Black Cat

Black Cat is another manga/anime my guild leader in Guild Wars wanted me to try and watch.

It is about an organization bent on world peace named Chronos, which rules one third of the world's economy. Since that makes them required to maintain balance in the world, they need protection. So they have thirteen special elite assassins called the Chrono Numbers, all of which wield unique Orichalcum forged weapons. The thirteenth Chrono Number is the main character, and he's named Train Heartnet but is also known as the infamous Black Cat. He meets a licensed bounty hunter (known as a Sweeper) named Saya Minatsuki and his morals and values are changed from that of Chrono's to his own. Instead of killing people like he is told, he just stops them. This leads to tension between him and the Chrono Elders, and culminates with Train leaving the organization. Another assassin named Creed Diskenth resents the way Saya changed Train, and murders her. After six months pass, Train is an easygoing Sweeper when Creed appears before him again.

This looks like a fantastic anime that I would love. I don't know why, but it just seems very interesting to me. The story is not extremely extensive or intricate, but it still has something that just makes me want to watch it. Although I probably did read to far because I am pretty sure knowing that Saya dies is a big spoiler, and I am a little disappointed in that. If all anime summaries made me want to watch them like this one does, I would probably be watching non-stop anime and have no life.

Invader Zim

I have heard many people talk about Invader Zim, but I have never actually seen anything for it. Since it has such a large fan base, I think it would be something worth looking into.

Invader Zim was produced by and aired by Nickelodeon. The main character is an alien invader named Zim from the planet Irk that is trying to conquer or destroy Earth. His plans usually end up failing due to his mistakes, his robot named GIR, or by his arch-nemesis Dib. Zim was exiled when he accidentally destroyed his own planet, and was banished forever to "Foodcourtia", the food court planet. After so long, he was sent on a "secret mission" to Earth to get rid of him for good. He takes his mission seriously, however, and is determined to vanquish Earth to reclaim his honor.

I also read that this show has heavy use of black comedy, which makes me wonder why it is on Nickelodeon. They were pitching to eleven to fifteen year old kids, but a lot of parents might still say eleven is to young for things like Zim eating organs stolen from school children (an example that was given). I don't have a problem with it personally, but that seems like it could be a risky choice on Nickelodeon's half. Of course, I have not seen it, so I don't know how serious it really is. It could just be a few serious black comedy bits and the rest not so bad.

Ghost in the Shell

Ghost in the Shell is an anime I have been curious about for a long time now because I saw the video game of it and was curious as to where the game came from. After a long time I realized it was an anime, and many people have mentioned it to me, but I still have seen even a part of any episodes. There are actually two different Ghost in the Shell seasons, the first one being named Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, and the second one being Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. 2nd GIG. There were also three films about the manga which were Ghost in the Shell, Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence, and Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. Solid State Society.

The story is about a fictional counter terrorist group in Japan called Public Security Section 9 in a cyberpunk setting. The main character is a cyborg named Motoko Kusanagi, who is a member of covert operations in the Public Security Section 9. Even though all members of the squad are equal to each other, Motoko has the leadership role in the group. Other members call her "the Major" because that was her past rank in the Japanese Self-defense Forces. She is biologically enhanced for her job, the only thing not mechanized being her brain and a part of her spinal cord.

I have not watched many futuristic anime, so I do not quite know whether I would like this or not. I suppose I don't have any reason to worry because most of the futuristic shows I watch have a great story behind them. Hopefully, this one will be added to that list of great futuristic shows.

Blood+

I have heard some good things about Blood+, but I have also heard that it is overrated. It was inspired by the film made in 2000 called Blood: The Last Vampire although there are few allusions to that film.

The story starts with Saya Otonashi, which is an anemic and amnesiac schoolgirl whose happy life crumbles when she attacked by a chiropteran (a bat) and finds out that she's the only one that can defeat them. When she finds this out, she arms herself with her katana and takes her family and friends to rid the world of chiropteran and rediscover her identity. During her journey, the background of the chiropteran's is revealed and Saya learns she has a very deep past that extends to the mid-19th century. Throughout the series, she goes around the world fighting chiropterans and trying to discover her past.

I am a bit iffy on this show. It doesn't make all that much sense to me in text. She gets attacked by a bat that only she can kill? I am going to assume that the bat is a vampire, and Saya is some form of immortal (or something similar) since her past goes so far back. I think I would have to watch the show to be sure of any of this, but I am also afraid that this show might have been overhyped for me by twilight fangirls that just love vampires.

Ergo Proxy

Ergo Proxy is a science fiction anime with both steampunk and postcyberpunk elements. The setting is a futuristic domed city called Rondo that was built to protect its citizens after a global ecological disaster. This city has humans and androids (called AutoReivs) coexisting peacefully under a management system. However, some of the AutoReivs have been infected with a virus called Cogito which causes them to become self aware. Becoming self aware has led these AutoReivs to committing murders, which has upset the domed city's social order. This has made the government start secret experiments on a humanoid life form called a "Proxy". Proxies are described as God-like and immortal and are believed to hold the key to the survival of mankind. The main character's name is Re-l Mayer and she is assigned to investigate some of these murders with her AutoReiv partner Iggy. While investigating, she encounters one of the infected androids along with a Proxy. After so long of investigating, Re-l discover the truth about the Proxies and the domes, which I am not going to find because I don't want to spoil it for me or anyone else.

This show does seem intriguing to me. You don't see that many steampunk themed shows or games, much less ones that are set in the future, and I kind of like the steampunk look. Hopefully I can get around to watching this as soon as possible.

Rurouni Kenshin

Rurouni Kenshin is one of the anime my guild leader on Guild Wars always tells me to watch, yet I've never gotten around to it. It seems to be one of her favorite shows, so I'm guessing it's pretty good (at least to her).

The story is about a peaceful wanderer named Himura Kenshin who used to be an assassin known as Hitokiri Battosai. After fighting in a war, he offers aid to those who need it as a way to atone for the murders he committed as an assassin. When he's walking into Tokyo one day, he meets a woman named Kamiya Kaoru who was fighting with a man who claims he is Hitokiri Battosai. Kenshin helps her and defeats the fake Battosai, and she finds out that he is the real assassin. She realizes that he is a nice person, so she invites him to stay at her dojo. Kenshin lives there and starts to make new friends and enemies, and after several months of living there he finds out that his successor as an assassin of shadows plans to conquer Japan. To do this he plans on assassinating the government, one of which is one of Kenshin's new friends.

To save myself from reading spoilers, I'm going to stop there. So far this anime looks like it would be pretty good. Of course, sometimes all an anime needs for me is some flashy swords and I'll like it so this will most likely get watched by me sooner or later.

Carcassonne

I saw this game named after a town in southern France on wikipedia and it made me think of the game Zombies!!! because it also has tile laying as the way of making the map. Except it this game, there is no zombie killing. It's more of a strategic tile placing and follower placement.

The game is two to five players and you're basically trying to lay down and control as much land as you can. There are 72 tiles in total, so the games would most likely last quite awhile. At the beginning of each player's turn, they draw a tile and place it on the board. Certain tile have to connect to each other so they keep extending, like roads have to connect to roads. After the player places their tile, they can place a follower that claims land for them. However, they can't place a follower on the same tile as another player's follower although it is possible for terrain to be shared if two terrains are connected with a follower on each one that got connected. During a turn, if something is completed then the points are added to the owner's score. So if there is a town that gets finished somehow then whoever owns that turn gets points right then. Once all the tiles are laid, then the incomplete tiles are also added to the score.

This game seems really confusing at first, but I think playing it once could get me used to it. There seems to be a lot of thinking in this game because you have to think of the best place to put your tiles and followers to get the most points. Of course a lot of thinking isn't necessarily a bad thing.