The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

Why yes, this is really late because like, this movie came out last year and yet here I am writing about it. Why? Well, simply put, I haven't watched it. Well, should I say, I hadn't watched until this afternoon. I was unable to see the final installment in The Hobbit in theaters and opted to buy it as soon as it came on DVD. Then, it promptly sat in my room for weeks because I refused to watch it. And I refused to watch it for one simple reason: I didn't want it to end.

There are times when a story captivates me so strongly and I am so emotionally invested in the plot and the characters that I refuse to see a story to its end. I will literally set the series/movie/book aside and wait a while until I finally gather the courage to watch the ending. This happened when I read the final chapter of the Naruto manga, when I finished reading the Harry Potter books, when I got to the end of the Rose of Versailles anime - I mean, this happens A LOT. A lot more than it should actually. But finishing this amazing journey into Middle Earth was one of the hardest to complete.

Anime Talk: Conqueror of Shamballa

So, it has happened. I have watched Conqueror of Shamballa (to be honest, I watched it yesterday but I didn't want to blog about it right after as it probably would have been an incoherent post). For those that haven't watched it, there are major spoilers in here, so be warned! Back to the movie - I was honestly confused during the first 5 or so minutes, because I seriously thought the first half of the movie was going to be a summary of everything that had happened in the anime series. However, it quickly switched to Ed and Al?? Well, yes, Ed is speaking with Alphonse, but not the Al we all know and love but the Al that exists on the other side of the gate. From there, the movie begins to unfold pretty quickly. While Ed is on one side of the wall, trying to find a way to get back to his world and helping a gypsy fortuneteller on the way, Al is on the other side, studying alchemy and developing an uncanny resemblance to his elder brother. Seriously, you can mistake Al easily for Ed if it weren't for the different bangs. I thought this was a neat quirk as throughout the series, it's Ed that is constantly mistaken for Al due to his stature. And speaking of stature...Ed has grown taller! The topic of Ed's height makes for some great comical moments in the movie as Ed seems to take just as much offense when people mention that he's taller as when he was being teased for being short.

Anime Talk: Fullmetal Alchemist 「鋼の錬金術師」

Ahhhhh!! The time has come. It's time to write of my tumultuous feelings surrounding Fullmetal Alchemist or, as known in Japan, 鋼の錬金術師 (Hagane no Renkinjutsushi). There are a few things I want to say first. 1. I have watched Fullmetal before, but never in any particular order. During my middle school years, I would sometimes watch an episode during my wait for Inuyasha to start (or maybe after Inuyasha ended...I can't remember which aired first). In total, I watched maybe 5 episodes of FMA. I found it entertaining, but didn't commit to the whole series. I decided after my 2012 trip to Japan that I should really watch the series from beginning to end. I now know that there are two Fullmetal animes: the original Fullmetal Alchemist which diverges from the manga storyline into it's own separate story entirely and Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, which stays faithful to the manga. I opted to watched the original FMA first, and this is the anime I will be reviewing today. Also, another quick thing to note: I watched the subbed version of FMA, meaning that the audio was entirely in Japanese. Due to this, I may slip into referring to FMA as "Hagane" or "Fullmetal", sorry about that in advance.