Danganronpa: The Animation

By: Robert Murphy

OBJECTION! Oops sorry, that is an entirely different courtroom catch phrase that I love and thought about while watching the entirety of this latest anime. Danganronpa: The Animation, is an animated adaptation of the video game story where fifteen highly gifted teens have been trapped inside a prestigious school for kids the excel in some field or another. This ranges from normal accomplishments such as "Super High School Swimmer" or "Super High School Baseball Player" to the more outrageous accomplishments such as "Super High School Biker Gang Leader" and "Super High School Heir." Regardless of all this though they're now trapped in a school with no way out except for one: kill one of your new classmates and you will be allowed to leave. It is a tale of mystery solving and murder, while the situation they're in is semi-peaceful, the deck seems to be pretty loaded and all the cards are held by their strange new principal. 

You would think that after so many  years of watching anime that I would cease being surprised by the odd ball characters that come out of the anime world but while watching Danganronpa, I was once again amazed at what characters can sometimes look like. This isn't to say that these characters are bad in any way, far from it actually but I often wonder what goes through the mind of someone who makes a female body builder character named Sakura. Irregardless, I found almost all the characters unique and appealing in their own way, despite how short a time I get to know each one of them, you know because of the murdering and all. I was even surprised at how much I liked the main character, Naiegi, who at first glance looks like a rather dull and plain sort of guy but proved to be enjoyable as the story goes on. Perhaps my favorite character though has to be the principal of the school, Monokuma, a robotic stuffed bear whose half white and half black and a demented little fellow at that. He pulls the strings through most of the story and has a trash bag for a mouth, he relishes torturing the students at every turn and always has some sarcastic quip to egg you on. 

This though was where my fun ended for the show unfortunately, after such a great set up and a unique brand of characters to watch, the rest just falls flat on it's face. Each episode is part of an arc for the story and each arc only has three parts/episodes to it which boils down to a peaceful moment before a classmate murder, an investigation period to look for clues and then a class room trial to figure out who is responsible. This in turn makes the whole story go extremely fast paced and does not leave much time for you to get to know any of the characters. Almost immediately characters start to die off and the cast gets widdled away at so there really isn't much to be seen of them. Then there is the clue collecting period which can often be just glimpses of everyone moving about the school and finding various blood spatter and evidence to the crime that happened. There's barely any time for you to figure out for yourself what happened or to figure out what clues there are before it is time to rush to the trial room to vote on the murderer. It's just too much to accomplish in the time of one episode and perhaps would have been better with more time or more episodes for the show. 

As I mentioned earlier too, the character do not get the screen time they need to make you feel invested in their deaths once they start to be taken out. It is interesting to see what has turned these young kids into murderers and their reasons behind it but then they're gone in a blink of an eye. Perhaps the most interesting part of the whole affair is the way in which they get taken out by Monokuma as each execution is tailored to the individual. Monokuma does do quite a bit to get them to try and hurt one another such as saying he'll spill their most intimate secrets or offering then ten billion yen as a reward upon graduation. He's quite the evil little bundle of hate and that's probably why I love him so much but the rest just don't get the time they need for me to feel sorry for what becomes of them in the execution or the fact they got taken out by their new friends. 

Danganronpa: The Animation really is a poor substitute for the game that it portrays in my mind as the game did a far better job of letting you be involved in the murder solving and feeling bad for your classmates who are dying around you. Monokuma is probably the best part to the show with his foul mouth humor and trickery, he easily steals the show, what little there was to steal anyway. Things do start of interesting and the premise did look promising but in the end, nothing pans out the way it should and you'll only want to watch it if you're a fan of the game it is based around.

Good:

- The characters are unique and interesting when you first meet them

- Monokuma is ridiculous, love the demented little bear

Bad:

- The story is incredibly fast paced 

- There is no time for you to become invested in the characters or their deaths

- There is also no time for you to try and solve the mystery yourself, clues are found incredibly fast and then it's off to the trial 

Scully Rating: 3.0 out of 10 

Bleach 576: The Killers High 2

Zach Goodier

http://www.mangapanda.com/bleach/576

We finally learn the name of Kenpachi Zaraki's zanpakuto this week.  While we haven't seen its ability yet, it finally looks like both of these guys are going all out.  But will Zaraki's power be enough to save the Seretei from Gremmy's seemingly unstoppable power?  Or will this be the end of everything?

I found it interesting how this week's chapter had Gremmy's power actually work against him, as the thought that he might actually die started to prevent him from healing his wounds and made him weaker.  His entire power of "mind over matter" was always something I hoped to see work as a two-way street, and it was nice to see some of that worked into the battle.  However, it was only a momentary setback overall, and having him actually make a duplicate of himself that cannot die is truly fearsome.

Bleach 575: The Killers High

Zach Goodier

"The Fight between Kenpachi and Gremmy escalates!!"  Truer words have not been spoken, as both of these guys have really started to fight in earnest.  However, neither has played their full hands yet, and it looks like both are enjoying the chance to fully open up on each other with everything they have.  Both of these characters have a blood-lust that won't be satisfied until they've hit each other with everything they have, and that's just the way we like it (especially with Kenpachi).  The fight is still young, but will Kenpachi have what it takes to win?

Gremmy's ability is still a bit irritating to me, since it's just one of those abilities that has no explanation yet somehow feels way too overpowered.  As fans, we know Bleach isn't based on realism, but still, a successful franchise generally stays successful by sticking to the confines of the world it creates.  These abilities have been getting more and more abnormal with no real explanation of how they can possibly work within the world they inhabit, but I suppose I can overlook that and just enjoy the action.  Kenpachi, so far, really hasn't shown that his power has increased at all; however, he obviously hasn't really begun to fight in earnest yet, as he just manages to yet Yachiru out of the way near the end of the chapter, and the final panels show the first blows of the actual battle.  I can't wait to see how this unfolds, but I'll just have to wait until next week. 

In the News: Highschool of the Dead Manga

By: Robert Murphy

Hey all you “Highschool of the Dead” fans, have I got some good news for all of you who have eagerly awaited the next manga chapter to the series. As many of you may or may not know, the manga had come to a stop after the writer, Daisuke Satō, went on a hiatus for the past two years but hey, he had a lot on his plate with his work on games, novels and other manga. As a big fan of not only the show, but the manga, I personally, as well as a few other Scullynerdreview staff members are excited to see the manga getting another chapter and hey more chapters getting done will get us closer to a second season of “HoTD”. The chapter is chapter 30 or Act 30 and will be available April 9^th in Japan and in digital format so it should be available for all viewers to enjoy. Hope you are all excited about the news and keep on checking on Scullynerdreviews for anime, news, games and all things nerdy. Murphy out.