Kingdom

The first time I know about Kingdom is from their figures (Figuarts ZERO). They were discounted so I was tempted to buy. In the end I never bought any of the figures or checked out the manga because I am not a fan of the art style. I am aware of the movie when I saw some promotional materials during my trip to Japan this April. I wanted to watch it, despite not knowing anything about it, because historical war movie like this should be quite exciting. Too bad I missed it as it was released on the same week when I had to travel to Manila in June. It comes to a full circle now that I watched it on my flight to Manila last Sunday.

I find lack of originality with the plot: two war orphans dreaming of getting out of poverty by joining military, one gets chosen (unknowingly as a double for the king due to their physical similarities) and ends up dying due to some palace intrigues and this causes his to avenge, the friend ends up helping the dethroned king to claim back the throne, the king getting help from hidden tribe which used to be old ally of the kingdom but was betrayed. It feels like a mix and match of plots of various manga/anime/movie previously. I guess it is sort of unavoidable for a story based on war and history.

Kingdom is based on the story of Qin dynasty which unified China. Some of the characters are based on historical characters but with Japanese name. Shin is Li Xin and Eisei is based on Qin Shi Huang. The movie ends with Eisei returning to claim his rightful throne. I googled and found out that the manga is still ongoing and is currently at volume 55. Wow.. I guess the manga really continues all the way until the Qin dynasty is established.

After watching, I don't find the movie that exciting but I also don't regret spending time watching it. But one thing for sure, it still does not pique my interest to check out the manga. Hahaha...

Detective Conan: The Fist of Blue Sapphire

Detective Conan: The Fist of Blue Sapphire is the first Conan movie that I get super hyped about even since the first trailer and announcement were out. This is the first Conan movie featuring Kaito Kid that I watched. When Kid is involved, the story is usually funny as Kid and Conan will try to outwit each other. Makoto is seldom involved so it is nice to have him featured. This movie is set in Singapore so that is another bonus point for the hype as the trailer really showcases Singapore in an amazing way. Lastly, the movie was originally released in Japan on my birthday so that is another reason for my hype.

The Fist of Blue Sapphire feels like an opposite of Zero the Enforcer. The Fist of Blue Sapphire is much funnier but the action scenes are not as exciting. Despite all the good elements, the story is pretty lousy. The "I trick you and you trick me" plot between the 2 antagonists are so confusing. It does not help that the reasons for the antagonists to commit the crimes are so vague. The pacing is so bad: funny and light-hearted at the beginning, suddenly turn serious and full of expositions/shortcuts to drive the story in the middle, action-packed (although rather flat) towards the end, and then return to funny and light-hearted for the end credits.

This movie is a good example of a trailer that already shows all the exciting parts of the movies and give false expectations of the movies. The trailer is so action packed with Kid fighting Makoto,  Kid getting hurt, Merlion vomiting blood, and all the explosions. In the actual movie, Kid fighting Makoto does not quite make sense as Kid keeps successfully evading Makoto, Kid getting hurt is not that dramatic in the actual movie, Merlion vomits red liquid is only a sign for the antagonist's plot to start, and all the explosions do not give adrenaline rush.

Nevertheless, one thing that the movie really does well is the depiction of Singapore. I think Singapore Tourism Board (STB) should use this movie to promote Singapore in Japan. Haha.. It is a nice touch that they use Chinese, Malay, and Indian names for character names. The English is not that believable but at least they use English speakers instead of Japanglish. Even if you are not a fan of Detective Conan, I will still recommend Singaporeans to watch the movie as it is quite interesting to see Singapore in an anime form.

I think $60 is quite reasonable

Because of my hype, I decided to splurge for the fan screening and meet and greet. I knew about this event quite late and by the time I booked, there were only about 10 seats left which were the first row seats. I was still deciding if $60 was worth spending since I was not impressed with the fan screening that I attended for The Crimson Love Letter. This time I was really swayed by the t-shirt. Since I would get the first row anyway, I decided to buy the meet and greet so that I would be able to see mascots, Kappei Yamaguchi (seiyuu of Shinichi and Kid), and Naoko Matsui (seiyuu of Sonoko) nearer.

I am feeling very emo because I left office at 522pm today when I was planning to leave at 5pm. Although the screening started at 650pm, collection of the goodies started at 5pm and Odex kept emphasizing that the available t-shirt sizes would be first-come-first-serve. I was worried that I would not get M size so I queued for the goodies first before queueing for the mascots. Odex did not even state that there would be opportunity to take photo with the mascots. Sigh.. The mascots only appeared at 6pm. I was quite lucky that I decided to still queue after hearing the staff were saying "5 more minutes" and I was the third last person to take photo with the mascots. Unfortunately, the person helping me to take photo sucked and the photo was not clear. Jeez... I did not have any chance to re-queue or even to change to the movie t-shirt for the photo. Haiz.. Of course looking at the bright side, I should be thankful that I still managed to take photo with the mascots given the circumstances but I can't help to curse myself why I was so stupid to stay so late at the office. I already brought my digital camera so I should have just used that instead of my phone camera as well. Sian..

Part of the meet and greet was lucky draw for 20 shikishis signed by the seiyuus. I was at A12 and A11 got one of the lucky draw. FML! One of the perks of sitting in the first row was during the mass photo taking session, I would be in the first row. I am pissed at the woman that asked the first row people to stand at the aisle. There were some standing spots in the first row (with the mascots etc) and I could have been there. Sad.. Let's see the final photos posted online to see if I am visible enough to see if this was a good or a missed opportunity. The meet and greet event itself was quite badly organised and poorly executed that it felt that the organiser just wanted to milk our money. I am actually quite okay to pay extra $10 for the 15 minutes of meet and greet part. It is possible to maximise these 15 minutes for a more memorable experience for the fans but too bad things did not happen that way.

It is my first time attending this kind of fan event and I admit that I quite enjoyed myself and I would not mind to do something similar again. The fans watching were quite lively so it was laughing or clapping together with others who could appreciate the show or understand the jokes. It is also my first time watching at GV Max. I think the main difference with usual cinema hall is that the distance from the first row to the screen is still quite big. It is not that bad to watch from the first row in GV Max although my neck is still not comfortable la.

Some photos from the event.

The lighting is so dark

The first two people are the seiyuus of Sonoko and Shinichi

The mascots should be lively and expressive la

One unexpected encounter today was the person who checked my ticket for the collection of the goodies recognised my name. He was one of the student volunteers during ASEAN Para Games in 2015. I could not remember him in an instant but after seeing his name tag, I remembered. His hair was different. Haha.. I showed him that yes I eventually remembered him and I showed him the group photo we took previously lol. I am quite honoured that someone remembered me although I feel quite self-conscious given the circumstances. Haha.. I am a closet otaku after all :p

Unfortunately I was cut off from the video and the photos :(

I am barely here.. Sucks.. They should hire a better photographer

Gintama 2: Rules are Made to be Broken

I was only aware that Golden Village is playing Gintama 2 when I was searching for the ticket to watch Fantastic Beasts and the Crimes of Grindelwald. It is surprising that the show availability is so limited considering that it started to be available only since last week (8 Nov) and because of that I just watched it although usually I avoid watching on Fridays and weekends due to more expensive ticket price.

Gintama 2 does not deviate much from the first live action movie last year: great actors, great comedy that some may consider lame, terrible CGI, and plot that does not make sense. There have been improvements which makes Gintama 2 is a more enjoyable movie after all.

The weakest improvement is in the CGI department. The CGI is exceptionally painful in the first movie because of the amanto aka the aliens. In Gintama 2, the CGI is most obvious during the fight scenes. The fight scenes are actually cool and the actors do great while the CGI ruins it. Jeez.. CGI should enhance fight scenes but unfortunately the CGI is jarringly bad here as if the film makers did not even bother to make the CGI blend better with the live action. 

The plot is still quite weak but easier to follow and less confusing than the first movie. The earlier part of this movie is essentially for the sake of laughter as it does very little for the overall plot other than to introduce new characters, the shogun and Kamataro Ito, as the later part of the movie requires them. Ito wants to take over Shinsengumi and is basically made use of by the real antagonist, Shinsuke Takasugi since Shinsengumi is protecting the shogun whom Takasugi wants to kill.

The returning actors are still great and the new actors are equally great to capture the lameness, ridiculousness, and over-the-top comedy. Without these actors and the comedy, the movie will just be a gone case. The comedy goes full throttle right from the beginning with Gintoki, Shinpachi, and Kagura discussing the success of the first movie and then teasing Shun Oguri (who plays Gintoki) who never won Japan Academy Prize while Masaki Suda (who plays Shinpachi) won it last year. The running gags referencing Shun Oguri's other movies/roles and the parodies of other animes (Evangelion and Totoro just to name a few) did not fail to make the whole cinema laughed. The star of the comedy, however, is hands down Yuya Yagira who plays Toshiro Hijikata. As a plot to take over Shinsengumi, Hijikata is planted with a chip to turn him into an otaku so initially he repeatedly switches personality between the serious Hijikata and the otaku before eventually the otaku personality becomes more prominent. All the otaku jokes and stereotypes definitely hit the correct notes from the otaku audience too.

In midst of all the comedy and the things that don't make sense, there are still some touching moments with the Shinsengumi arc. I think the movie does well representing the manga/anime feel with interspersing the comedy, touching moments, action, serious moments, and parts that actually drive the plot quite well. The changes of atmosphere still feel natural or anime/manga-like and manage to avoid being abrupt, awkward, or lame.

Usually I feel happy and light on Fridays but somehow I feel so down and emo the whole day. I was contemplating whether to rest early or to watch just now and I am really glad that I decided to watch. I had good laughing session and it was therapeutic. I am very surprised that I enjoy Gintama 2 much more than the first one. Looking back, I think the first movie is somewhat cringe-y. Perhaps it introduces and de-sensitises me to Gintama gag style and that familiarity enables me to enjoy Gintama 2 more.

Detective Conan: Zero the Enforcer

I do not normally watch Conan movies but Zero the Enforcer caught my interest from the trailer. It seems exciting and action packed. More importantly, Rei Furuya aka Bourbon aka Tooru Amuro is featured quite heavily in this movie. I do not follow Conan anime as well so my knowledge about Conan is as far as the Indonesian version of the manga and at this point of time, the identity of Rei/Bourbon/Amuro is still mysterious.

Zero the Enforcer has a nice mystery plot and twists although it is less funny than usual with limited screen time of the Detective Boys and the absence of Heiji and Kazuha. The story involves Japanese police system and legal system so it can be quite educational too if someone is interested in such things. As usual, Conan movies' action scenes tend to be over-the-top, unrealistic, and unbelievable. Despite all these, the action scenes are still adrenaline pumping. The suspense is sustained throughout the movie because the characters seem to be clueless about what is happening with electronic devices everywhere mysteriously exploding. The climax is quite intense because the place expected to be a safe haven turns out to be unsafe too. Overall, Zero the Enforce is pretty good Conan movie with good mystery plot as well as exciting adventure/action component. 

I always enjoy characters that have multiple identities and have to maintain different personas. Conan is one example of such character so it is interesting to see how he is also confused when encountering people that behave similarly. Having said that, based on the current progress of Indonesian Conan manga, I actually hate all these multiple identities and disguises as it makes everything confusing. After knowing who is actually who and whether they are good or bad makes me enjoy the story more. That is quite obvious for me who prefer spoilers to being kept in suspense hahaha.. So now I am happy to know who Rei/Bourbon/Amuro is.

Gintama

Based on a super popular series, boasting popular actors and actresses, visual that is faithful to the original anime/manga as well as period drama, great box office performance in Japan: all the recipe needed for a good anime/manga adaptation. Although I never follow the original series, I decided to watch this Gintama movie without even reading reviews for the plot or the movie.

I feel that the movie will be have contrasting reviews depending on whether the person watching is a fan to begin with. I don't follow the original story so I find the plot is quite weak, especially considering Gintama is more like a gag series. I personally enjoy over-the-top performance to replicate the over-the-top expressions and scenes from anime/manga. I also find the references to another series (that is what makes Gintama quite unique for a comedy) hilarious because I am familiar with the series they are referring to. However, for non-fans, they will find the comedy lame and they will not get the references or understand why the fans are laughing.

The setting is kinda lame right from the start as Japan is invaded and ruled by aliens. Even so, I think they really cannot be bothered about the plot to begin with. The rather weak plot gets further thinned down with all the comedy elements in between that people looking for a good story will find themselves in a "WTF is this movie" kind of feeling. But then again I don't know if the plot follows the original anime/manga that fans will like it.

I can close an eye to the story since this is meant to be a live-action of anime/manga which usually is average at best in general. The thing that I can't stand the most is the CGI. The CGI is painful to watch and it is as if the movie producer does not even try to blend the CGI to reality. The CGI looks obviously like a computer work added in a post-production stage. Ouch.. I think not acceptable given the technology today. Even Power Rangers in the 90s is not this awful.

Gintama plays its trump card well with the comedy and self-depreciating jokes throughout the movie. For example, Gintama said that Elizabeth cannot be an alien and must be a human wearing a cosplay wear and a few moments later we are shown with Elizabeth falling down and the human legs showing. The casts sing the initial opening and closing song in a "can't be bothered style". In fact the initial opening scene is like a karaoke session with the karaoke video only showing Shun Oguri's name (the real actor name who plays Gintoki) all over as if he is the only cast in the film. But ultimately, just like the discussion between cartoon Gintoki, Shinpachi, and Kagura at the start of the film, it will be difficult to win over new fans with this live action movie.

Orange

I am so hyped up about this movie because of the OST on youtube. I only managed to find this after 2 years and even my friend had great difficulties to find this. One day, Naho Takamiya receives a suspicious letter from her future self in 10 years time. Initially skeptical about it, Naho begins to take letter more seriously when what the letter states starts coming true such as the arrival of a transfer student Kakeru Naruse. Future Naho informs younger Naho that Kakeru would commit suicide and she wants younger Naho to prevent that.

It sounds quite intriguing and boring at the same time. Lol. After all, a story involving time travel, time skip, time jump, etc to change the future usually does not make sense of time paradox. Surprisingly, Orange deviates from that in the sense that whatever changes that happen to the past does not end up changing the future.but ends up creating a parallel timeline. I am not sure if that is a good thing since the way I look at it, it feels that everything is simply a dream or wishful thinking. It is as if the future people are just sending the letters and dream/hope that the letters reach their younger selves and have a better new future, does not matter if it does not impact them who are writing the letter now. So yeah, if the future is changed it will turn out boring but if the future is not affected it feels like only a wishful thinking.

Among the 6 characters, I dislike Naho the most. I am not sure if it is her character or it is the actress who plays her (Tao Tsuchiya). She also stars in Aozora Yell and somehow both characters played by her end up equally boring. Well whatever it is, seriously Naho is just too boring among her friends. I don't know if such a group of friends can exist in real life. The friendship scenes involving the whole group are quite happy and touching to watch but the supposedly 'romantic' scenes of Naruse and Naho are too slow and boring.

The pace of the movie is rather slow and the time jumps between the future and the current make it quite confusing too. I find it quite boring and I only finished watching this in 4-5 separate seatings. Lol. But oh well, at least my curiosity about this movie is fulfilled now. I wonder if the manga will be better since the covers really give a cheerful vibe that makes people interested in it.

Detective Conan: The Crimson Love Letter

I made an exception to watch Conan 20th movie last year because it was interesting with the Black Organisation plot. I said 'exception' because I never watched any Conan movie before despite already reading the manga for more than 15 years now. For this year, I was not hooked by the trailer. I was hooked because of me being deprived of movies. Lol. After working for 3 Saturdays in a row, today was my first off. When I saw the advertisement for the advanced screening today, I thought why not since I would be out for the whole day.

It is my first time attending a movie advance screening kind of event by Odex. The ticket cost me $35 and the gimmicks were actually not fantastic: poster (I am not a poster person), clear folder, Japanese tea cup, and Gosho Aoyama's signature card. The only thing which caught my interest is only the Gosho Aoyama's signature card although I knew I expected the impossible. It turned out to be a digital signature copied and pasted.

The so-called event was messy. There was no signages on the queue for the sales of limited merchandises from the movies and the queue to collect the goodie bags. When I reached, I only saw a queue and I thought there was only one queue. It turned out be the queue for the merchandises. I was like the 5th person queueing and I was disappointed the items that I wanted (the medal and the hand fan) were already sold out. The hoodie is too expensive at $98. I am very particular about clothes while I did not bat an eye when I bought $75 Kingdom Hearts Keyblade Conductor Baton last week. Haiz. But I was also thinking about practicality: there was no chart to estimate the size of the hoodie so it would not be funny if after spending that much I could not wear it and there will be limited chance of wearing it in hot and humid local weather. Although the merchandise sale was advertised to be open to the people who bought tickets first before to the public, they did not really check if the people buying had tickets as they were understaffed.

I did not get what I wanted. But since I already queued, I decided to buy these plush keychain for $19 each T_T Well it is rare to see Heiji's merchandise so I guess why not...

Conan mascot was wondering around. It was good for the public but disappointing for me who thought that there would be a designated proper space to take photo with Conan for the ticket holders. Sigh.. I still consider myself lucky to take a photo with the box office as the background and although there were strangers at the background, it was not that crowded. Still, with strangers, the photo was not good enough to be a profile picture :( The girl who helped to take my photo was lovely too. She retook my photo when a passerby inconsiderately walked past behind me.

After watching Kuroko yesterday, I think Conan movie is nice to give a brief introduction to the characters at the start of the movie. Yes, despite having 21 years of history, it still gives introduction which I think will help people who are new to the series. Story and humour wise, it is typical Conan style so nothing is extraordinary. The action scenes during the bombing of Nichiuri TV and the Satsuki temple were too unbelievable. Although these scenes give audience adrenaline rush, it is quite unrealistic for Conan and Heiji to escape such situations. The action scenes from last year's movie are more exciting as it is really about fight between good vs bad.

Well at least now I know this kind of event from Odex will be quite rubbish both in terms of organisation and the goodie bags so next time I would not be tempted anymore. For now, I am only having empty hope that they will promote the movie like last year: Conan standees around Plaza Sing and Conan mascot will appear for photo taking at certain hours. Empty hope because I know it is not going to happen since the movie is out for general screening this coming Thursday and there is no standee whatsoever at the mall now T_T

Kuroko no Basuke: Last Game

Kuroko no Basuke season 3 ends with a high note for me so I am hoping for even more exciting things for this movie. After all, we will get to see Generation of Miracles to play as a team! There is not much introduction to the series so clearly the movie is targeted at fans who are already familiar with the series. While nothing much to be expected from the plot ~which is quite typical of extra stories in sports anime/manga genre~, I am expecting the same great things from the anime. Sadly none of it happens and this movie is basically just a fan service and an attempt to cash in from the hype.

The match lacks the build up and tension to make it interesting or emotional to watch. The team is a mess. Instead of getting a nice strategy and team ups, we are just getting a mess of: do whatever best and special skills that each of you can do. It is as if the person writing the story is too lazy to even think through how the match should progress or think of scoring or defence scenes that will wow the audience. With so many characters fighting for screen time, everyone ends up miserably forgettable. Not because everyone is fighting for attention but because the set ups for them to show their special abilities are bad. Even Kuroko does not really show his phantom passes. Bleah.. So yeah, don't even think there is even a nice thing to see how fantastic Generation of Miracles will be as a team. I don't even see the points of having substitutes for team Vorpal Swords when they are not being played at all -_-".

Spoiler alert: the title 'Last Game' is apt since at the end of the movie, Kagami is leaving to the USA to achieve is his dream to play in NBA some day. So I guess there won't be anymore Kuroko story since Kuroko will no longer have any 'light' to support in Seirin. Sigh.. As a farewell gift, Generation of Miracles plays against Seirin but this is left to our imagination altogether. Another disappointment.

I always thought that Kuroko no Basuke is popular with girls. So it was really an eye opener that majority of the audience yesterday was guys. It was even more surprising that towards the end during the scene when Kagami realises how important Kuroko to him and he wants to properly say goodbye and thank you before boarding his flight, everyone was fangirling in expectation that it was going to be a BL moment. Lol. Anyway, nope, it was not. Not even a hug.. not even a fist bump.. it was just a mid-air fist bump.

I honestly feel quite sad that this is basically like a closure and end of Kuroko no Basuke. While the movie is a disappointment, I still like the characters, stories (in the main series), the humours, etc. 

Movies on plane

As promised, I finally am able to set aside time to write about the movies that I watched on the few flights I took in the past month.

Golden Orchestra

Chizuru Koyama moved to a new town as a new teacher. She was inspired by a local orchestra but instead of joining the professional Umegaoka Philharmonic Orchestra, she ended up registering for the amateurish Umegaoka Symphonic Orchestra whose members consist of local elderly who are happy with their achievements when at practice they can play further than the previous practice. Despite wanting to quit, Chizuru ends up as the conductor as the original conductor fell ill and eventually Chizuru helps the Symphonic Orchestra to hold a performance at local concert hall.

The plot is not too different from any other music + comedy genre: unexpected help from a famed maestro right up to small gimmicks. With the original conductor always carries a screwdriver with a light (as his day job is an electrician), I could already tell that there would be black out during the concern and that screwdriver will be used as the conducting baton and the electricity would be back on during the climax of the piece. One thing fresh about this is that we began with a group of elderly who could not play properly but the movie is not about turning them into suddenly good players. They actually are able to play quite well in their younger days, just that nowadays, they are losing their skills or something along that line. With proper conducting and training, they could get their mojo back. The orchestra is able to recruit new and young members and that is how they get enough members to hold a performance. So it is not the usual "We leave this sinking orchestra and we shall return when it is showing a promise of resurrection" members.

Honestly the beginning is rather draggy and I was so tempted to just switch movies. I am glad I did not as the piece that they play for their performance is quite good. Can't recall the title or the tune now but it is one of the more recognised classical pieces. I will update with the title if I can even find it. Lol.

Gold Medal Man

Senichi Akita won a sprint race in a sports meet in elementary school. That first gold medal and the taste of victory drove him to join every other competitions (fish catching, shouting with loudest volume, drawing) and he came out number 1 in all. His luck did not continue as he went to secondary school and high school. Yet he never loses hope to be number 1 again as he grows into adulthood.

I am sort of cheated when I read the synopsis that began with "Senichi Akita was born in 1964 when the whole nation was excited with Tokyo hosting the olympics" as I was expecting that this was going to be an inspiring real life story of an athlete. Nope.. none of that is correct as the movie turns out to be just a random awful comedy which is not even funny. In fact, the plot gets repeated in the middle: after everything seems to be going down, Senichi gets a second chance when he is stranded and survived on an island using all the skills that earned him gold medals in his elementary school: catching fish, shouting loudly, drawing) but after a short stint as a popular motivator from his experience, things get worse again. Anyway, I think it is a waste of time to watch this.

Bittersweet

Maki Eda is the typical career woman in an advertisement agency who hates vegetables out of anger for her father's decision to open a farm. After drinking too much, she ends up moving and sharing a place with Nagisa Katayama who is a strict vegetarian. Nagisa also happens to be gay so no hanky panky in the house. Nagisa helps Maki with all her vegetable issue: from working to create an advertisement for bitter gourd (wth -_-) and mending her relationship with her parents after she ran away from home/her father's farm while Maki helps Nagisa to overcome his guilt over his brother's death.

This is considered a romantic comedy but there is nothing romantic since Nagisa remains gay and Maki remains single and the comedy portion is only gay overtone slapsticks surrounding Nagisa. The plot is weak and while issues pertaining to Maki are settled, issues surrounding Nagisa remains unclear. Again, it is another movie that I think is a waste of time. In fact, most of the time, my eyes wondered to the screen of the passenger sitting diagonally in front of me who was watching Kimi no Na Wa.

I guess I am really running out of interesting Japanese movie to watch from in-flight entertainment system. Perhaps tomorrow I should just re-watch Fantastic Beasts.

Aozora Yell

Tsubasa Ono and Daisuke Yamada entered Shirato High School inspired by a Koshien baseball match that they watched when they were younger. Tsubasa dreams of supporting the baseball team as member of the band at Koshen while Daisuke dreams of playing for the baseball team and reach the Koshien. Tsubasa has an uphill task as she has never played brass before while Daisuke has to fight his injury.

The movie starts in an usual manner as both main characters are not childhood friends. Both of them happen to be looking at the display cabinet of the school trophies and make a promise to fulfill each other's childhood dreams. That is a kind and innocent friendship and not the typical chasing the dream for a relationship or "I am doing this for you" kind of thing.

Aozora Yells tries to cramp so many things into a movie and everything start to go downhill from there. Despite the 2 years time jump, things get repetitive first. At the beginning when Tsubasa and Daisuke are in first year, the focus in on Tsubasa's struggle in the brass band and Daisuke is supporting her. After the 2 years jump to their 3rd year, the struggle is Daisuke's injury and it is Tsubasa's turn to support him. Overall it still feels repetitive. Even the baseball matches are exactly the same: 0-0 score until the last inning and Daisuke will either make or break the match and the brass band competition is similar too.

I am not sure what the focus for the movie is. Relationship does not seem to be the thing as Daisuke 'rejects' Tsubasa in the first year saying he wants to focus in his baseball (how I wish in real life girls are the ones declaring their feelings to guys!), music is not the thing as the scores and performances are boring, sports is also not the thing as the matches are not exciting too.

I am disappointed because I was having quite a high expectation before watching this. I came to know this from Youtube's video of Kiseki by Whiteeeen. Kiseki is the theme song of Rookies and originally sung by Greeen. So I was curious who/what is this Whiteeen and when seeing the clip about baseball, I am hoping for something as good as Rookies too. Gosh I feel so old now that I actually watched Rookies in 2010 !!

Lastly, I think it is perfect to cast Ryoma Takeuchi as Daisuke Yamada. I never read the manga but when I looked for some images, I am surprised that the way he smiled is very similar to how the manga is drawn: a big happy smile. It is refreshing to see big happy grin as Japanese dramas tend to be somewhat mellow or flat in terms of the emotion. How I wish I can be someone with a big infectious smile to make the people around me happy when they see me. Wishful thinking indeed.

A Silent Voice

A Silent Voice (Japanese title is Koe no Katachi) is a story about primary school classmates who are separated and then meet again when they are in high school. Shoko Nishimiya is a deaf girl who gets bullied by her classmates until the point whereby she transfers school. When the class is confronted about this, Shoya Ishida takes the blame. He is not the only bully but he is the biggest bully. When he tries to defend himself that he is not the only one being mean, the other small bullies turn against him. Because of this, Ishida becomes the outcast until his high school to the point where he considers suicide. Until one day he meets Nishimiya again and he tries to make amends.

This movie was out of my radar and I only came to know about it when a colleague asked me if I already watched this. By then, it was already airing for 1 week. I only watched it yesterday since I was off anyway. I was reluctant to watch as the graphics is not that appealing. However, the reviews were pretty good and some even said that it is better than Kimi no Na Wa. Hmm.. I should have trusted my gut feeling to judge an anime by its graphics as I don't really enjoy this movie. Haha...

Usually I like things to be somewhat real but A Silent Voice is too real that it becomes too painful and too boring to watch. Lets go through the painful part first. It is painful to see the bullying and the fake friendship things because they are real. That is also what happen in real life: people bully those different from them and when confronted, bullies will never admit that they are bullying. It is also painful that classmates are usually fake friends. It is also painful to see how people don't change with time: the coward remains a coward, the nasty remains nasty, the fake remains fake, etc.

At the same time, it is boring because watching this is basically watching real life in an anime. It is so real and painful as I mentioned in the above paragraph that the usual fiction stuff where everything ends in a happy ending is absent. People and personalities simply do not change over night or over the years and this is shown here. Those irritating kids in primary school remain as such even when they are in high school. Just like real life, we just have to accept one another's suckiness and choose to take it or leave it.

This movie reminds me of a classmate in secondary school who is also has hearing and speaking disabilities. I admit that I was not an angel who deliberately wanted to be helpful but I would help and not avoid him. However, I am also proud that I am not like those in typical Japanese anime/drama who try to be very helpful but at the back actually get frustrated. Interestingly, there was no bully too in the class. In a hindsight, perhaps it is because we were secondary school students and hence a bit more mature than primary school children in the movie. Yes, primary school children is more childish and I can imagine they don't know how to treat a disabled a classmate and end up bullying. However, the teacher is partly to blame since he is not doing anything and the bullying simply spirals out of control. Aaargh.. I was not exactly a jerk but now thinking back, I feel like a jerk for not doing more to help him back then.

Maybe it is just me but I really don't find this movie enjoyable or touching. I don't even know how people can consider this is better than Kimi no Na Wa as well.

Death Note: Light Up the New World

I am never into Death Note and I came to be interested in it because of the very first movie. I love the battle of the wits between Light and L although I was left a bit duh with Kira killing Shiori at the end of the first movie. I started to lose interest with the second movie as the theme of intelligence gets diluted with the usual cliche of people going crazy, love is driving people mad, and supernatural powers.

Death Note: Light Up the New World is set up 10 years after the original Death Note story takes place. Unfortunately, it is not capable to stand on its own. Not only with the references to the original Death Note story and characters but also with the plot, sub-plots, and tricks: new characters who are basically emulate Light vs L (even with the mention of Light's DNA and L's DNA for their successors), Misa and other characters who can't get over the now dead Light and L, giving up Death Note's ownership to forget about it if interrogated, can't be killed because someone else already writes down the name in the other Death Note, and many more. Perhaps the only original sub-plot is with 6 Death Notes currently present in the human world but that is also not used wisely since Shien (who is thought to be Kira's successor) kills most of them to gather the Death Notes and the story eventually focuses on him vs Ryuzaki (who is L's successor) quite quickly.

For people who are not familiar with the original story, I think they will find the tricks and plots quite smart and interesting, just like how I felt when watching the first Death Note. However, I am not sure if this movie is catered towards them since there are things which are not explained explicitly (e.g shinigami's eyes, Death Note rules) and audience who watch this for the first time may not understand. Even so, if this marketed towards people who is familiar with Death Note to begin with, there is nothing new here to make us feel excited.

When the movie was initially out in the cinema, I was tempted to watch :p But after seeing the reviews, I decided not to watch. Thank goodness I did and thanks SIA for having this in the in flight entertainment.

Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso (Your Lie in April)

This is the longest movie that I ever watched as it took me 2 months to finish watching it. I watched it on my SQ flight back to Singapore in January and I only finished it last Friday when I took another flight home. There was still about 15 minutes left but it turned out that I only missed the final 5 minutes or so. The rest of the time is actually the end credit lol.

I have heard the title previously. Although it does not sound that interesting for me to find it further, I find it quite intriguing: what lie? Haha.. But ultimately what makes me decide to watch this is that it is about music.

Arima Kosei is a former child prodigy in piano. He was trained by his strict mother. His mother's death traumatised him and since then he stopped playing piano since in the middle of the song, he would suddenly be unable to listen to the music. At school, Kosei is friends with Tsubaki and Watari. Until one day another girl Kaori Miyazono enters into their circle because she likes Watari. Kaori is a violinist and because of her, Kosei is able to overcome his childhood trauma and starts playing piano again.

It does not sound like a very interesting story right? So what exactly makes Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso popular? Spoilers alert: Kaori dies in the end and that makes everything a bitter sweet love story. Kaori has a sickness since young (it is not revealed what sickness). Knowing that she does not have long to live, she decides to live her life to the fullest and to try reaching her childhood dream to be able to play music with Kosei.

Overall I am quite disappointed. I am expecting that it will feature good music but the songs chosen are kinda meh. The one I enjoy the most is the Little Little Twinkle Star which is also abruptly stopped. I am a sucker for sad and touching moments and I admit that this is quite touching. There is no antagonist whatsoever so the overall atmosphere is positive and uplifting despite the more emo tone towards the end. There is no betrayal, quarrel, or fight among these friends like the typical love stories. It may not be realistic but oh well... I was also so close to crying near the end when Kosei read the letter from Kaori. However, the ending feels kinda hanging.

Can't find the live action version so the anime version will do

So what is the answer to big question: what lie? It is referring to Kaori's lie that she likes Watari. The one that she likes is actually Kosei. When it is revealed, I was like CHEY!!! I am expecting something more shocking or touching since it is the title of the show. But definitely, the movie makes me more interested to watch the anime. Just from the clip above, I think the actors play the live action pretty well although they are not as hilarious as the anime.

1 important lesson that I learn from this movie is from Watari's advice to Kosei about girls/relationship "Whether you can or cannot, it is for the girl to decide". But oh well, I am still reluctant to be in a relationship.

"Last Scene" by Ikimono Gakari is the song played at the ending credits of the movie. It is really a nice song to conclude the movie.Very soothing yet still has the sad vibe.

Kimi No Na Wa

I usually avoid watching Japanese anime movies as somehow they will be available for download online (yep.. shame on me!). So I have to admit that I am sort of drawn to all the positive reviews about Kimi No Na Wa which is likely going to be the no 1 film in Japan this year. That poster is not a lie haha.. Of course I am pretty sceptical considering those Studio Ghibli movies are not really that impressive to me. I read reviews about Kimi No Na Wa and they make me even more curious. How can a story about a boy and a girl who swap bodies be that interesting?

Hmm.. Kimi No Na Wa is actually not only about a gender-swapping story. It has elements of everything. We start with the typical comedy from gender-swapping experiences, then to mystery and science fiction as we realise the swap happened during different periods of time, then to adventure as Taki (the male character) tries to solve the mystery behind this and eventually for Mitsuha to save her city from a falling comet, and it ends with some kind of romance. I would say it is a roller coaster ride for a movie but it is great the these elements are interwoven nicely.

It is also a roller coaster ride for my emotion. I will go crazy if what happens in the movie actually happens to me. Firstly, during their body-swapping experiences, both Taki and Mitsuha think that everything happens in their dreams while it is actually a reality. The body-swapping happen in random manner so you can be living as 1 person today and as the other person tomorrow. Wow... Realising that it is a reality is already shocking, so how shocking it will be for Taki to find out that he is swapping with someone from 3 years ago and that person is already dead. Similarly for Mitsuha, how does it feel when 'someone' from the future informs you that a comet will strike your town tonight and it will kill everyone? How to convince everyone to run away from the impending doom when everyone is so eager to view the comet? Whooo.. I got chills imagining it.

Although I mention that the last part is sort of romance, it is not really a romance. It is actually quite heart wrenching that both Taki and Mitsuha (yep in the end she successfully save her town.. don't ask me about time paradox lol) cannot remember about anything that has happened and yet they always feel that there is something 'missing' and they are constantly looking for 'it' without exactly knowing what they are looking for. I guess that strikes a chord with me because I am feeling quite lost in my life and I am searching what actually is my purpose here.

Ultimately, this movie is not really my cup of tea. It is interesting, it is great, it is unique, but it does not make me wanting to go watch it again. Well, I guess the Japanese really has a unique taste for movies because all their hyped movies turn out to be only quite so-so for me.

Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV

Previous Final Fantasy movies are hit or miss so I was not having too much expectations on this. Sadly Kingsglaive is closer to Final Fantasy Spirits Within instead of Advent Children. The story is too 'realistic' and lacks of a lot of things that define Final Fantasy. In fact, if you read a synopsis without knowing the title, this movie can easily be mistaken for any other war movie of the similar genre. To proof that point, I shall summarize the story without mentioning any names.

Kingsglaive basically tells a story of 2 countries at war. The smaller country (or the 'protagonist') is on the verge of losing to the invading empire (or the 'antagonist) if not for the final defensive shield which protects the whole country. The invading empire offers an unfair peace agreement and the smaller country accepts it in order to spare its citizens knowing that there is no way they can win the war. This peace agreement turns out to be the empire's ploy to destroy the defensive shield and conquer the country. Sounds familiar?

I thought Kingsglaive refers to the crystal or something but apparently it refers to King Regis' of Lucis (the smaller country) group of elite force that can use magic power of the king. As the king is growing old, he is simply losing power. However, when he agrees on the peace agreement, most members of Kingsglaive feel that the King has betrayed them, without realising the King's true reason. The main character, Nyx Ulric, stays loyal to the end to fulfill his mission: to somehow bring Lady Lunafreya to meet Noctis, who is the main character of the upcoming of FF XV game.

I don't know if the movie will make more sense or will have more relevance once the game is out since the movie is meant to be a prequel. But as for now, nothing is really fantastic about the movie whether the plot, the characters, the battles, the everything.

Seriously Square Enix, stop wasting money to create or write new stories for movies. Just make your FF I to X into movies and the cash will be flowing in. You already have great stories and elements form the games, just port them over to movies for goodness sake!

Detective Conan: The Darkest Nightmare

I consider myself a fan of Conan but not exactly a big fan. I read the manga, I buy the artbooks, and that's it. I don't follow the anime (too many episodes and I think it will be identical to the manga so it will not be exciting) and the movies. This 20th movie caught my interest because it was advertised before the screening of Young and Fabulous that I watched twice. Since it involves the Black Organisation and the FBI, I think it will be exciting although the trailer is not really exciting to make 100% eager to watch. In the end, I decided to watch it because I was feeling bored.

I am glad that I watched this because the actual movie is much more exciting than the trailer. It goes high-octane right from the beginning with the car chase at the highway. I find the kids cute when reading the manga but I find them very irritating in the movie. I guess that is another reason for me to avoid the anime. Lol. They bring the movie to a more boring tone during their adventure at the Tohto Aquarium. Beyond this point, we sort of know what is the story is all about and from then on, things are just getting more exciting and intense all the way until the climax. Honestly seeing the ferris wheel getting dislodged and rolling towards the aquarium (with the possibility of all our main characters dead) is more intense than watching Civil War or X-men Apocalypse.

One thing that irks me about the movie is how Curacao is introduced and killed at the same movie. Basically, the movie is like non-canon with the whole Conan's manga universe. I mean she is quite an interesting character so I think it is kinda wasted that she has to be killed off. However, apparently Conan movies that involve Black Organisation are always like that: a new member is introduced but then killed at the end of the movie. It will definitely be something I keep in mind before watching future Conan movies.

But overall, I feel that the $15 and the evening was well spent. Haha.. I am used to crying from touching moments in Japanese movies but I hardly find one that invokes the same intense feeling that this movie gave me. For that, I take my hat off to.

Assassination Classroom 2: Graduation

I was considering to watch the special screening 2 weeks ago and I am glad that I did not do that. Although I don't find the first movie to be fantastic, it is still quite good in the sense that it makes me looking forward to watch for the second part. Unfortunately, this becomes a good example of how a sequel movie basically butchers the series altogether. Whatever elements which retain my interest for the first movie is almost absent here and that's why I feel that this is an absolute trash.

We spend quite a lot of time with the background story of Koro-sensei. I guess it is meant to be something emotional but I find it too draggy as all the small talk between the God of Death and Yukimura-sensei seem to trivial to result in the kind of bond that both of them have. It is also revealed that because of the experiment, Koro-sensei will explode this March due to the chemical reactions going on inside him.

Coming back to the present, everything is worse. First we have the school festival that serves no purpose whatsover. A new character is introduced here to also target Koro-sensei but again his appearance and then disappearance really like no head no tail.

We also have class 3E divided between saving Koro-sensei and killing him after listening to his flashback. The conflict is resolved with a fight between Karma and Nagisa. There is nothing exciting about the fight and the fight also ends in a lame manner. The class eventually unites and decides to save Koro-sensei. At this point, things are getting even more ridiculous. With time running short, the world nations finally agrees to kill Koro-sensei by building a barrier around the school and getting ready to shoot a laser beam from outer space. Yeah.. if they can do that from the start, why aren't they doing that from the beginning? The student miraculously develops a 'cure' which is actually a ploy from Kotaro Yanagisawa, the real bad guy who uses Koro-sensei as his guinea pig. This 'cure' turns out to be something to weaken Koro-sensei so Kotaro can take his revenge. It is totally dumb that a scientist like Kotaro is unable to make this 'cure' and set up a plan so that the 'cure' is made by high school students.

I don't expect things can go worse from here but it does. In the end, Koro-sensei just asked his students to kill him. Wahahahaha.. What the fuck is going on here?? What's is the point of having the students trained and making 2 movies if in the end this yellow octopus-like creature decides to let himself be killed?

Humour, which is the saving grace for the first movie, is severely lacking here and that is a bummer. Once you are used to Koro-sensei, you will not find him funny anymore. Bitch-sensei has a much reduced screentime and is sorely missed as she is one main contributor of the crazy and funny scenes from the first movie.

With that, I don't think there is anything that makes this movie worth watching and well, I am glad that there will not be part 3.

Bakuman (Live Action)

Can a manga about characters aspiring to be mangakas be interesting? I had that doubt about Bakuman manga. However, I took the plunge and bought the manga because I like the art style and I did not regret it. Although the synopsis is not too appealing, the story itself is quite engaging thanks to the interesting characters and behind-the-scenes moments behind manga industry in Japan.

When I heard about the live action, I have mixed feelings. I feel excited because Bakuman is unique and I would love to see it as a movie. However, similar to the manga before I read them, I feel apprehensive as  I don't know how they can make actors acting to draw mangas to be interesting to watch.

The main story of the movie follows the manga: 2 high school students, Moritaka Mashiro and Akito Takagi, team up as mangakas by combining their talents with Takagi as the story writer and Mashiro as the drawer. Mashiro likes his classmate, Miho Azuki, who is aiming to become a seiyuu. Despite liking each other, they make a promise to be together when Mashiro is able to produce top manga and Azuki will be the seiyuu of the female character of the anime version of the manga.

The live action gives me the same sense of wonder as the manga to see the Shonen Jump office and the manga making process. The manga drawing scenes are not as boring as I imagined as the movie tries different ways: from real pencilling, 'fake' pencilling in which the drawings on the papers are changed to animated graphics, to the martial art fights to depict the friendly rivalry between Money and Intelligence (by Mashiro and Takagi) vs Crow (by Eiji Nizuma).

Other than those, everything else falls flat. Why? The biggest 'failure' of the live action is the poor chemistry between the actors while what makes Bakuman manga unique and exciting to read, despite the rather simple and unexciting plot, are the characters. Mashiro in the movie is not talkative like in the manga so the balance and dynamic between him and Takagi is somewhat missing in the movie. Nizuma in the movie is not eccentric like in the manga. The relationship between the people in the movie are professional and awkward instead of a more personal friendship like in the manga.

I think the main reason for the poor characterisation in the movie version is because the actors are way too old to depict 14-15 year old high school kids. They are not bad actors but they just no longer have the innocence and spontaneity to act as teenagers who may exhibit some over-the-top expressions. In the movie, Mashiro is too 'cool' and it makes Takagi's enthusiasm around him rather awkward. In the manga, Azuki is pretty and sweet but in the movie, Azuki is pretty but not sweet. I find her expression rather cold at times. Nizuma is just like any ordinary guy as he does not have everything that makes his character so unique in the manga. My biggest disappointment, however, is Mashiro's uncle. He is a friendly and likeable uncle in the manga while the movie version is too crude. In the movie, he looks unkempt rather than overworked.

The movie ends with a one-time success when Money and Intelligence was ranked number 1 -while Crow at number 2- and there is no follow up on Mashiro and Azuki!!! Mashiro was undecided to do a manga and he decided to do so because of the promise with Azuki and the movie does provide the closure on this aspect. Bleah...

I think the movie does not do justice to the manga. It is still bearable to watch though as the elements which make Bakuman manga unique and likeable are still present in the movie, especially if the main reason of getting hooked into the series is because of the behind-the-scenes of manga industries. Watching the movie is like a self-justification for me to splurge my money on anime-manga related things, especially artbooks I find even more appealing than figurines. I am actually supporting the mangaka for all their hard work so it is money well spent, okay! Lol. Say no to piracy to respect and appreciate these mangakas! Although at the same time I also hope manufacturers of figurines and merchandises also price their things appropriately. They are charging too much for sub-par quality and that is why there are people buying pirated stuff etc.

Hero 2015

If not because of stress, I will give this movie a miss. I am not a fan of KimuTaku and I never follow the previous Hero TV series or movie. I saw the trailer during Attack of Titan: The End of the World and I thought the story is quite intriguing as it involves a police investigation and a foreign embassy. Of course there are funny moments and I need a good laugh to release my stress.

Despite having zero knowledge about the series, the movie does pretty well in 'showing but not directly telling' the background of the characters. I sort of guess that Prosecutor Amamiya used to be Prosecutor Kuryu's assistant and worked in the same office. She is now a prosecutor in a different city and ends up having a case related to the one Kuryu's is handling.

The case which becomes the focus is the death of a lady who was running away from an embassy of a fictional country, Neustria. Investigation of the embassy or involving the embassy staff is impossible as a foreign embassy is considered a foreign country which has immunity to local law. Things get pretty intense as the culprit attempts to kill Kuryu and stops him from investigating. Kuryu does not die and this spurs the rest of his colleagues to solve the case even more. In the end, justice prevails.

I will say the plot is rather shallow and borderline lame. Failing to enter the embassy, Kuryu and his assistant explores another way of getting Neustria and possibly some Neustrians. That is by looking for a Neustrian restaurant which happens to be the one and only one restaurant in the area. Obviously they will be able to find some Neustrians and embassy people. This does not go well as the embassy people get weary of them. Then comes the murder attempt and suddenly everything starts to fall into place. Amamiya's fiance apparently has some connection with Neustrian's independence day celebration which allows Kuryu and Amamiya to 'infiltrate' the embassy. Their saviour is the Neustrian ambassador who turns out to be the random old man that Kuryu meets previously in the Neustrian restaurant. Mr Ambassador used to teach law before becoming an ambassador and thus is at the side of the law: he sends the minister who is involved in drug trafficking back to Neustria to be trialed (since he has diplomatic immunity and is untouchable by local laws) while the person responsible with the murder of the lady at the start of the movie is just an embassy staff who has no diplomatic immunity and hence is handed over to local authority.

Character development is almost absent and until the end of the movie, Kuryu and Amamiya's relationship remains ambiguous.

Despite poor plot and character development, I still enjoyed the movie for all the comedy. It is quite amazing that most of the comedy comes from the sidekicks and not from the main characters. However, a part of me feels that the movie is not good enough as it does not make me interested in finding more about the TV series.

Aaah and age is really catching on Takuya Kimura. He no longer looks as young as he used to be when I was a teenager which also means that I am growing old. Lol.

Attack on Titan: The End of the World

I watched the first movie and found it rather messed up with the plot. I know I cannot expect much with the continuation but I am really interested to know how they are going to bring the messed up plot to a closure. With ratings mostly of 1 or 2 stars, I was prepared to be disappointed and hell yeah, I am disappointed at the end of the movie.

With a run time of 87 minutes and the first few minutes are spent for recap of the first movie, they could simply combine both movies into one and spare us from the agony. There are no changes on how bad -over the top and inappropriate- the acting is while the other changes are for worse when compared to the first movie. The titans and the fight against titans are absent here and we just get CGI fights among the special titans: Eren's titan, Shikishima's titan, and the Collosal titan. Boring... There are still too much talking to explain what the heck is actually going on.

I admit that the background story is pretty cool: civilisation was actually very advanced and titans were actually the results of human's scientific progress. Things took a back turn when things went beyond control and chaos swept through the land. Few people ('the government') built the walls and labelled the titans as common threat to unite the people and there was peace. The government also banned all knowledge to prevent scientific and technological advancement to prevent similar horror from happening. After hundred years of peace, the younger generations take it for granted and starts to have an idea of exploring the lands beyond the walls. Thus the government let the titans attack humans -in the first movie- to remind humans of the horror out there and unite them once more.

Sadly, they kinda butcher the plot after that. There are so many hints given which leave audience with unanswered questions at the end of the movie. There are so many actions and decisions taken by various characters which are not explained well. Just to list a few (heavy spoilers ahead):

-We are given a glimpse of Eren's childhood but no explanation or connection of that scene to the present time.

-Before his death, Souda-san mentions about Eren's big brother. Eren does not seem perturbed to find out more about this which does not make sense.

-What exactly is Eren's motives? Initially he wants to take a revenge at the titans. After knowing everything from Shikishima, I am quite amazed that he is fine with just closing the walls and doing nothing towards the government who is the mastermind behind the titans attack a few years back. Everything that he does does not make sense.

-Who is Shikishima and why can he also turn into a titan? Who is actually the General Director who turns out to be the Collosal titan?

-Nothing is mentioned about Shikishima and Mikasa. Mikasa seems in a dilemma throughout the movie but nothing is mentioned about the cause of her dilemma and this totally undermines everything she does here.

-Armin and friends' decision to follow Eren seem simply because they are 'friends' with Eren and they do not know Shikishima that well. That is quite surprising, especially for Armin who is supposed to be the smart and sensible one. In end of the world situation such as this, I am pretty sure a sensible person will want to know more about everything before making a decision.

-Why does Shikishima change his mind and fight Collosal titan in the end? What is the reason of the change of his motive? What is the fate of both of them after the explosion?

The best surprise, however, comes after the end credits. The movie makers are nice enough to hint audience to stay until the end of the end credits for extra scene. The end credit reveals the one and only bird we keep seeing is actually a camera and a voiceover over Eren and Mikasa standing on top of the wall looking at the outer world states that 2 test subjects have successfully overcome the test field. Yes that shit is bloody similar to the first Maze Runner movie and leaves me with "What the fuck is everything about?".

Although the first movie is kinda rubbishy, I still enjoyed some parts of it as a standalone movie. But after this second movie, everything is out of the window: everything is crap. And seriously who is the idiot who thinks of Eren's line: I'd rather be free in Hell than be a slave in Heaven. That is the most idiotic statement ever after all the crazy things he has seen the titans can do to humans. I really think that is fucked up.