Anime Otaku Paradise: kawaii

Basic Summary

" The story follows the redemption of Yona, the sole princess to the kingdom of Kouka. Yona lives the carefree life of a princess in Hiryuu castle, being sheltered by her pacifist father, King Il, and protected by her bodyguard Son Hak. During a party being held for her sixteenth birthday, her childhood friend and love interest Soo-won comes to pay tribute to her. Intending to tell her father that she cannot forget her love for Soo-won, she visits King Il's chambers and witnesses him being killed by Soo-won, who reveals that he will now properly rule Kouka. Hak intervenes and saves Yona, they escape from the castle to Hak's birthplace, Village of Wind. Under the suggestion of Hak's grandfather Son Mundok, Yona and Hak search for an oracle banished from the castle. When they find the oracle, he tells them who tells them the legend of the first king of Kouka, Hiryuu, and the four dragons who unified the kingdom. Yona and Hak, joined by Ik-soo's assistant Yun, begin a journey to find the reincarnated legendary dragons in order to survive and save the Kingdom of Kouka. "

from courtesy of Wikipedia

Main Characters

**warning major spoilers ahead, approach with caution

Yona

" She is the titular character and the main protagonist of the series. Yona is the sole princess of Kingdom of Kouka. She appears to be a cute and naive girl at the beginning. Her mother was killed by robbers when she was young, leaving her father King Il to raise her up with Son Hak and Soo-won. Being a princess, she was initially dependant and spoiled, always nagging when something was not the way she wanted. However, after her father's death and her first love's betrayal, she decided to be more independent and become strong enough to fight and protect herself. As such, she requested Hak to teach her archery and sword. While initially hesitant to kill, she eventually threw away this hesitation during the battle against Kum-ji, being able to unleash a murderous intent that made her opponents afraid moving and kill Kum-ji herself. She is said to be the reincarnation of Hiryuu, the first king of the Kingdom of Kouka, which explains her red hair even though her parents both had black hair. Being the reincarnation of Hiryuu, the four legendary dragons's blood will react the moment they lay their eyes upon her as well as hearing the voices of the original four dragons' oath to protect Hiryuu. Not wanting to remain oblivious of the current state of her own country, Yona decides to travel around the country to find out more about the outside world as well as protecting her country and her people in secret. Although Yona cannot forgive Soo-won for killing her father, Yona couldn't bring herself to hurt him when they were reunited at Awa, revealing that some part of her still loves Soo-won; she still keeps the hairpin that he gave her before his betrayal and even assisted him during the war as she realised the reason Soo-won wanted to become king. Over time though, she seems to have developed feelings for Hak. She primarily uses the bow and arrow in combat and later learns to wield a sword. "

haha so innocent back then

you better look out, we've got a badass here

Su-won

" He is Yona's cousin as well as her first love, a pretty boy with golden hair. In his first appearance, he was kind, cheerful, and somewhat a klutz. After Yona's mother died, he was the one who encouraged her and promised to be by her side in her mother's place, which made Yona fall in love with him. He was also Hak's best friend, close enough for Soo-Won to tell Hak to call him by his first name. Soo-won's father supposedly died due to an accident, but Soo-Won reveals that Yona's father was the one who killed him, leading Soo-Won to conspire with the Fire Tribe to kill Yona's father in cold blood and take over the throne. With King Il killed and Yona gone missing with Hak, Soo-won is crowned the new king. When informed about the news about Yona and Hak's supposed "death" by the son of the general of the fire tribe, Soo-won becomes depressed and shocked. When around others, Soo-Won maintains his outward persona, purposely making himself look clumsy to hide his true intelligence. Even though he hates King Il and declared he will dispose of anyone who gets in his way, Soo-Won was shown to genuinely care for both Yona and Hak, and he still does even after his betrayal. He hides the fact that Yona is still alive from his followers and even states that she is someone who he has difficulty forgetting. "

Son Hak

" He is Yona's childhood friend and Bodyguard, as well as the former general of the Wind Tribe. He himself is a quite handsome man who gives a cool and scary aura. He is famously known as the Thunder Beast for his astounding fighting skills that were said to be unrivaled by anyone, earning him the title of the strongest soldier in the Kingdom of Kouka. His talent had already been recognized since he was thirteen years old and he was the first person to become a general at such a young age. He was an orphan and adopted by the previous Wind Tribe general, Son Mundok, as his grandson. He is fairly calm and nonchalant, and likes to occasionally tease Yona at every chance he gets, albeit deep down he actually cares for her very much and vows to protect her at all costs. It is demonstrated throughout the story that Hak's feelings towards Yona stem from more than just being her Bodyguard, but because he loves her. This is hinted when he occasionally attempted to make a move on her. He used to be a good friend of Soo-won's and wanted for Yona and Soo-won to live happily together, and even hoped for Soo-won to become the king with him as his right-hand man, but this soon turns into hatred when Soo-won betrays them. Hak even attempted to kill Soo-won the moment they were reunited face-to-face at the Water Tribe village and stopped only because Yona told him to. In combat, Hak uses a Hsu Quandao as his main weapon. "

Shin Ah

" He is the descendant and the inheritor of the Blue Dragon's eyes, a handsome man. When Shin-Ah was born, his mother killed herself out of fear of raising the child with the Blue Dragon's cursed eyes since the villagers believe that those who look the dragon in the eyes will turn into stone. Feared by the villagers due to the rumor of his eyes, Shin-Ah had a lonely childhood and longing for friends. Since his mother died, Shin-Ah was then raised by the previous Blue Dragon, Ao, who taught him swordsmanship and his duty to protect the village. One night, after Ao's death, Shin-Ah used his eyes' power to protect his village from soldiers of Earth Tribe, unintentionally killing all of them. This forced the entire clan to move and stay hidden from civilization. When Yona got lost in the cave, he was the one who saved her from being taken to the underground room and eventually he joins her. He had no name and was only referred as the Blue Dragon, until Yona gave him his name. Shin-Ah's dragon eyes are able to disrupt the nerves of anyone whom he glares at until it kills them. After using these eyes, however, Shin-Ah's body will be paralyzed, rendering him unable to move for a while. To prevent himself from making eye contact, he always covering his face with mask. Once, his face is shown, revealing him to be, as said by Yona, "beautiful like a moon". Shin-Ah is mostly seen accompanied by his pet squirrel that he named after the previous Blue Dragon, Ao. "

random pics/gifs time haha~

Hello all you lovely people! I know, I've been inactive for half a year now. . . But, I'm back! And holy crap, this blog has been given more attention than I thought it would (or should). On this blog, I think I just write whatever I think about anime shows. Nothing that special, haha. From now on, I'll try to post at least once a month. It can be my super late New Years' Resolution I always fail to complete, I suppose. I'm all caught up on Death Parade (episode 5) and it's simply too amazing to not say anything about it! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:・ﾟ✧

I first heard of this anime through Death Billiards, a short animated movie by Madhouse for Anime Mirai 2013. In only two short years, it's gained its own on-going series and popularity! The one thing I absolutely adore about this show is how each episode varies. Not all of them are so serious or sad feels-like or downright cute. Each episode is a new thing to discover about the main characters in Quindecim or incoming guests.

Short Summary

Death Parade is a psychological, game, kind of anime show. Not game in the sense of video games similar to SAO, but, game as in the typical games you'd play with friends or family. After death, humans go to either heaven or hell. Alternatively, they're also referred to as Reincarnation and the Void. Honestly, I think this would make more sense because most people in Japan aren't Christian (that is assuming this is all taking place in Japan). However, for the people who happen to die in the same instance, they are sent to Quindecim. It's a bar attended by the stoic white-haired Decim. He challenges the two to the "Death Game", making the players believe their lives are at risk. These games are supposed to bring out the darkness of each human so the arbitrators (like Decim) can judge where their final destination will be.

Reincarnation and the Void

There's a lot of controversy regarding the whole heaven or hell concept. It really is just open for interpretation. Most viewers assume reincarnation to be the good result and the void the bad one. It sounds right, doesn't it? Even the masks hanging above the elevators look to represent good and evil. One is designed angelic looking and the other demonic.

But, in Buddhism, reincarnation is considered bad. Someone who is reincarnated is someone who's ignorant and still far from the stage of enlightenment. Consequently, they go through sufferings and tests of living in an endless cycle to eventually earn enlightenment. This brings me to my next point. In order to reach enlightenment, one has to go through the void. Someone who reaches the void acquires nirvana. Being enlightened is basically to be rid of all desires and enter a state of "emptiness"/transcendence. Simply, to cease your existence altogether. Therefore, through a Buddhist perspective, the real issue is whether they reach enlightenment and resolve their sins.

On the other hand, in Christian (or any other Western religions) terms, the void can be considered bad and reincarnation the opposite. Reincarnation can be heaven where one is resurrected to live in the Utopian afterlife. To be sent to the void is equivalent to live in never ending pain and agony. Kinda like purgatory.

Main Characters

Decim

Seiyuu: Tomoaki Maeno

Decim hugging two crying guests in Episode 3: Rolling Ballade

He is the bartender of Quindecim and an acting arbiter for the dead. In my eyes, I consider Decim main character since he is in every single episode of the show so far. He is always seen wearing a bartender outfit. At first, Decim seems to be emotionless during his jobs unless something shocking comes up. He speaks in a detached manner and would rather keep personal thoughts to himself. Decim takes pride in his job as an arbiter and always holds respects for guests, no matter how good/awful they treat him. (he puts up with everyone's attitude in a nutshell)

[**spoiler from Episode 5** From recently watching episode 5, I can say with 100% certainty that Decim feels something for Onna. Whether it be a little crush, admiration, or love. In the past, he's never fought Ginty so seriously before. The whole reason why the two started fighting anyway was to force Decim to make judgement on Onna. Of course, he didn't. And then afterwards he carried Onna in his arms to her bed, EVEN TUCKING HER IN, and then staring at her for a few seconds. He could've just easily transported her using those strings of his, right? This definitely spells for something.]

Fun fact: Decim makes creepy-looking mannequins as a hobby. Totally something everyone does in their spare time.

I, for one, agree with Nona. It's an awfully weird hobby, that's for sure.

Kurokami no Onna (literally translates into Black-Haired Woman)

Seiyuu: Asami Seto

She is an amnesiac women who is taken in by Nona and works as Deicm's assistant at Quindecim. Onna's amnesia explains why she cannot remember her name or her life as a human on Earth. First, she seems innocent and inquires about many things. But, in reality, Onna is intelligent and has great knowledge on human behaviour. She's strong minded and likes to speak her mind. In that way, Onna is sort of like the foil character to Decim. She constantly shows her emotions.

Decim and Onna. Gosh, they look good together.

Onna's cute smile can make anybody's day better, tbh.

spoiler from Episode 5 In the most recent episode, it was revealed that Onna died and was sent to Quindecim. However, she still retained her human memories and knew she was dead, therefore Decim could not provoke her to play any Death games. Onna had her memories erased before she became Decim's assistant. Ugh, there's so much mystery to Onna and I'm dying to know why she retained her memories!

If only I looked like this when I'm sleeping.

Nona

Seiyuu: Rumi Okubo

She is the barkeeper of Nona Ginta on the 19th floor. Despite her young and innocent stature, she's the boss of Decim and Ginty. Nona appears to be laid back, but, sometimes reveals her mean side (*cough* mean girls *cough). She administers rulings for who is responsible for the floors below her. She is very calculated and experienced as an arbiter.

Nona reassuring Decim in a rough way.

Nona reading the book, Chavvot. I think the boy represents Decim and the girl Onna. There are many theories about "Chavvot" floating around the endless depths of the internet.

Ginty (did I spell that right?)

Seiyuu: Yoshimasa Hosoya

Not much is revealed about this particular red-head arbiter yet, but, episode 6 is centered around his bar. Ginty's first appearance is in episode five when he confronts Decim about judging "the woman". He acts very rough in nature. Nona mentioned how Decim was better than that "idiot", so, I can assume that Ginty is a less talented arbiter than Decim? Or maybe he has less experience?