Timorous.

his voice tight with an anxiety that strummed through the air. his trousers an inch too long, trailing on the wet pavement. his old leather jacket was pulled up against the bitter night, but misbuttoned. she could picture his trembling fingers as he hurried out for this midnight meeting. he glanced around the park, anxiety sharp against rage. beside him, the mastiff panted, filling the silence, tongue lolling as it strained against the short leash.

暗いに対して震え。

Fate/Zero (2011) フェイト/ゼロ

Fate/Zero (2011) is a prequel to Fate/Stay Night (2006). Fate/Zero (2011-2012) will be separated into 2 seasons, taking a break between episode 13 and 14, for animation enhancements. the story took place 10 years before Fate/Stay Night (2006). it focused on the events of the 4th Holy Grail War, from summoning the 7 heroic spirits to battling for their lives and victory. the war was a contest among the 7 spirits to obtain the power of the Holy Grail, which will grant miracles. the Einzbern family was determined to achieve success after the previous 3 failures.

the first few episodes slowly refreshed our memories of who everyone was, though i long forgotten its details. the spirits may seemed vividly familiar, but as for their masters of this generation, was far from being familiar. the biggest difference between the 2 anime, was how the master view their servants. in this anime, the heroic spirits were merely magical tools for its master to achieve victory; where else in Fate/Stay Night (2006), the spirits were considered friends, where master struggled to keep their spirits safe from harm. for having as much as 7 pairs of characters, it was expected to be slightly confusing for some, but still interesting enough to watch despite starting out being slightly slow-paced.

Women of the Otherworld #10: Frostbitten (2009)

after the first (Bitten, 2001) and second (Stolen, 2003) book, the tenth book finally returned its focus to Elena the werewolf. Jeremy their Alpha decided to name her his next successor. with stress building up inside her, Elena ran across the globe chasing down a mutt, which led to the discovering of gruesome killings deep in the Alaska frozen forest. with Clay, they found out that a pair of man-eating rogue were responsible for the missing people, it was calling more than enough attention to itself, threatened to expose the werewolf community. while Elena and Clay chase against time to stop these killers, they came across creatures so ancient that no one knew they existed outside legends.

after struggling to complete reading Living with the Dead (2008), Frostbitten (2009) was absolutely an easy-read. not only was Elena's werewolf hunting intense and life threatening, it challenged her bond with Clay when they, the hunters, became the hunted. it was engaging to see the ghost in Elena's past haunting her, keeping her from giving her best in battles. with the enemy smart enough to separate Elena from Clay, there were so much more going on within her. in some small part of the book, Clay who was seemingly impatient turned out to be a surprisingly great parent! a few short phone-calls home was enough to show what a beautiful family they shared.

The Hunger Games (2012)

in the future where the country was divided into 13 Districts, the Hunger Games was created. it was an annual competition where 2 teenagers were selected from each district, to participate in a television show, where they had to kill everyone else until there were only 1 survivor left. Katniss and Peeta were the selected teens from District 12. they were sent to the Capitol for a 3-days training before the games begun.

the film brought us into a world filled with poverty where violence was an expected part of life. of what was expected of the film, we were disappointed that it was extremely slow-paced and not exactly emotionally captivating. we wanted to experience the game more, but there were actually more introductions than necessary. an unanswered question was why was the game called the "Hunger" game when it has nothing to do with starving? however, once within the game, the story of Katniss' survival was absolutely engaging. her relationship with Peeta though, laid somewhere in between being a betrayer and a lover, neither that made Peeta a lovable character.

Vacillating.

it was a typical, difficult to stand out coffee shop, down to the torn leather booth seats and the stained plastic table. the smoking section was inescapable, even if one managed to find a booth without an ashtray, the smoke from the nearby booths will find its way around within seconds, completely ignoring the undersized ventilation system. the staffs were all middle-aged men and women who raised a family, decided to spend some time earning some extra cash, and discovered this was the only job that considered them qualified. at this time of day, most of those who walked in were working people, grabbing a last cup of coffee before heading home or lingering to avoid going home sooner than necessary.

コーヒーのために滞在する。

Usagi Drop (2011) うさぎドロップ

Daikichi went back to his hometown for his grandfather's funeral. only then did he know that his grandfather had an illegitimate 6-year-old daughter named Rin. the mother was unknown and Rin was treated as an embarrassment to the family. the relatives eagerly wanted to get rid of her by sending her away for foster care. Daikichi got annoyed and decided to take Rin home despite being single and having no experience raising a child.

the anime followed closely the life of Daikichi and Rin after he brought her home from his grandfather's house. the story was shown in a relaxing style throughout the show, yet it was sentimental enough to draw tears at some point. the watercolor-like drawings reminded me of Hourou Musuko (2011), which was produced by the same director. despite the laid back pace, it was entertaining and easy to watch, definitely a heartwarming duo that fit into each other's life perfectly.

Sookie Stackhouse #9: Dead and Gone (2009)

the story continued after the explosion in From Dead to Worse (2008), Sookie returned to her hometown in Bon Temps. after the vampires revealed their existence to the world, the weres and shifters also came clean with their confessions. while most residents took the news fairy well, there were also those who reacted defensively. when Crystal, Jason's ex-wife, a pregnant were-panther was found dead crucified on a cross, Sookie agreed to observe everyone through her mind-reading ability for her brother Jason, with the aim of revealing the culprit.

after finishing From Dead to Worse (2008), it took us quite a while to find Dead and Gone (2009) in the market. to start reading it was even more difficult, for i had finished From Dead to Worse (2008) for almost a year by then. Sookie finding out that her Great-Grandfather Niall was the prince of the Fairy didn't turn out to be a joyous news. from there she found out that her parents were drowned by the same group of fairies that went against Niall, and they came after her next. they treated her sadistically, torturing her beyond her conscious mind, which was equally blurry for us readers. but that didn't make it any easier to endure, sitting at the edge of my seat waiting for the inhuman treatments to be over.

The Descendants (2011)

Matt decided to sell the family land due to some new rules. just before they family members were able to finalize the deal, a boating accident happened and his wife, Elizabeth became comatose. they had 2 daughters together, 17-year-old Alex and 10-year-old Scottie. while they were usually taken cared by Elizabeth, Matt found himself struggling with Alex's behavior and Scottie's language. when Matt learned that Elizabeth will never wake from her coma, he had to decide what to do with their daughters and the family land.

the storyline was predictable, but not wholly bad. Matt's 2 daughters managed to make the movie less boring and more exciting in many ways, especially if compared to the land issue. it was easy to expect more, having a huge star like George Clooney in it, but with that expectancy came disappointment. character development was average, i had grew more and more attached to the daughters and wanted more. unfortunately, the dramatic event that turned everything around never seemed to arrive.

Avril Lavigne: Abbey Dawn (2012)

True Blood: Season 4 (2011)

the story was based on the fourth book in the Southern Vampire Mysteries (2001-2012) series. it picked up a year after the events of Season 3 (2010). Eric the vampire confronted the witches, which erased his memories and took refuge in Sookie's house. Sookie fell in love with the Eric so innocent and so focused in her. the witches led by Marnie, continued their mission to erase all vampires by controlling them and pulling them into the sun. in the meanwhile, Sam the shifter helped his brother Tommy got rid of their parent's bodies when Tommy showed up one day, with the bodies hid in his van. since then, not only can Tommy shift into animals, he can shift into any human being he came across.

after another amazing season, i was more than eager to continue watching to know the outcomes of numerous events. it was a great relief to have Marnie finished off within this season. she was so ambitious that it would have been disastrous if she didn't. although Marnie's death was not a big surprise, there were definitely more than enough surprised death than i was able to handle. having Eric and Bill working together was always refreshing and absolutely impressive to watch. it was always great to have the old Eric back, he was way better being bad and firm than angelic and soft. the story ended with more questions waiting to be answered, it will be another long and suspenseful wait.

Women of the Otherworld #9: Living with the Dead (2008)

the ninth book of the Women of the Otherworld (2001-2012) series followed the story of Robyn, a human who was framed for murder. when a photograph was sent to Robyn from her client Portia, Adele the clairvoyant was accidentally in it. before the photograph destroy her future, she had to eliminate those who had access to it. after killing Portia, Robyn was next in her list. when Robyn came looking for her help, Hope the chaos-demon knew that the supernatural were involved. at the same time, Finn, a detective and necromancer, was assigned for the case. Robyn found herself trapped within a world she never knew existed.

as much as i love the whole series up until now, i found Living with the Dead (2008) a difficult read. not only did it evolved around a human, it was slow paced and somewhat tiring to jump in between too many character's point of view. Robyn started out being lovable, yet she failed to grow on us which eventually led to her being a less attractive character at the second half of the book. most of the time it was her running away from Adele, who had the ability to "see" her location. in overall, i enjoyed Hope's perspective the most for this book, maybe a little of Finn's, but definitely not Robyn's.

SeeFood (2012)

the story evolved around Pup (the bamboo shark) and Julius (the white tip shark). unlike his father, Julius doesn't believe in eating his friends. he played with them while they served him obediently fearing they might someday become his dinner, even though all Julius ever ate was tyre, thus the reason behind his constant hunger. in the meanwhile, Pup had been eagerly waiting for his brothers and sisters to be born, circling the eggs every so often. but one day the poachers came and took all the eggs. he became determined to save his siblings no matter how impossible the task may seemed.

we went into the cinema not knowing that this was a local (Malaysia) production! it took them 2 years (2009-2011) to finally complete the animation, said to be one of the most expensive animated production in Malaysian cinematic history. the spotlight may had been divided between Julius and Pup since they were most of the time not together, each embark on their own little journey, but it managed to engage us completely, and bringing together the duo in the very last fight. despite the divided attention, the animation was visually stunning and somewhat heartwarming. with such a huge leap into the animation world, we are convinced that local production has a bright future, only perhaps, needed a better and stronger storyline to boost it.

Catechize.

a murmur of alarm rang through the room. he swallowed, as if his throat had gone too dry to continue. she felt a pang of annoyance, but reminded herself that this was the first time things had taken this course. they were still civilized beings, capable of considering all options and allowing the possibility of turning back. so she nodded, probed him to continue. he shook his head, clearly uncomfortable. she let his words settled over the room, waited for everyone to absorb the idea, give them the chance to question it.

さらさら聞いた。

Carnival Phantasm OAV (2011) カーニバル・ファンタズム

the anime was created based on Type Moon (タイプムーン) manga, to celebrate the company's 10th anniversary. it uses the characters from Tsukihime (2003) and Fate/Stay Night (2006), putting them in funny or absurd situations that otherwise wouldn't occur by any chance. sometimes running an errand so small yet it had the power to destroy the town for the reason they ran across their rivals on the way to the supermarket, etc.

the story had both teams meeting each other in a completely different world. there were a lot of jokes, some reached us and some didn't, but it was fun watching those familiar characters making a fool out of themselves. the installment wasn't exactly original, but there was a form of enjoyment that had us relate to the characters in a life so similar to ours, yet they managed to screw up every little thing, stumbling over their own feet. however, this anime should only be watched if one is familiar with the mentioned anime titles. otherwise, it might appeared to be too random to be appreciated.

Women of the Otherworld #8: Personal Demon (2008)

eighth book into the Women of the Otherworld (2001-2012) series followed the story of Hope the chaos-demon and Lucas the sorcerer. Hope's demon side caused her to lunge herself towards chaos, striving and hungered for it. it also gave her the ability to sense and detect chaos and experienced the visions of any chaotic events. Benicio Cortez offered her a job, spying upon a gang of young supernaturals that aimed to rebel and take down the Cortez cabal, she thought she had found a perfect solution to feed her demon within. but when Hope fell dangerously for one of the member named Jaz, her ex-lover, Karl the werewolf arrived.

it was different having Hope and Lucas sharing the spotlight in this book. but the different point of view added more spices to the otherwise confusing story of Hope, so overly filled with chaos, more than she could ever handle it herself. being as innocent and guilt-ridden as Hope, it was fascinating seeing her struggled against her demon-self, drooling over every last bit of chaos she came across. romance together with quite a number of unexpected twists were enough to race me through the book. the contradictions between Lucas and his father Benicio were no stranger to many, yet it happened in such a large scale that more than 400 would be effected with every one decision made. it was a responsibility i hoped for Lucas to shoulder but was equally eager to understand more of the choice that he would make.

Underworld: Awakening (2012)

after the events of Underworld: Evolution (2006), humans discovered the existence of Vampires and Lycans. a war erupted, where "the Infected" had to be purged. Selena the vampire and her lover, a vampire-lycan hybrid named Michael, were captured during the war, used for experiment. after her escape 12-years later, Selena started having strange visions, which she followed with the hope that it will lead her to Michael. but to her horror, it led her to Eve, her daughter with Michael.

as a standalone action flick, Underworld: Awakening (2012) did great. but as a sequel to its previous 3 installments, it was slightly disappointing to have not enough depth in its plot and little character development. Eve being such an interesting and lovable character did not had enough airtime for us to fall head over toes for her, but left hung mid-air. and seeing vampires holding guns just failed miserably to blow my mind away. however, the movie was fast-paced, having absolutely no boring moments, which made it highly entertaining for an action flick. and of course, Selena alone gave us enough actions to glue us to our seats.

Conundrum.

she looked around the circle of faces, getting a nod from each. there was no need to remind them what that pact had been. for eons they searched for the secret that would unlock the mystery. it had to exist. countless texts and journals they accumulated couldn't all be mere works of fancy. they came close several times, sometimes even reaching a minor success. but what good was it not being able to take control of the situation, revealing everything those old books promised.

古い本を回復する。

Copihan ONA (2011) こぴはん

the anime was created by the teamwork of Gonzo and Kei. Gonzo created Rosario + Vampire (2008), Dragonaut (2007), Gantz (2004), etc; while Kei created Hatsune Miku (初音ミク), a singing application with a female persona, leader of the Vocaloid, and voiced by actress Saki Fujita (藤田咲). as huge as its potential could be, short episodes that only last for 5 minutes were never good enough to leave any impression.

despite the short episodes, the plot remained completely random and disconnected from one another. the story was supposed to take place in year 2034, yet the setting didn't quite represent the future. although i finished the anime in 1 sitting, i woke up unable to remember what the anime was all about already. it was insignificant and utterly impossible to register in our mind.

Avril Lavigne: Goodbye (2011)

putting aside her punk rock image, Avril filmed a special video wearing as little as possible, being sexy! after making her last stop for her Black Star Tour in Malaysia, it marked the end of her "Goodbye Lullaby" album cycle. as a token of appreciation and also to wrap up the experience, she decide to release a video for the song "Goodbye".

in the meanwhile, she tweeted that she is currently working on her next album, with Chad Kroeger of Nickelback. it was said that her relationship with Brody Jenner that lasted for almost 2-years had come to an end in Jan 2012, where the reason being their busy schedules.

John Carter (2012)

John Carter was a former Civil War army captain, mysteriously transported to mars, a planet known as Barsoom to its inhabitants. being captured for his ability to jump higher than its inhabitants, John soon learn that the planet was dying and the different species of Barsoom were fighting for power to rule one another. during his escape, Carter came across a princess who desperately needed a savior to turn their life around.

the film definitely didn't feel like Disney to us. it was way too complicated, with too much details to digest, though we have to agree that some part of it were surprisingly entertaining and humorous! it reminded us of Avatar (2009) with its thin looking creatures, the only difference was taking a less colorful form and having an extra pair of hands. despite the weak link between plots, the CGI were absolutely stunning. we had fun looking at unique creatures and mesmerizing structures.

Surrogate.

as they neared the house, her gut started twisting. how should she handle their parting? if she said nothing, it will lead to his disbelieve in her capability. always waiting for an excuse to pop in, only to leave feeling disappointed. but what was the alternative, telling him what he wanted to hear but not making a difference? she couldn't handle listening to his pleas, selfish maybe, but everyone hurt too much these days to feel a little empathy towards each other. she didn't want to disappoint, yet often misled him into thinking otherwise.

取り扱い。

No. 6 (2011)

Shion lived a comfortable life in No.6, one of the remaining cities created after the last great war. one day a boy called Nezumi who ran away from the authorities landed in Shion's room, Shion helped him and was stripped of all his privileges for helping a fugitive. 4 years later, Shion experienced incidents that took the lives of those around him, caused by deadly parasites that lived inside its victim's body. on the way being transported to the authorities, Nezumi rescued him and he began to uncover the truth behind No.6.

No.6 turned out to be not the Utopia that it was meant to be. the journey Shion and Nezumi took to uncover the mystery was slow but the speed gradually picked-up at the second half of the anime. the opposite characteristics between Shion and Nezumi was an important aspect for its plot, making their collision somewhat realistic and refreshing. the plot was unique and unlikely to come across, which made it all the more entertaining to guess our way till the very end.

Women of the Otherworld #7: No Humans Involved (2007)

the seventh book followed the story of Jaime the necromancer. she was hired together with 2 frauds, by a television show to raise Marilyn Monroe's spirit. during filming, Jaime experienced something out of the ordinary, something she never came across while communicating with the ghosts. she was touched by ghosts that she cannot see. afraid that she was going crazy like most necromancers, she asked the Council for help. Jeremy the werewolf joined her as an escort, together with Eve and Kristof the ghosts, they discovered that children were killed by mere humans, who learn the art of witchcraft.

the series had gotten more and more engaging, i was absorbed into the story in no time! not to mention the heated scenes between Jaime and Jeremy, which we obviously seen it coming yet was never given a dose of. Jaime surprised me for being an excellent heroine, she may not be a natural like Elena the werewolf, but there were so much more about her that wasn't expose before. she was one of those characters that had taken me by surprise. the witchcraft plot was awesome, putting bits and pieces together, giving the book a very dark feel to it. who would have expect the big evil villains of the supernatural world turned out to be mere humans?

Dr. Seuss: The Lorax (2012)

Thneed Ville was an ideal city, walled in where citizens had to buy air from the O'Hare, a company that sold bottled air. it was an artificial world, the trees were plastic, and snows were man-made. to win the heart of Audrey, who remembered what the trees were like, Ted set out to find Once-ler who knew the reason why the trees were gone. once outside, he discovered that everywhere else was a contaminated wasteland. Once-ler told Ted the story about the trees and his confrontation with Lorax, the guardian of the forest.

having watched Dr. Seuss: Horton Hears A Who (2008), we went to the cinema with high expectation of enjoying the animation. and we did! it was so beautiful and extraordinary that we were easily absorbed into their world, enjoying the gorgeous visual feast. even though the environmental plot was old, the awesome visual kept it in place, pulling us into a world so magical and alluring. unfortunately, Lorax wasn't as big a character as what was expected. but the singing were truly unexpected! soon we were drumming our fingers along, nodding our head in unison.

Perforate.

the street was empty. the houses were pushed back from the road, peeked out from curtains of trees and greens. the rumble of the distant highway sounded in the background. across the road, a truck reversed into a driveway, its fumes so strong easily covered the smell of fresh-cut grass. there was nothing to see, nothing to listen to, nothing to distract her from retreating back into her thoughts and staying there. she wanted to walk off before things got worse, but she earned what she worked hard for and walking away will ruin all that. a throat cleared behind her, bringing her back.

近所で歩いて。

C - Control - The Money and Soul of Possibility (2011)

Kimimaro was a scholarship student. after the disappearance of his father and the death of his mother, his only dream was to live an ordinary life. one day, a man with weird outfit appeared before him and offered him a large amount of money. in return, he must compete in a weekly tournament called Deals held in a mysterious realm called The Finance District. he had to engage in these supernatural battles to keep his money and avoid losing his future.

it was fun watching different characters with their supernatural beings called Assets, battling throughout the episodes. the battle system was somewhat complicated yet easy to grasp, as their bankruptcy during the tournament will greatly effect on the person's life in reality. for the first half of the anime, we were introduced on the severeness of the battle and how it would influence reality. on the second half, we watched as Kimimaro slowly realized just how dark the Finance District were, as he felt the weight of recognizing some of the opponents in reality.

Avril Lavigne: FHM 2012

Reign of Fire (2002)

20 years in the future, the planet was dominated by fire-breathing dragons. they were the last group of human, struggling to survive at a remote area. Quinn was the leader of the group of frightened survivors. he watched his mother died protecting him from the beast during childhood. he was still haunted by the memory. but one day, a group of guys showed up, led by Van Zam, who discovered a way to kill the dragons. Quinn was forced to confront his own fear to protect those under him. n they had to work together to defeat the dragons.

the plot for the movie was very much straightforward. heroes saving the world from a group of vicious dragons. it may sounds cheesy, but the dragons were absolutely beautiful! for a film of year 2002, it should already be considered a very successful action-packed film. we had fun joining in the adventure. Quinn may staled at some point but it was bearable. all n all, it was definitely worth watching.

Aberrant.

she left the house by the back door, hoping a walk could clear her head. normally after a block, her feet would had screamed for her to stop. but even if they were tonight, she was too preoccupied to hear them. images flashed through her mind, bit and pieces that didn't make sense. she thought he was kidding, but she was never sure. her gut told her that these were merely normal happenings under an abnormal situation, yet she couldn't quite brush off the anxiety.

説明できない。

R-15 (2011)

Hirameki Gakuen was a high school that accepts only people with unique talent. Taketo had a special ability for writing porn novels. his best friend, Ritsu was a math genius. Taketo's ability was being able to fall into some kind of erotic trance, which often resulted to him having to write down every scene that just went through his head. one day Taketo came across Fukune and her clarinet and fell in love with her.

the storyline was absurd and even offensive to some. to enjoy the anime one had to embrace everything that was logically bizarre and just proceed forward. Taketo managed to either amuse one or caused one to feel disgusted. in a way, the anime reminded me of Baka to Test (2010-2011) where the male character could be something way different than what was expected of him. it was an anime not to be taken seriously, something to watch for fun.

Avril Lavigne: FHM 2012