Blog 168 > Crows Zero & Clannad Two

Yeah, as you can probably tell from my past posts, I *hate* to write long reviews as much as I *hate* to read them. People will like what they like, and watch what they watch. Especially if they don’t like to be spoiled, like myself. So I’m not in any rush to be the first one or loudest one to say “Hey, look at me! I watched this!” Or even worse, I’m not gonna give a pretentious scene-by-scene review of how observant or perceptive I might be. Okay, maybe one or two observations, lol. Instead, just a brief summary of my overall thoughts and emotions. So here goes…

Let’s start with the guys… Based on the manga, the 2007 live-action Japanese film Crows ZERO rocks! Just like an ancient Imperial Japanese war epic film stained with blood, sweat, and rainy battles~~ but set in a gang-ruled all-boys high school, lol. A cool, stylishly violent 4 of 5 stars! But I gotta say, amidst the hypnotic testosterone, for just a few moments, Meisa Kuroki and her R&B singing stole my breath away. Here are a few more Meisa photos to soothe your soul. So I hope she returns in Crows ZERO 2 [2009], hehe. >_<

Now let’s talk about the girls… Based on the Japanese visual novel, the 2007 anime film Clannad is breath-taking! Directed by Osamu Dezaki, Clannad reveals the same stylistic elements of blinding sunlight, dramatic silhouettes, split screens, and continuous motion ~ birds, trains, bicycles ~ which permeates Air, another equally breath-taking film he directed. Wow, a swirling tear-inducing odyssey through nightmares and dreams towards a sparkling promise of hope, 5 of 5 stars!

In addition to the film, the 2008 anime series Clannad After Story continues seamlessly where the 2007 1st season of Clannad left off. While I rated the 1st season with a “satisfying 4 of 5 stars” because I couldn’t forgive their out-of-tune opening theme (argh, cover your ears), the 2nd season premiere is already sparkling with all the elements of 5 of 5 stars! Humor, dramatic motion, and piano-laced emotion. The opening theme is not only as inspiring and emotional as Air’s opening theme, but the singer is actually singing in tune (much better)! Go figure! Can’t wait for the next episode! In the meantime, here are a few more Clannad wallpapers to warm your heart. >_<

P.S. Maybe this is a dumb question, but who cares? In almost every anime which features a Japanese high-school classroom (such as Clannad), why is the door (or doors) always on the right side (when sitting and facing the front of the room)? Why are the windows always on the left side? Consequently, why is the *prime* seat always in the left-most rear-most location? Is this high-school layout intentional and universal? If so, why? I mean, it can’t simply be feng shui, can it? Help! >_<

18 thoughts on “Blog 168 > Crows Zero & Clannad Two

  1. Love the girls, love CLANNAD! I would love to give Tomoyo some lurve~ (okay, that didn’t come out well ^_^”)

    But, yeah. I agree with you that most (if not all) series that I watched where the location involves a high school setup, the main character is always at the back of the class, at the far left! With the exception of Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu.

    Tomoyo lurve~ >.<

  2. @J85: No problem! I even added bold to highlight the links, lol. So aside from the odd exceptions, is there a general reason or history for that classroom setup?

    P.S. If I had to choose, definitely the more-tsundere *Kyou*. She’d give Tomoyo a great (cat)fight! As a side note, doesn’t Kyou/Ryou remind u of Kagami/Tsukasa? ^_^

  3. gah wtf why u talk about the girl?
    she was bad….and not breath taking at all

    anyways and what you said at the beginning of the blog sounded like a diss to the entry i made…..

  4. @Miko: LOL, hey, that’s okay, I only know what I felt. >_< Diss? Oh, I've always felt that way, but I was speaking more about *anime* reviews which can spoil the *series* for me if I'm not careful. Foreign films are only two hours, so it's different. So don't get so defensive, lol. ^_^ @Gordon: LOL, the Matrix? Who mentioned the Matrix? Is that you, Morpheus? I told u not to contact me here. ^A^

  5. Oh… you ask a good question… figures or computer…. the figures are tempting… but I’ve been wanting a superfast comp for gaming and such for AGES….. But figures won’t go out of date…..hmmm. Computer for now lol.

    AND as for Clannad….. the link to the first Clannad op is for the Game op, not the anime op, and the anime op has been remixed or something, but its lovely. And its no reason to be given less than the 5 it deserves!! But Clannad After Story…. ep one was disapointing… I wanted more than just a bloody baseball match…..hmph….

  6. @M132: LOL, I understand… um, I think, lol. But yeah, depends on the current situation. ^_^

    Well, I gave the “Clannad visual novel” link cuz there ISN’T a separate Wiki for the anime. Wait~ unless I give u the link to the list of episodes, but is that the same? True, it deserved 5 stars, but the out-of-tune opening singing ruined it for me and my pitch-sensitive ears. Plus I expected it to be as emotional as the incredible “Air” or “Kanon”, but it fell short. Luckily for me, “After Story” episode 1 was a great (baseball-as-life metaphorical) start towards an in-tune 5 stars, hehe. >_< [Crosslinked]

  7. @M132: P.S. Sorry, I misread your comment. I couldn’t find the anime OP as it truly appears in the anime, so I just used the game-version OP. Gets the idea across. >_<

  8. Never seen Crows Zero but Clannad After Story is fantastic so far! :3 Woow good observation about the classrooms! I never realized that until now, maybe it’s because of the sun? Like they want the classroom to receive more sunlight? Btw mentioned you in a post on Danny Choo.. hope you don’t mind. ^^

  9. @Miko: Ah, it’s cuz ur not commenting in ur own blog. For external WordPress blogs, add the comments feed to ur Google Reader to be notified. I thought u already set up Google Reader, right? And the notification isn’t instant, the feed takes a few minutes or hours. Makes sense?

    P.S. I’ll send u an identical email to be quicker. ^_^

  10. Crows was awesome~ I’m waiting for the next movie >.<; I initially picked it because of the main guy as he was in the Hanakimi drama and I was looking for something related to any of the actors. I should read the manga meanwhile but I keep forgetting ^^;

    Meisa is also in a drama I watched, her character is so different, she’s a nun xD;; check out One Pound Gospel if you’re interested, lol.

  11. @Koshiko: I agree, stylish! Yeah, that main guy (far right in the poster, I assume?) was also in the live-action version of “Gokusen”, hilarious J-dorama, lol… But why waste time reading manga, when u can waste time watching anime? LOL >_<

  12. I love reading manga~ it’s easier to absorb the drawing style and story for me. Also, we don’t get much bandwidth in Australia, it’s just much faster and easier to get the manga, though for series like Gundam, I’d much rather get the anime.

  13. @K: I agree, reading without sitting at a screen has its benefits. Though I’ve only stuck with manga like “Genshiken” and “Hellsing”. Not much else since they’re so expensive as a complete collection. >_< P.S. I've seen a few eps of "Gundam Seed", but decided to go back to the original "Gundam Wing" before expanding further. Only up to ep 10, but not bad for an older series.

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