Anime Reviews: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Episode 001 - Dio the Destroyer

The Story
After George Joestar confuses the thief robbing him after a carriage accident as his savior, he promises that man he will do anything for him. Years later the man sends his son, Dio Brando, to be raised by George Joestar, along with George's own son Jonathan.

I don't see anything going wrong with this.

As soon as he arrives, Dio makes Jojo's life a living hell, to drive him out and make himself the heir to the Joestar estate. He physically abuses him, steals all his friends from him, and even steals her first kiss from Jonathan's girlfriend. Enraged by this assault, Jonathan attacks Dio, and beats him for the first time. Their fight is interrupted, and in retaliation Dio has Jonathan's dog, Danny, burned alive.

MANimation! Episode 001 - Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust

Anime Reviews: Fairy Tail Episode 100 - Mest

Watch the Show Here!

The Story
The first stage of the exam ends, as Natsu, Gray, Levi, Cana, Elfman, and their respective partners move on to the second stage. Rather than a fight, this stage has them scouring the island for the grave of Fairy Tail's first master, Mavis.

But something is afoot, as Mest might not be who he says he is, and nobody can remember anything specific about him. And the mysterious stranger has entered the story, as he runs into Elfman and Evergreen, nearly killing them if not for Natsu's intervention.

Cartoon Reviews: Gravity Falls Episodes 1-11

The Story
When twins Dipper and Mabel are dropped off at their Great Uncle Stan's home, in the town of Gravity Falls, Dipper discovers a book that reveals there is more to the quiet little town than either he or his sister had suspected. What follows is eleven episodes of supernatural adventures, from zombies, sea monsters, psychics, time travelers, and even presidential intrigue.

New Hobbit Trailer, Also Tumblr

I've got a tumblr. I post videos and stuff to it. You should go follow it.

Manga Reviews: Fairy Tail Volume 6

The Story

While Gray fights Lyon, Natsu fights the masked Zalty. Both Fairy Tail members beat their respective opponents just in time for Deliora to finish being revived. Gray prepares to encase it in Iced Shell again, but before he can do this Deliora starts to fall to pieces.

Back in the village they find that the villagers are still demons. Erza uses Natsu's help to destroy the moon, but what they destroy instead is a lens of crystalized moon drip that had been affecting the villagers's memories, revealing that they were originally demons, but they thought they were humans.

Back in Magnolia they find their guild destroyed by a rival guild, known as Phantom Lord. At first Makarov refuses to retaliate, but the attack on three of their members by the Iron Dragonslayer Gajeel forces their hand. While Fairy Tail is attacking Phantom Lord, two of Phantom Lord's S class wizards kidnap Lucy.

My Grading Scale Explained

I recently decided to start giving out grades at the end of my reviews. The problem with this is that I hate writing grades. I feel that usually a review should be able to speak for itself, without a number at the end to quantify it. But apparently people like grades, and who am I to do anything that doesn't help increase my pageviews?

But in order to help people understand my new grading system, and to help myself understand it, I'm putting this up as an explanation for how my grading scale works. This might be subject to change later on, but for now this is the scale that I'll be using for the foreseeable future.

The grade range goes from one to five, with one being the worst and five being the best. The meaning of each individual grade is as follows.

1/5 - It's complete Garbage. Don't waste your money buying it, not even out of curiosity.
2/5 - It's not good, but not the worst. I recommend not buying it, but you could do worse.
3/5 - It's enjoyable, even good, but not groundbreaking.
4/5 - It's great. Most anyone can enjoy this.
5/5 - It transcends criticism. This score is only for the perfect.

As you might expect, there won't be that many 5/5's handed out. The reason I'm setting it as such a high goal is because I think true perfection is rare. I'm trying to hold myself to a higher standard. If I start giving everything I enjoy a 5/5 then the scores will become pointless. The best score is reserved only for things that rock me to my very soul.

As I said, the way I grade things might change. And if my grading scale ever changes radically, I'll be sure to post an updated rubric. For now, refer back to this if you have any questions about my scores.

Graphic Novel Reviews: Batman - The Dark Knight 012

The Story

Scarecrow experiments on Batman, revealing another take on the murder of Bruce's parents, with more of a focus on the topic of fear. Scarecrow's own backstory is revealed, showing his growth from a damaged child to a psychotic adult. With the exception of another visit from Scarecrow's morality pet, the majority of the issue is fear hallucinations, or backstory.

The Review
I liked the parallel this issue draws between Batman and the Scarecrow. I've been thinking for a bit that as far as foils go, Scarecrow makes perhaps more sense than the Joker. That's not to say I don't like the Batman and Joker dynamic, but there's a certain logic to Scarecrow being Batman's foil.

News: Hobbit Titles and Release Dates (Book Spoiler Warning)

You can find the original announcement here!

Well, looks like we finally have all the info about Jackson's Hobbit trilogy.

Title                                                                     Release Date
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey                  December 14, 2012
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug                December 13, 2013
The Hobbit: There and Back Again                     July 18, 2014

I have to admit, I'm pretty excited about this being a trilogy, even though I never would have imagined there was enough material to make The Hobbit into three movies. But if Peter Jackson is digging into the appendices then I can't help but think this will be a good thing.

Looks like we're in for another three year journey, but it's interesting that Jackson is releasing Part 3 half a year after Part 2. I guess that's a concession on the studio/filmmakers' part to all the fans that are complaining about having to wait three years instead of two for the whole story. Now you only need to wait two and a half.

I've been trying to figure out where each movie will end and start. I'm thinking that Part 1 will end at Beorn's home, and Part 2 will pick up with Bilbo and the Dwarves travelling into Mirkwood. It will end with Smaug's death at Laketown. Part 3 is tricky, because we don't know exactly what will be used from the appendices. But it's safe to say, I think, that Part 3 will mostly be the Battle of Five Armies, the ending, and whatever Jackson is using from the appendices.

This is all just guess work though. I honestly don't know what parts will be in which movie. But they're educated guesses. What does everyone else think? How would you distribute the plot of the book between the three movies? And what from the appendices do you want to see in the movies?

Graphic Novel Reviews: Catwoman 012

The Story

After Dollhouse escapes, Catwoman finds Alvarez's cellphone, with a GPS tracking device on him. She has Spark vandalize the bat-signal to get Batman's attention, and leave a cellphone behind for him.

She then tracks down Dollhouse, and tries to fight her, but is hit with tranquilizer darts. Batman, who tracked her phone, crashes his car into the house. Dollhouse escapes, and so does Catwoman, leaving Batman and Alvarez to deal with the victims.

Later, Spark is confronted by Gwen about working for the police. He tries to convince her he isn't really working for them, but she shoots him. She then calls the Penguin, revealing that he was the one who tipped her off.