Another (Another what?)

So I realize that I have fallen grievously far behind on my anime blogging. I guess I'll just start up again with this peach. (O_O) I would classify this as a horror anime. I enjoyed it, even though I don't usually go for that sort of thing. If you like mystery, creepiness, and blood, well this is a perfect anime to get under your belt. The main plot, for me at least, was a little difficult to understand.

In 1972, a very popular honor student named Misaki died partway through the school year in Yomiyama North Middle School's class 3-3. The rest of the students, devastated by the unexpected loss, decided to carry on as if their classmate were still alive, going so far as to keep the desk in place and bringing it to the graduation ceremony. Yet no one could explain why their classmate, already dead and buried, was present on the graduation photo.Then, in the spring of 1998, a boy named Kouichi Sakakibara transfers to the class, and begins to grow suspicious of the fearful atmosphere permeating the class. In particular, he becomes fascinated with a mysterious, aloof girl with an eye patch who always sits alone, drawing pictures. A girl the rest of the class refuses to acknowledge. A girl named Misaki.

So, yeah, basically there are rules that the students of class 3-3 must follow if they all want to live til after graduation. The rules are simple, but also kind of hard to understand at times. I'll give an example: There would be, say, 30 people registered to be in class 3-3 for the upcoming year. As a result, 30 desks would be placed in the home room for each student. On the first day though, a student would be left standing with no place to sit. There are suddenly 31 students in that homeroom and all of them look like they should have been there from the start. Everyone has records and families, but one does not truly belong. One of them is dead. The problem is, no one knows who. You might think, "oh that's not right, there was just a mix up with the registration and a person got missed." "right?" "WRONG!" If it worked like that there would be much of an anime. The class cannot just accept that there is one extra person, they much choose one among themselves to be treated as if they did not exist. Treated as if they were dead. If they do not follow this rule perfectly, one by one the whole class will die of seemingly natural causes or "accidents."
       This goes on for years until Sakakibara is transferred to that very class. No, he is not the extra person. Since he was a transfer, the class already had the extra person and there was already a person chosen to be ostracized, Misaki Mae. Sakakibara does not know the rules and this sets into motion the inevitable.
       This is a really good mystery, horror anime and will keep you on the edge of your seat. There are unexpected twists and turns throughout the entire thing, with a huge shocker at the end. Who lives? Who dies?

Fruits Basket

Fruits Basket is pretty interesting if you just read a summary. It is about a high school girl named Tohru Honda. She is an orphan who has always worked hard to get through school. She also has the kindest and most loving personality. The interesting part is when she meets the members of the Sohma family. 12 people in the Sohma family are possessed by the spirits of the 12 zodiac animals. They can actually transform into these animals too. They can only change if they are hugged by a person of the opposite gender, or if they are physically or emotionally stressed. Tohru ends up becoming close to the Sohma family and specifically Yuki and Kyo Sohma; the rat and cat spirits. It is a sweet anime if you want something more girly, and if you read the manga, it actually has an interesting outcome. I would suggest it as a transitional anime. If you've just finished an action packed emotional anime and need time to get over all the feels, watch Fruits Basket. It's pretty low key.

Ouran High School Host Club (Ouran Koukou Hosutobu)

The second anime I ever watched was Ouran High School Host Club. After watching a sorta serious and solemn anime like Angel Beats, Ouran High was pretty funny. It's about a new High School student named, Haruhi Fujioka who is mistaken for a boy and therefore blackmailed into joining the Ouran High Host Club. A host club exists for the purpose of making sure that the young girls of Ouran High can have a good time. It is exclusively a club for boys. Taking all this into account you can imagine how funny it is that Haruhi was taken in. She is a serious girl who has had to work hard for her higher education. The boys of the club accept her as no other group could in this world of rich preppy people. They keep up the pretense that Haruhi is a boy so that she can be a member of the host club and continue going on adventures with the boys. They are like her older brothers....almost. There is mostly comedy, and a little romance, but mostly comedy. It has a good ending, and I think anyone who is an anime watcher should check it out. Like I said, pretty funny.

Angel Beats

The first anime I ever watched was called Angel Beats. It was pretty good. For some reason that I'll never know I can always remember the name of the main character in Angel Beats, but I have the worst time remembering anyone else's name in any other anime. Even the other characters of Angel Beats, I can't remember their names. I know Otanashi, is the main character though. It's weird. Otanashi wakes up in the afterlife. There are other kids who take him in and explain what's going on. Everyone has something keeping them there, and they have missions to preoccupy themselves. Anyways I thought it was full of feels and had a interesting plot. There were even a few funny characters, like "Christ" and "God". It had a nice ending and was actions packed in general. It's strange to think about dying as a teenager and going to a school in the afterlife. Seems more like hell to me. It's a good anime to watch, especially for people new to anime like I was.