Top 5 Animes

If you could tell from my Twitter, Hear My Roar, or hell, my life in general, I love anime with every fiber of my being. Unknowingly, I started watching anime since I was 5 (Sailor Moon) and it just carried over into my pre-teen years, shaping my likes and dislikes in many, many things. I have a hard time watching American cartoon shows because the diverse anime culture is just so engrossing. So of course, the list of my top 5 animes of all time was bound to be created and posted. Lo' and behold, my list! Maybe we'll have somethings in common :).

5. Kimagure Orange Road: Holy crap I love this show! And I really shouldn't! I've only seen three episodes, and those were in Japanese with English subtitles. I have no idea what this show is even about! But I saw it once and it stuck with me! My grandmother and I rented it from our local Blockbuster (why a Texas Blockbuster had a Japanese audio anime when it didn't even have Yu-Gi-Oh! is beyond me) and I just never let it leave my psyche.
From what I've gathered, the show is about this guy who moves to a new city, and his whole family has psychic powers that they have to keep hidden from society, like anyone would do when they have powers, obviously. The guy, of course, is in high school and finds himself caught in the heartstrings of two girls who are best friends.
Goal of the Series: Try to keep powers in check while balancing between two girls. Way to go, Japan. Sad part is, only one of them's hot.

4. Yu Yu Hakusho: I wasn't surprised to find myself latching onto this, especially as a teenager. Jr. High kid with spirit powers who fights hot demons? They practically made this show for me. There were hot demons, super powers, hot demons.... yes, that was criteria for good anime when I was young.
Anyway, it starts off with this delinquent kid named Yusuke Urameshi who does one thing right in his life -pushing a kid out of the way of a speeding car- and is promptly killed by said car. Bummer. Well, he comes back to life with spiritual powers and must use them to stop demonic crime as a spirit detective. He winds up gathering together a team with demons and humans alike, and they have their adventures.
Goal of the Series: Kick some demon tail and keep the Human World safe.

3. Death Note: I don't think I've met a single person who's seen the show dislike it. Death Note is definitely a button pusher about handsome honor student Light Yagami, who discovers a powerful notebook with the power to kill any person whose name is written in it. Light decides to use the notebook to kill criminals and create a perfect world filled with innocent people, soon receiving the name Kira by the public. His decision, however, is seen by the International Crime Police Organization as another form of murder, and they turn to ace, major ace, detective L to catch and arrest Kira. Soon, L and Kira embark on a battle of wits and logic in the mind-game of the century! The show really made me think about where I stood on a lot of issues, and I really enjoyed seeing the cat-and-mouse game L and Kira set up for each other. It's a smart show, which really sets it apart from most popular anime that made it to America.
Goal of the Series: Discover and catch Kira while forcing the audience to face their own moral beliefs on how far is too far for a good cause. And if Light or L is hotter.

2. Saiyuki: A tale of no romance, just bro-mance, traveling, and fighting! In this world, demons and humans live together in harmony. Well, they used to, before demons randomly started going crazy and attacking their human neighbors. Oops. Contrary to popular belief, there was some demonic wave that made the demons go crazy and not based on their assumed natural violent tendencies. Buddhist priest Genjo Sanzo is sent with three demons to India to stop the demoness controlling the wave and her plot to revive an ancient, human-hungry demon. It's funny and almost pointless, but I absolutely adore it. I don't have to think too hard, there's plenty of fight scenes, and the guys are hot. WOOT!
Goal of the Series: Travel to India to save the world and touch many lives along the way. Will they make it? NOBODY FRIGGIN' KNOWS!! Seriously, the whole anime is just them traveling to India. As far as I know, they've never reached their destination.

1. Black Blood Brothers: By the time vampire-centered anime became popular in America, I was through with them. I didn't know pop culture could make me so sick of pretty, blood-sucking, supernatural creatures, but it happened. Then Black Blood Brothers came along and stood out. This one is.... complicated to explain. There's vampire segregation, there was a war, and just a lot of mess that's a lot easier to watch than try to type out. It's only 12 episodes, but it's really good and really fun to watch. I was surprised how easily I got into the show and not just the sexy Jiro Mochizuki and Zelman Clock. If you want a big human vs vampire smackdown, this isn't the show for you, but it's still a fun, short show to get into. There are some cool fight scenes, beautiful animation, and minimal, very minimal romance.
Goal of the Series: Settle down in the "Special Zone", a city in....China? Japan? You know, I'm still not quite sure. Time to watch it over again!

Well, that's my top 5 anime shows, and I'm actually a little surprised how that turned out. I'm proud of myself for not sticking to nostalgia and actually picking shows I actually find some kind of value in. Hm. Nice going, me.

Top 5 Historical Dramas

Newsflash guys: I'm a MAJOR history buff. I honestly enjoy finding out useless pieces of historical drama and watch (hopefully) Oscar-worthy actors chew scenery in historical dramas. It's like watching the past come to life! So without further ado, here are my top 5 historical dramas! LIGHTS!!!

5. The Other Boleyn Girl: This movie is about the seduction of Henry VIII. No, I'm not joking. Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson play sisters (Anne Boleyn and the lesser-known Mary Boleyn) who (with their father and uncle's urgings) vie for the heart of King Henry VIII (played by Eric Bana)..... who happens to already be married to Catherine of Aragon. Since he's a king, it's not just his bed they're jumping in; it's a political pool of sharks and religious piranha that wind up changing a nation. Sex is waay too powerful in this world. History spoils the ending for everyone, especially if you know your Elizabethan history. Or just know how many times Henry pulled this crap.

Still, I really enjoy this movie. Natalie Portman regained my respect with her portrayal of the devious Anne Boleyn and Kristen Scott Thomas (playing her mother) really blows me away. The others? Eh. I like the story though.

4. The King's Speech: This time, everyone loved this movie, not just me! The Academy Awards back me up! This movie was fabulous, gripping, and about so much more than someone with a speech impediment. Colin Firth plays the future King George VI, who, from a young age, has been plagued with a speech impediment. Since his role as a public figure requires him to speak to the public, his wife (Helena Bonham Carter) recruits failed actor-turned speech therapist (the FANTASTIC Geoffrey Rush) to help her husband. What starts as a professional relationship blossoms into a fierce friendship that touched my heart and really made the movie for me. The cast was fabulous, including Dumbledore (Michael Gambon as King George V), the pacing fit, and it was just.... !!!!!

3. Elizabeth: The Golden Age: The ever-amazing Cate Blanchett reprises her role as Queen Elizabeth I in this sequel to the 1996 film Elizabeth, which now deals with the upcoming execution of Mary Stuart and the fame Spanish Armada. This was the Elizabeth I always wanted to see! She was fearless and proud, yet vulnerable to the wants of a woman at the same time. I cried at her bravery and the personal sacrifices she made to be queen of her country! Geoffrey Rush returns as her bamf advisor Walsingham and Rhys Ifans even has a part to play in this riveting film. For everyone else, there's a dashing Clive Own. Let us feast!

2. Alexander: This long-ass, but amazing movie about the life of Alexander the Great (directed by Oliver Stone) is a life-long top 10 for me. We have here an all-star cast of Colin Farrell (Alexander himself), Angelina Jolie (his mother, Olympias) Val Kilmer (his father, Phillip) Jared Leto (his best friend/lover, Hephaestion), Rosario Dawson (his barbaric wife, Roxanna), and Anthony Hopkins....being Anthony Hopkins. Honestly, the man pretty much plays the same character in every movie: epic. We see everything from Alexander at 5 years old, hanging out with his snake-loving, jealous, Oedipus-complex inducing mother, to his legendary conquest of most of the known world, to his dying days as a heartbroken shell of the courageous man he used to be. It's a tale that inspires awe and thought, and brings up the questions: How much is too much? How far is too far? Does one become a legend by chasing them, or creating one of their own? I wish Oliver Stone would do another version of it, just to see more of Alexander's personal life, especially his relationship with the beautiful Hephaestion. Yes, I ship that. So does history.

1. Anonymous: A movie I waited to see for almost a year. A movie I screamed at my theaters for not releasing on time. A movie I saw twice in two days when we finally did get it. A movie I bought the day of the DVD release. The movie that- okay, I'll stop now.
This is pretty much the most expensive campaign for the Oxfordian theory of the authorship of Shakespeare's works anyone could ever make. Did the movie change my mind about who wrote those works? No, but I enjoyed every moment of it. Rhys Ifans in his first real starring role plays the Earl of Oxford, Edward de Vere, a closeted poet and playwright, who busts out his hand-dandy quill again to, via plays (the only form of entertainment for poor people), convince the public to support the Earl of Essex to succeeded the aged Queen Elizabeth form behind the scenes. He originally gets Ben Jonson to put the plays out anonymously, but a drunken Will Shakespeare takes the credit instead. Oh dear. Guess who becomes Edward's literary beard? It's not just a political snakepit, there's also romance, tragedy, and devious plots to fill up the time. My first two viewings consisted of me watching Rhys Ifans with a dreamy smile on my face and sighing. The film also stars Twilight's Xavier Samuel, Harry Potter's David Thewlis, mother-daughter duo Vanessa Redgrave and Joely Richardson (who both play Elizabeth), and Twilight's Jamie Campell Bower as a young Edward.

Whew. That was a lot of ensembles that I didn't notice until I made this blog. Well, my geek secret's out. I will wave my freak-flag high. PRIDE!!