Natsume No YuujinCho

I love this 13 part ( Season 1) anime. Natsume no Yuujincho means Natsume's book of friends. And it is no ordinary book of friends, in fact it is a ghostly kind of friends.Yup, it's yurei, youkai and obake a lot. Now, every one knows that Japan has ghosts ( of the long hair kind which is a bad characterizations ) but besides the usual floor crawling kind, their culture is rich which stories of monsters, fearful ghosts as well as fairies.

Natsume is a young boy who has inherited the gift of the 3rd eye. The ability to see residents of the "netherworld" and to him that is gift he rather not have. His ability has left him being shuffled among relatives ( parents died young ) as no one would want a young child who kept insisting there is something in the room when there was nothing there. Till he was accepted by a childless couple in the small outskirts in Japan. However, his spirit visions don't stop and continue to chase him. Worse off, every yurei he meets, keeps telling him he looks like someone they seem to know.

One day, while running away from one yurei, he accidentaly breaks the seal that houses a large youkai known as Madara. ( voiced by Hatake Kakashi's seiyu ) and this youkai tells him that he looks like Reiko. Natsume's late grandmother. Who had also the power to see ghosts as well as "seal" ( by taking their name ) them in what she calls her book of friends. She later uses it to summon the ghosts for her own bidding. Reiko seems like a powerful person, who can beat the crap out of humans and ghosts a like and ended making some powerful enemies when she took their name.

Natsume strikes a deal with Madara ( who turns into a cat called Nyanko sensei ) that while he works to return the names of the ghosts stuck by the deal, any remainder will be given to Madara, who will also eat Natsume at the end of the deal.
Each episode, you will get to see the different yurei, obake, small gods that make up Japanese legends. Now how many are really from Japanese legends i am not sure but some are down right creepy - like those with 1 eye or those that crawl on the floor. Some are downright cute and sweet. I have to say there were some episodes that were so sad, really, you need tissues. There are really no frightening ones ( like in juon ) but it gives you a good inside of how deep japanese cultures are. My favorite story is of the one where the yurei is peeping behind the man's shoulder.
Natsume, is not alone in his quest and in his journeys, he meet people past and present that are "special" like him. When i say past, he gets to know about his late grandmother a little bit more through the ghosts that he meets in his quest to return their names. At the same time, meet other humans who can see ghosts like him.

What i like about this show:
* The ethereal feel about the show, it looks so... soft... and feathery
* The story line of course.
* Natsume's trusting nature of human and otherwise and the friendships he builds with people around him.
* The music, the intro and ending song was pretty good in my books. Especially the last song. Can't find it anywhere but it is a pretty awesome song.

I found that his grandmother was one scary lady to begin with. Takes some guts to bop ghosties on the head with little thought and beat the crap out of them and he seeks to distinguish himself away from her.

I only wished they could extend the story line a bit more. For me 13 episodes was short. After the first season, they introduced Zoku Natsume no Yujin Cho as a continuation but the series still feels that it has more to tell. For those looking for horror yet not to be scared witless, then try Natsume Yujin Cho for starters.

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I am Legend

Wow, i just realized that i have not updated this for a long time. True to what Tan Kia Su says, it is really tough to maintain 2 blogs. :P Hehehehe. Anyway, let's get to business of the review.

I was supposed to watch The warlords with Lil Bro, but we were early that day and the next show was I am Legend, some quick decision, we decided to watch this show. We've been big fans of Will Smith since Fresh Prince of Bel Air, so it was an easy choice.

Anyway, we heard IAL is about 2 hours long, and yes it was. The premise of the story is that Will, who plays Robert Neville, a virologist is the only person left alive on earth. The earth is infected by a virus that turns people into vampire like creatures. Robert spends his time broadcasting daily on his radio - to see if there is survivors there and the rest of his days in NY, adding on rations, waiting at the pier for any potential survivors to meet up with him.

However, by 6 in the evening, both him and Sam ( the dog ) have to go back in doors and ensure the doors are tightly locked. Why? Because the Vampires come out to play...................

Now, though it is 2 hours long, this show is a pretty good show. I mean, you know the typical will smith shows, with his simple brand of humor and he is quite the action hero. You also get to see how being alone for 1001 days starts to play tricks on your Sanity. In fact- because one bit with "Fred", gets you wondering who on earth set that trap for Robert. If it were me, i would have gone insane on the 10th day. Robert is driven to actually eliminate the virus and spends most of his time experimenting on the "vampires" to find a cure for this plague.

Not to be overshadowed, the dog Sam is excellent. This is the first time, a non human shares enough screen time with the main actor. She is not only the cute side kick but an equivalent partner with Robert. She is the cutest and smartest dog i have ever seen on screen. Be prepared for some tears for a certain part in the show.

Would i recommend you this show? Yes. It's a good watch - albeit a bit long. However, there may be some who find the ending not so typical of will smith movies.

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Resident Evil: Extinction

You might think a person like me is not necessary interested in gory, bloody movies but surprisingly, me likes! (^_^)V. Lil Bro and myself are big fans of er gaming horror movies and we trooped along after work that day to watch Resident Evil: Extinction. My brother's motives in watching this is just more than his favourite PS2 game, it is a chance for him to drool @ Milla Jovovich. For me, it is mindless relaxation.

Resident Evil is based on that game from PS2 though the only thing in common it has with the game is undead people. Yes, undead people. People that are infected by a virus that turns them into mindless flesh eating zombies. Only very few people are surviving and they are running from place to place to look for food, water and finally the cure.

The hero ( or -ine ) in this show, is Alice(Milla) and she is actually the only person who can overcome this infection. She roams around the US looking for a cure and running away from the people in the Umbrella Group, who are out to get her and harvest her blood to look for a cure. Alice has special powers compared to other humans, in which you will see in the show later.

While on the really humans portion, there is a group of people led by Claire Redfield, that rounds up remaining living people in search for a cure for the diseases.

Along the way, they kick a** zombies and meet up with Alice. They team up and try to find away to get to Alaska, where it seems the infection never hit.

Now, what's great about it? If you like action movies, i can't say this doesn't have any. Frankly, aside from Alice being pretty, she really knows how to knock people off. It's refreshing to see ladies kick butts. Besides Alice, there is Claire Redfield played by Ali Larter from Heroes fame as well as Betty ( one of the caravan followers ) played by Ashanti. The best scene in the whole show is the one where all the black crows were surrounding them. Cool!!!

Not so great part? Hmm- the story line is weak. Not much plotting, you can predict the outcome in about 1/2 way through the show.

But watch if it, if mindless violence let's you destress and if you are true Milla Jovovich fan.

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