now I was sad that they used to openings but the second opening is as fitting as the first one. They pull out the emotions in the show plus keep your eyes peeled on the animation because it changes a lot and hints at things happening in the show. Now my absolute favorite part of the music...the ending. Oh man is this the coolest ending ever. Japanese symphonic metal band Galneryus offered forth Attitude to Life which is a beautiful song, take a listen: 

It fits the show to a T and offers an amazing ending to each episode. 

This twelve episode anime ran in Japan from October 4th, 2014 to December 20th, 2014. The English run was from November 1st, 2014 to January 24th, 2015. If you haven't seen either of them, I totally recommend it. 

This series earns a 10 out of 10 for me. 

Funimation Anime Streaming

So a while back I did a review of Crunchyroll and how they are as a streaming service. So I have decided to break down my thoughts on a different streaming service that I use: Funimation. I have an Elite Subscription with Funimation where I have access to their complete online archives and simulcasts. This includes Subbed and Dubbed anime, Interview, Extras, and Online Specials.

I like watching shows on the website and then watching shows on the Xbox app, but I have complaints about the iPhone/iPad app. I am not a fan of it. Yeah over the course of me having it Funimation has improved it, but I don't like the basic set-up. The iPad/iPhone app is hard to navigate because of the fact that you can't just look at Simulcast shows or at Dub only shows. You have a a few filter options: All Shows, Most Recent, Most Popular. Then it gets a little more specific: TV Rating, Genre, and Video Quality. Yeah you can go to videos and look at the most recently uploaded videos but it's just a little bit too much work for this app being a convenient way to watch Funimation shows from your mobile device.

I strolled on over to my iPad's App Store and looked at both the FUNimation Free app (which as the name states is free) and the FUNimation app (which is $9.99). I do not want to pay $9.99 plus tax on an app for a service I pay a monthly fee for to only watch it every so often. Anyway, the point is, I looked at reviews for both apps by users. This is what everyone had to say:

FUNimation Free App

1. Pay wall for members = Bad idea by TomTheG on 2/17/2015

"I pay for a membership, yet funimation makes you pay extra for basic app functionality like a favorite list? Ridiculous! I only gave two stars because the app lets you watch videos well enough, though it could be organized better. When members can access basic functions (like we can with crunchy roll), this app gets better review."

2. Finally Works! by Mr. Protocol on 2/1/2015 

"Previous versions have been so buggy as to be unusable. I was rather surprised to see that, for me at least, the current version actually works, and let's me select and watch episodes without crashing. What a concept!"

3. Really funimation by obscured mirage on 2/8/2015

"I been a premium subscriber to funimation for a while. I decided to get the app so I can watch anime on my phone while at work but I have to pay for the other app which is better. Like really I hate that and Im way better getting crunchy roll their app is much cleaner and is I'm premium there I don't have to pay more money to get the app." 

FUNimation App

1. Perfect :3 by Keidamesu on 2/12/2015

"I find this amazing. I have a premium account here, and on crunchyroll, and I'd have to say if it weren't for 2 or 3 animes that are in crunchy, or if Funimation had them, I'd only use Funimation. 

The selection is huge, and there is no lack of new episodes. 

My favorite thing about the app, is a reminder that goes off the day a new episode comes out (you select the animes that send you notifications). 

I just don't like how that happens to be 12am haha

App is amazing, 9.5/10"

2. Good but can be improved by Puggy12321 on 1/20/2015

"I do appreciate this app however there are several issues such as log in problems and most of the shows that are on the website are not on the app. I do understand you may be limited but there may be other ways. Also an awesome feature to add is offline service like being able to download selected episodes and be able to watch them as you please. Plus there are still adds! Why!" 

3. Pretty good, but needs work by MattMasterJohn on 1/24/2015 

"It's a good app, there's just a few things that should be changed. 1.) since it's a paid app, there should be no advertisements on it. 2.) Maneuverability through shows could be improved. Maybe even search the shows through genre instead of by alphabetical order. 3.) show what episodes we have watched of an anime. 4.) It would be nice if it had Chromecast support." 

These aren't all the reviews I found, nor do they represent what I feel about the app. I figured that I would share what others had found about the apps rather than what I myself had thought. 

Overall I give Funimation streaming services an 8 out of 10 (pending future improvements to the apps). 

What are your thoughts on Funimation's streaming services? 

Winter Anime

It is once again that time of season where I tell you exactly what I am watching. Some of the shows featured in this section may not have started in the Winter 2015 season (but I'll have those in a separate category). Let's start this! 

Winter 2015 Simulcast

Absolute Duo (FUNimation)

Tokyo Ghoul (FUNimation)

Unlimited Fafnir (Crunchyroll) 

Kuroko no Basuke (Crunchyroll)*

World Break (Cruncyroll)**

Fairy Tail (Crunchyroll)**

Naruto Shippuden (Crunchyroll) 

The Testament of Sister New Devil (Crunchyroll) 

Sailor Moon Crystal (Crunchyroll) 

Aldnoah.Zero (Crunchyroll)

*Note: I started watching KnB on Daisuki but because I fell behind and all the commercials, I decided to watch it on Crunchyroll instead. 

**Note: These shows are available on FUNimation as well. 

What Winter Simulcasts are you watching? These are the ones that I have been currently keeping up with (as well as I can). 

Side Shows

D-Frag! (FUNimation) 

Say "I Love You" (Crunchyroll) 

Tokyo Ravens (FUNimation)*

Tokyo Ghoul (FUNimation)**

World Break (FUNimation)**

Fairy Tail (FUNimation)*

*Note: This show is the English dub of the series. 

**Note: This is the BroadcastDub of the current series.

So getting to this portion of the shows I am watching...Tokyo Ravens. Guys. You have no IDEA how excited I am about this. I have been waiting impatiently since they announced the dub. I can't wait to share my review with you! Now Tokyo Ghoul...they dropped a lot of voices in this and it works. I can't wait to see more and I can't wait to see season one dubbed. The one that really got me though, World Break. If you remember a little bit ago where I said I ranted about Clifford Chapin being amazing in Tokyo Ravens on Twitter, well when I saw the BroadcastDub of World Break...I'm lucky my phone was far away from me because I would have been on twitter blowing up poor Mr. Chapin's twitter about how amaze-balls I think he is as an actor. 

Enough of that though. You're probably wondering about the D-Frag! and Say "I Love You". See I have always been kind of interested in D-Frag! but I never got around to watching it. So in my spare time when I'm not doing homework or playing catch-up, I am watching D-Frag! The other show that I have my eyes open to is Say "I Love You". I've seen this show completely and I just chose to re-watch it as a feel good show to help me on my bad days. It's working so far. I love it so much and wish that I could have a cute day like Mei does. 

What shows have you been watching to make you feel good? 

Characters of the Week

Because I have been so rude. Here are my two characters that I am putting into the spotlight this week: 

Sebastian Michaelis from Kuroshitsuji "Black Butler". 

Literally the demonic butler to the Phantomhive household. He is voiced by Daisuke Ono and J. Michael Tatum. If you haven't heard of this one hell of a butler, I say you pop on over to Funimation and catch up on all three seasons. 

Takumi Usui from Maid-sama. 

This handsome English-Japanese boy falls head over heels in love with the protagonist Misaki Ayuzawa. At times he almost seems inhuman, yet, he is perfectly imperfect. He is voiced by Nabuhiko Okamoto and David Matranga. Fall in love with him too in Maid-sama available to watch on HuluPlus. 

Well guys...that is it for this week. So sorry about missing last week. I promise I will try to get this sorted out before it affects you all again. Thank you for being patient with me. 

See you next week! 

Ja ne! 

xx Kat

=^.^=