Anime to satisfy some scare cravings

It is that time of the year again when we find ourselves wanting to scare the heck out of ourselves over some scary (or simply bloody) movies. Bring in some popcorn and get ready to scream.

Although, theses days it seems to hard to scare people. We’ve been so used to the idea of having people die one by one in a party or camping; or see decapitated body parts all over. Not even the the most bloodthirsty killer can make us jump off of the seats nowadays.

Yet there have been some exceptions of course. There came a time not too long ago when Asian horror came to scare the heck out of us. And it did. Who knew it could still happen? Thanks to Japanese horror, we were able to see a different take on scary movies.

Yet anime, a product of Japan (like we don’t know that now) also have had its share of scary movies even before Sadako came to haunt us. The likes of Vampire Princess Miyu, Hellsing and Vampire Hunter D are among titles that have become anime classics fit for the Halloween.

But since a lot of sites have been dedicated to a whole lot of these “newer” titles, we thought of bringing something different – something to add to the collection of anime horror titles.

The following titles (or most of them) came at a time when anime haven’t yet reached its peak in popularity – at least not from outside Japan. These are some of the older horror titles that came before everything else. Some of them may pale in comparison to the new titles we have now but hey, isn’t it always a good thing to look back?

Dark Myth (Ankoku Shinwa)
1990

In ancient times, Susano-oh conquered Orochi with the Kusanagi sword and was named the God of Darkness. In the present, signs of Susano-oh’s manifestation on Earth are beginning to take place, including the shattering of a stone Flayed Colt. Caught in the middle is Takeshi, a young man who is forced to receive stigmata-like marks on his body from the ancient gods; an impending sign that he will soon be reincarnated as Brahman’s alter ego, Atman. Meanwhile, the Kikuchi clan is after Takeshi and has a strange interest in the events taking place. The fate of all mankind is at stake; will demons or humans be the victor?

*****

Curse of Kazuo (Umezu Kazuo no Noroi)
1990

Beware the world of the supernatural, for their tricks and secrets will terrify and potentially even kill you. Two groups of girls experience the horror of the unknown in two very different ways: Masami has begun to have terrible nightmares after the arrival of a new transfer student, and a separate group decides to enter a haunted mansion alone at night. Their lives will be inexplicably changed forever once they discover the truth behind these strange events…

*****

Judge (Yami no Shihosha Judge)
1991

Thinking of committing fraud? Embezzlement? Murder? Think again. Though crimes often slip through the cracks of the laws of man, the laws of the spirit world are not as forgiving. In the underworld, even the dead can request vengeance against those who have wronged them, at the hands of the Judge, the keeper of justice. Hot on the trails of a corrupt executive, the Judge realizes that the chain-of-command might be guilty as well, causing an investigation of deadly proportions…

*****

Kimera
1996

One fateful evening, three capsules containing vampiric beings plummeted to Earth from outer space. Jay and Osamu are two salesmen who, by chance, run across one of these beings known as Kimera. Part man and part woman, Kimera is being transported as a specimen in the name of science – but when Osamu and Kimura lock eyes, it’s love at first sight, and Osamu vows to help set her free. Unfortunately for Osamu there are others who have their own plans for Kimera, including the two inhabitants of the other capsules…

*****

Monster of Frankenstein (Kyoufu Densetsu – Kaiki! Frankenstein)
1981

One dark and stormy night, Dr. Victor Frankenstein and his assistant completed their finest achievement: a monster constructed of spare body parts and given life. However, when the creature breaks free Dr. Frankenstein flees, leaving his assistant to be marred by their creation. Now at home with his family, Dr. Frankenstein tries in vain to forget his failed experiment but is haunted by visions and memories. And when freak accidents and deaths begin to occur, he realizes that the Monster of Frankenstein may very well still be alive…

*****
Lily C.A.T.
1987

In the distant future, employees of the Syncam Corporation board a spaceship bound for a newly-discovered planet; while the voyage will take twenty years, deep sleep capsules ensure that the occupants age only a single year. Now, that time has passed and the crew awakens, only to discover a frightening partial transmission from headquarters: two of them are not employees – they are criminals. One by one, members of the group soon begin to die for unknown reasons; and what’s worse, the bodies begin to disappear. Now, these men and women must race against the clock to discover the fakes in their midst, find out the reason behind the deaths, and most importantly, stay alive at all costs!

*****

Mermaid Forest (Ningyo no Mori)
1992

It is believed that to consume the flesh of a mermaid, means that you will never show signs of age, and live forever. However, many cannot handle its taste and become demons for eternity. Towa is a woman whose thirst for this flesh consumes her, as she was made only partially immortal by drinking the blood of a mermaid years ago. Unable to cast her demons aside, she destroys everything in her path on a search for this legend.

*****

Pet Shop of Horrors
1999

At Count D’s pet shop, you can acquire any form of animal, from an ordinary canary, to more.. “exotic” creatures. Made to sign a contract before purchase, Count D claims no “responsibility for actions incurred” if the purchaser does not follow its instructions completely, as results can be fatal. Patrons of this shop are able to get the rarest of creatures, but often, their purchases are coupled with demons from their past that won’t go away easily.

*****

Roots Search
1986

Deep in the recesses of space, onboard a space station, a young woman named Moira is having terrifying dreams of her crewmates’ bloody future. As if to prove the premonition, a lone spacecraft later descends upon the station casting a SOS distress call, though only one member of its crew was left alive. The visions begin to come true when Moira and her friends uncover a mysterious alien who can somehow manifest itself into their fears and regrets. With the crew being picked off on by one, and tensions rising, can any of them last long enough to escape?

*****

Violence Jack 2: Evil Town
1988

Six months ago, a massive earthquake sunk a massive Japanese city into the ground, burying it from the outside world. The survivors split themselves into three groups: A, with normal salarymen; B, with criminals and lunatics led by the towering Mad Saurus; and C, an all-female group. However, once food supplies began to dwindle the once-kind men of the A group brutally gang-raped the women of the C group, causing the ladies to seal themselves up deep within the ruins. Now, the A group is working towards digging their way to the surface when they unearth Violence Jack, a massive giant. Though the A group wants Jack to help defend them against the B group, he ultimately chooses to protect the C group against all of the others. A bloody civil war approaches – will anyone escape alive?

*****

Mermaid’s Scar (Ningyo no Kizu)
1993

Following in the footsteps of Mermaid Forest (another OVA by Rumiko Takahashi), Yuta and Mana are back, and have travelled to a new city for work and rest. By chance, they meet Masato: a young boy whose mother is known to have come back from the dead. The pair discover that Masato’s household contains dark secrets, which may end up costing them their lives!

Thank you for the info and images: Anime Planet. Visit their website. More interesting stuff there.

!!!HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

*****JHAJR*****

Out of their way: Anime’s Intimidating Bunch

The mere mention of their name may strike an air of animosity towards those who may not know them very well. These are but a few of those anime characters whose looks alone screams “don’t bother me” coupled with a personality that would make people steer clear of their way.

Anime provides fans with a number of stereotype characters in every series and animeHOLIC shall try to serve the first set of those characters: those that we love to hate – or simply don’t rub on us too quickly because we, the audience, feel something indifferent about them.

Here is animeHOLIC first dish out of Anime Stereotype Character:

The Intimidating Ones

:Asuka Langley Souryu (Neon Genesis Evangelion)

She may look cute but this lass from Germany sure made her appearance nothing short of irritating. Overflowing with confidence, Asuka sees herself as the best in everything. Loud and opinionated, obnoxious, a brat, and egocentric, Asuka perfectly starts this list.

:Neji Hyuga (Naruto)

Is it his eyes? Probably not because if that’s the case then Hinata would be intimidating too. Yet, perhaps it is his eyes that make Neji a ninja one wouldn’t probably want to cross paths with even down the street. He is strong but it may not even come close to the level of his arrogance. A little something about his history proves though that he is just misunderstood.

:Haruhi Suzumiya (Haruhi Suzumiya)

Now, Haruhi would probably not mind having the word “misunderstood” taped on her back. She probably wouldn’t care at all. This girl has set her eyes on anything but human. She’s disgusted with humans.

:Tieria Erde (Gundam 00)

The looks alone would easily tell that he can be quite intimidating. His high regard for his mission makes him come off as emotionless and cold and therefore misunderstood. But he’s just a quiet soldier who also comes off as the enigmatic one in the team.

:Kyouya Ootori (Ouran High School Host Club)

He’s quiet. And on rare occasions that he does speak, he makes a lot of sense and there’s no way one would dare not listen. He’s rich. And so when he snaps out his folder and tells one of his debt for breaking a fine décor and decides how the payment should be done, it’s easy to tell that he’s not kidding. At all.

:Yuki Eiri (Gravitation)

There’s something about quiet guys who can easily kick loser butts for being so successful in life. Yuki, a master love story writer won’t care the least if he sees something ugly – like a song lyric from an amateur. And he’s not dumb enough to let ugliness pass. He would easily make the most honest (and brutal remark).

:Meiling (Cardcaptor Sakura)

Meiling went to Japan to help her fiancee in collecting the Clow Cards and she’s not letting some dumb but sweet little girl get in her way. She would talk and fight her way out to make her fiancee’s mission easier. At least until she realizes she had lost the fight that she thought she never had to battle through.

:Hiei (Yu Yu Hakusho)

Isn’t it easy to tell that Hiei wouldn’t want anyone crossing his way? He may be small, but his arrogance is just about as gigantic as his Black Dragon. Better not say anything more about this three-eyed demon from MaKai…

:Vegeta (Dragonball Saga)

What is it with short men and spiked hair? Vegeta is an alien who came to Earth to destroy it. But as fate would have it, he sided with the good guys eventually. That doesn’t necessarily mean though that he’s changed his obnoxious ways. Still loud and outspoken as ever.

:Killua Zaoldyeck (Hunter X Hunter)

Killua is one of those characters that is not easy to like at first because, like Hiei, holds a certain glare in his eyes. He gives out a dangerous feeling towards others. And sure enough there is something to be scared about this young lad. Add to that, he’s actually filthy rich.

*****JHAJR*****

It ain’t Anime w/o these trademarks

We all know by now exactly what makes anime, well….anime. It has come to have its own characteristics completely distinct from other styles in animation.

And yet anime was simply a reflection of what Disney had made back in the days. What the Japanese creators wanted was to create a character that would have very expressive eyes and the way to do that was to make them bigger than ordinary ala Disney.

Today, anime is known as anime for a number of reasons.

One: the eyes. From the eyelashes to the light playing and reflected in the iris, anime has created a completely original way of drawing character eyes.

Two: the hair. You know its anime when you see the hair. They’ve experimented on hair to the point of insanity (^^). Yet, they worked and now fans adore them and even try to copy the styles. Even colors have fast become a trend and the weirder the color, the better.

Three: the uniform. It has become such a big sign in anime. Yes, because it’s Japanese but lately even some non-anime shows have started to draw characters in uniforms.

Four: Mecha. Anime has helped revolutionize robotic design and has since then become unstoppable, creating more original design than the previous. Just take Gundams for instance.

Five: the attacks. It has become a common thing in anime to insert character power attack scenes to lessen the work of creating more animated panels, especially in the Mahou Shojo genre.

This day and age, furthermore, it seems the Japanese still have some more anime-only styles to inject into their work as evidenced by the  following trends that would clearly announce: “Yeah, it is anime!”

01: Hair Antennae.

In a Love Hina episode, it was hinted that an antennae in a female character is kinda adorable. There are two kinds of antennae poking out of a female anime character head: the single and the double antennae.

Ahoge or the single antenna sometimes connotes that a character is stupid. It is also called “stupid hair”. Although of course there are character exceptions to this, so it may not be entirely true.

For whatever the purpose of the antennae in the hair is, no anime fan seem to be complaining.

02: Peculiar Eyes.

There’s been a new trend in anime eyes that may have started with Seishiro Sakurazuka and Kenshin Himura: eyes that look different or changes with emotion.

Kurapika has both eyes turning into red, while Lelouch possesses a Geass symbol. Even Syaoran has the same eyes as Seishiro.

03: Loli-goth.

Probably the most recent trend in anime is the gothic-lolita look, where cute characters dress in black gothic style clothing, making them look confusingly wicked and cuter at the same time.

And then there is…

04: Western religion.

Leave it to anime to tackle themes inspired by Western religion. Leave it to anime to give it a slight twist—or a completely different turn.

A number of anime have used Western religious influences in their plot to make more interesting stories. Some anime tend to use parts while others such as Chrono Crusade holds the entire religious philosophies but with a nun showing off some skin—that’s the twist right there.

And then there’s Evangelion which is probably the one anime to mix different religious influences to make a very interesting story.

*****JHAJR*****

Young and Deadly: Killua Zaoldyeck

Anime: Hunter X Hunter

Name: Killua Zaoldyeck

Birthdate: June 15

Age: 12 years old

Hair: Silver

Eyes: Royal Blue

Height: 5′2″ (158 cm)

Weight: 99 lbs (49 kg)

Blood: Type A

Status: Assassin

Weapon: claws, yo-yo, various assassination arts

Nen Ability: Transmuter (Lightning Palm, Thunderbolt, Godspeed)

Seiyuu: Mitsuhashi Kanako

*****

How does it feel like to be part of a family of assassins?

Killua would probably have a different answer compared to common assassins. At a young age, this lad had been put into the most gruesome form of tortures which eventually led him to great tolerance against poison, electric shock and pretty much every form of pain imaginable.

Imagine opening a giant gate just to get into your own house. Killua does the same thing everytime he comes home to the Zaoldyeck residence. He was also left to reach the topmost floor of the Heaven’s Arena where great fighters meet.

But this young man maintains a very cheerful look in him; a mischievious personality which could either spell fun or disaster to anyone he comes into contact with for this young assassin shows no mercy.

Until he met Gon though. Until he decided to join the Hunter exam and learned so much from the naive boy the same age as he. Since then they’ve shared the most exciting adventures.

Killua though, despite the recognition for being a perfect assassin, has one flaw. He fears those who are stronger than he is. And that is his big brother Illumi. Illumi helped in Killua’s disqualification in the Hunter exam. His brother’s “teachings” also made him leave Gon at one point but decided to rejoin his friend when Gon needed him most. Only did Killua realize that something in his brain was actually causing him to withdraw in a fight with stronger opponents and he was able to come to terms with his fear.

*****JHAJR*****

Questor Heats Up for Anime Bad Guys

It’s easy to tell by the cover that Questor Magazine’s July Issue will have a focus on anime villains/anti-heroes. I remember noticing this issue the moment I stepped on the bookstore. C’mon, who wouldn’t with the striking orange background color and the Toguro brother image?

Questor Magazine came with a surprising price box that wrote the magazine’s price in different monetary units. EIC Bambi said in the Editorial that it was one of the changes in the magazine. Hmmm…Questor availability in different countries? That sure is a big development.

Let’s get it on with this issue…

Interesting to know that the Q-Staff knows their anime so much, they notice how the character laughters as EIC Bambi ang Cecil Estrada wrote an article about them.

CLAMP was given its much-deserved recognition with an article again by EIC Bambi, with information on the awesome-foursome.

Then Cecil Estrada came up with the feature article for the month – a closer look at anime villains and how they may not be what anime audiences might think. Very interesting read…

Thought Balloons focused on the long-awaited manga of Neon Genesis Evangelion and while on the topic of that particular anime, its character Asuka Langley Souryu was featured as Anime Dudette. Then in Animelodies, Evangelion themes and some others were featured as cellphone ringtones.

Fight(!) put three brawns in the ring – Machamp, Zangief and The Rock. Who won? Can’t tell yah ^ ^. Otakus in Focus featured cosplayer and cross stitch enthusiast Pam Ang.

Film Loop featured Gekigan 3, while anime 101 answered questions such as “who will be ChaCha’s fiancee?” or “where to find the Book of Four Gods?”; Audiofiles showcased two CDs: Gorillaz’ and Weib Kreuz (Knight Hunters).

It was a very special On Deck with the Q-Staffers Mark Navarro and Aldin Viray challenging each other on the First Annual Questor TCG Tournament, and Accessing Memory Card looked back on Final Fantasy VIII.

Watashi-tachi featured Sindey Ang aka Gokiburi-sama!

And lastly, in the Doujin Drawing Board, Brian Batchiller took the Questor Pick of the month! But it was a completely original artwork that took Questor’s attention that they decided to put it in print.

It may be the start of the rainy season, but Questor Magazine was sure heating up anime fanaticism in the Philippines!

*****JHAJR*****

Anime Idol: Finale!

12 hopefuls.
And now, the conclusion begins with only last two hopefuls left…
This is Anime Idol finale!

After a considerable number of anime characters, we’ve come down to twelve hopefuls to vie for the prestige of becoming the first Anime Idol. Last week, it was Yusuke’s past that brought him out of the contest, leaving the remaining two toughest and most adored Anime Idol hopefuls: Monkey D. Luffy and Son Goku.

But who will be the last one standing?
Who will be animeHOLIC’s first Anime Idol?

In order to find out clearly who stands to win Anime Idol, we put Luffy and Son Goku through the same weekly character attitude test again, but this time of course they’d be trying to outdo each other. The one with the most merit clearly wins Anime Idol!

*****

First test: Generosity

Hands down, Son Goku is the more generous of the two hopefuls as he’s more than ready to give his own life (and surely did!) to save everyone in this planet.

Second test: Patience

Neither of these two may have shown patience in battle and especially when someone or some people are in trouble. But Son Goku sure has shown patience when had to endure the journey to get back to life as well as the training he had to put up with with Kaioh and his companions.

Third test: Friendliness

Though these two have the warmest of hearts, it wasn’t always like that for Son Goku who was seen and taken care of by an old man when young. Son Goku, being non-human showed some resistance to his guardian at first and if not for the old man’s deep affection, Son Goku may have grown up to be just like the Saiyan alien race he came from.

Fourth test: Hardwork

Luffy deserves to win this time seeing that when it comes to pulling muscles, Son Goku being an alien could obviously do more.

Fifth test: Honesty

This comes down to a simple question of who is loud enough to say whatever he wants. Luffy hands down, deserves to win this test.

Sixth test: Perseverance

Goku surely deserves to win this after showing perseverance that could never be matched. Dying multiple times and coming back to life and his seemingly never-ending battles are more than enough.

Seventh test: Obedience

Who is most likely to obey? Hmmmm… Son Goku, although likely to sneak out of the house and out of Chichi’s sight to practice or save the world would show that he has a sense of obedience towards his wife. The same cannot be said of Luffy though…

Eighth test: Courage and Determination

Neither of these two would ever back out of a fight, but Luffy could always prove himself to be the braver one knowing he’s got no alien super power. Plus, he’s spent most of his time on the one environment that could always pull him unto his death.

Ninth test: Weakness

So who’s the weaker of the two? It may be that having no super power Luffy is the weaker one. However, we give the negative score to Son Goku for having the heart and mind to think rationally and give in to weakness at times. This also could mean that Luffy is stupid enough to plunge into every dangerous situation.

Tenth test: Love

None of these two would probably be the ones to compete with each other in the end if not for having known what love meant. However, Son Goku seems to have a better grasp of this mysterious emotion after having the worst struggles any human could face. Then again, he’s no human at all–which only makes it clearer for Son Goku is one violent alien that has learned to love this home planet.

*****

And so after 11 weeks and 12 Idol hopefuls, we come down to only one, the very first Anime Idol.

But before that, we say goodbye and thank you to Monkey D. Luffy for giving one hard fight…

And with that over, we welcome the very first animeHOLIC Anime Idol:
Son Goku of Dragonball Saga!

Congratulations and arigatou gozaimasu to Akira Toriyama for having created a wonderful character worthy of becoming a role model for otakus everywhere!!!

End of Anime Idol

*****JHAJR*****