Anime Talk Weekly - Zankyo no Terror

Anime with disaster themes are common place and some people consider that most of them are psychologically inspired by the various tragedies that have happened on the land of the rising run. This series seems to once again capture that feeling, but this time in a more direct way with the topic of terrorism, which is one of the main worries that our modern society has.

Zankyo no Terror (a.k.a Terror in Resonance)

Genre: Psychological thriller

Episodes: 11

Released: July 5, 2014

                   The Story so far

The story line in Zanyo no Terror takes place in Tokyo. On this re-imagining of our present times, two young boys unleash a devastating terrorist attack in Tokyo, Japan and just give glimpse of their presence to the public by releasing a mysterious and cryptic video in what becomes a game for them as local authorities are baffled and can't seem to find a culprit, while they plan their next attack. The two boys call themselves "The Sphinx" and are dedicated to "wake the people up" in any possible way.

The Mood

The mood in this anime series feels a little like Deathnote. Of course we don't have any death gods or a notebook that kills people, but the overall present-time city crisis is there, as well as the detective style thrill of the authorities desperately looking for the ones who committed the terrorist attacks. It also gives the impression that although the boys at first do everything in a perfect way, it is just a matter of time before they make a mistake that puts them in peril while the people they meet along the way is what will make them or break them in the end.

What to expect

Expect a lot of destruction and a very deep sense of tragedy (Saikano style) with a lot of characters both significant and not, losing friends and family as "The Sphinx" spread chaos across Tokyo. This is one of those series that will have many viewers silently rooting for the good guys, but with a very loud sense of sympathy for the villains as many people felt in series like Deathnote and Code Geass which feature byronic heroes.

Another thing to expect of this series is a big picture that goes further than the two boys with their rebellious intentions, sort of like something more powerful than them, pulling the strings and controlling them by using their own ideologies.

Wrapping it up

This is one series that is very worthy of watching, especially if you liked any of the other series that were previously mentioned. It is also good to watch if you want something a little closer to reality and our own times, as the themes touched by this series seem to be just that. Get ready for some tragic drama, conspiracy, destruction and detective styled investigations with Zankyo no Terror.

Sources:
Anime News Network
MyAnimeList.net

Anime Talk Weekly - Captain Earth

Anime series that revolve around "mechs" have always been a staple of Japanese animation. This is very noticeable when you hear names like Neon Genesis Evangelion, Escaflowne, Zone of the Enders and other series that touch the topic of mechs and their pilots in a sub-genre that is as old as anime itself. Today we are going to talk a little about a recent anime series that brings the mech topic back to the fans, sort of working as a homage to all those great mech styled series in the past. That series is called Captain Earth.

Captain Earth started on April 5, and will have 25 episodes. This series is a science fiction / mecha story about a young high school student called Daichi Manatsu who suddenly find himself working for an organization called "The Globe" by piloting a giant robot or "Earth Engine Imparter" as they are called in the series. Daichi gets chosen to pilot this powerful robot because of his skills on a video game and because he is able to "call" a rare laser handgun that uses pure "orgone" energy (energy that is essential for powering the robots), this gun is called Livlaster Tanegashima. After a while, Daichi gets the name "Captain Earth" as he defends the planet from threats coming from outer space and becomes leader of a squad called "The Midsummer Knights".


Up until now the villains in this series are called the "Kill-T-Gang" who are composed by a species of aliens that come from the planet Uranus (no pun intended). They go all around the galaxy absorbing the libido of different civilizations (Space Vampires) on different planets until they basically extinguish them. On Captain Earth, the Kill-T-Gang set their sights on planet Earth because they see humans as food and will try to bring humanity down with their great assortment of powers like been able to absorb all the libido from a person by just standing near until the person is dead, the ability to control giant mechs, the use of some mysterious beams of light that can cause several different effects on their enemies and the use of a core called "Ego Block" which basically makes them immortal as long as they have it with them. Up until now the whole story goes around on how the Kill-T-Gang attempts to use their libido weaponry to dominate humanity and be able to feast on them. As this series is all about libido, expect a lot of "curious" shots and angles, coming from the villains and also from the good guys as Daichi finds himself in a lot of "risque" situations.

Expect our hero to go through a lot of moments like these.

Wrapping it up

Captain Earth is a good anime series for all of those mech anime fans. It carries elements that give a feeling that is sort of a mix between Gundam Wing, Candidate for Goddess and Neon Genesis Evangelion all in one. The series itself carries different kind of moods from the heat of battle, life itself, some comedy and even some moments that can seem rather suggestive (if you know what I mean). It also still manages to somehow be a little more lighthearted and colorful than other similar series we had seen in the past (kind of like Eureka 7). In summary, Captain Earth is an interesting series to watch and even though it hasn't picked up that much popularity, it is still a promising  anime series that gives us a little bit of everything.

Sources:

Anime News Network

AnimeTalk Weekly: Initial D Final Stage

On the gamertologist zone, we talk about various gaming topics, but one day per week is going to be dedicated to anime, as most of the time games and anime go side by side on many gamer minds. This section is going to be called "Anime Talk Weekly" and as the name says, it will feature a different anime topic every week. Now this week, we are throwing one for all of the Initial D fans out there as Initial D: Final Stage has already been released with the first two episodes.

*Spoiler Alert*
Up until now, this final stage focuses on the final showdown that Takumi will have with the suspicious kid from the fifth stage that also happens to own an AE86 (coupe version). This is the race that defines victory or defeat for Project D as their downhill ace Takumi, faces his greatest challenge. Up until now everything has been peachy for the Project D team, as Ryosuke technically defeated his lifelong rival and Keisuke wins the uphill race starting the night, so it is now Takumi that must prove himself against this new opponent, a mysterious boy named Shinji and show if he can win it all for the team or lose for the first time in his life.
*Spoiler Alert ends*

The Series

For those of you that haven't seen the series yet, it is recommended that you start watching from the very beginning in order to understand the events of both Stage 5 and this Final Stage as this series is a little more than just cars and racing. Initial D is an anime series about a young man named Takumi Fujiwara that discovers that he has a great talent for drifting while delivering tofu for his father (who was a legendary drift racer). Later on he decides to give it a try on the streets of his region and starts an impressive string of victories which earns him enough respect for him to be noticed by many other racers that you will see as the series progresses.

As mentioned before, this isn't only about racing, as Takumi (and many other characters) live their lives and experience different situations that steer the series off the races a little and into other things like romance, comedy, normal life, learning about oneself, making decisions and so on. On the other hand, if you are an automobile enthusiast or at least a race/drift fan, you will be delighted to see a great variety of different models from different brands and you may even learn a little bit about how these machines work and how this affects their performance on a race (especially considering the driver).

The Games

Initial D has spawn some video game titles made by Sega, ranging from the arcades to home consoles.The arcade titles did reach America and were one of the first arcade games that made use of smart cards as means of saving your game progress on an arcade, but sadly all of the console games (PS3, PSP) stayed at the other side of the world and can only be played as imports. In case you are wondering, the games go as follows:

• Initial D Arcade Stage
• Initial D Arcade Stage 4
• Initial D Extreme Stage (PS3 import)
• Initial D Street Stage (PSP import)

If you people are interested in playing the imports you could try online game import stores like Play Asia.

Here's the awesome opening for Initial D Extreme Stage (PS3)

Wrapping it up

For all time fans, there is the Final Stage, for newcomers there is a complete series to watch that will take some time and for gamers Sega has you covered (on imports at least). Initial D is a great series which features good games so give it chance.