Legend of Lu Zhen (2013) 陆贞传奇

the story followed Luzhen, a young girl from a wealthy pottery merchant family. she was well-versed with her father's business and loved dearly by her father. when she was targeted by her stepmother, her father was killed and she was said to be the killer. eventually she escaped into the palace as a trainee. to avenge her father's death, she had to rise through the ranks for a position of Prime Minister. as she fell for the second prince Gaozhan, the odds were stacked against them and further complicated by the jealousy from princess Huanyun who married his brother Gaoyan, the king.

with all the threats and sabotages, there were never a dull moment as the drama progressed and we followed Luzhen's growth as a politician. she had to navigate through plenty of traps created by different people throughout her different ranks just to stop her from being even more successful. due to her intelligence, she got through the mess just fine, sometimes with the help of good people, sometimes even from her foes. even their love story had to be anything but smooth sailing. every time the duo got together, things only got heated up, soon they would get discouraged by a certain situation only to get back together again.

Toaru Majutsu no Index: Endymion no Kiseki (2013)劇場版 とある魔術の禁書目録 エンデュミオンの奇蹟

the story took place in Academy City. just before the completion of the space elevator Endymion, Kamijou and Index came across a level zero esper named Arisa. before they were able to figure much out about her, the magicians started attacking Academy City. they soon found out that the magicians were after Arisa. while a leader named Shattoaura was instructed to lead an army against the attack, the friends learned that Arisa was in fact the key that brewed the war between Magic and Science.

like all of the previous sequels of the series, the movie was equally entertaining as well as action packed. the story started out with the everyday lives of a group of friends. things started to change after they knew about Arisa, a seemingly normal girl that held the biggest secret of all. despite the terrifying powers these youngsters had, they had such normal sides of them that made the show both intense as well as hilarious at the same time.

Hand Me Down (2012)

Liz was a 14-years-old that spent her whole life protecting her younger sister Jaime. once a seemingly perfect family, her father started hitting their mother the moment she refused to give her money for boozes. after their divorce, her mother got together with an ex-convict that assaulted women. he continued to taunt Liz and harassed her until she was sent to live with Aunt Tammy in another town. despite being free from her stepfather's sexual harassment, Liz found it difficult to feel safe anymore.

the first half of the book was awfully depressing as i felt like i was being harassed as well. the urge to fight back was as strong as throwing the book down. but as i forced myself through the pages, the changes that happened when Liz was thrown into Aunt Tammy's life, or even Aunt Deborah's life. each of these household was different but decent in their own ways. the conflict remained until she finally revealed the truth and was finally given a real home. there was a memorable fight near the end of the book, which turned out to be extremely satisfying and made the suffering of going through the first half of the book absolutely worthwhile.

Kagaku na Yatsura (2013) カガクなヤツら

the story followed a high school boy named Haruki and his high school friends Airi and Ayana. Airi was a cyborg girl while Ayana was a half-dog girl. the 2 girls often went into the extreme with science, which often got Haruki in troubles.

the OVA was only 1-episode long with plenty of absurdity, very much like Seikon no Qwaser (2010) only with a high school backdrop. the plot was rather straightforward as the girls got Haruki into situations that all required the girls to get him out as well. with only 1 episode, there weren't much depth or character development possible.