Shikabane Hime. Aka

Alright, this is the review for the month ...

Over the past few days, I had been watching new anime releases from Japan. Below are the few series that I'm always on the 'go' ... :P

1. Shikabane Hime. Aka
2. Ga Rei Zero
3. Gundam 00
4. Yozakura Quartet
5. Akane Iro Somaku Sora
6. Toradora!
7. Kannagi
8. Vampire Knight - Guilty, Season 2
9. To Aru Majutsu Kin-Sho Index
10. Skip Beat!
11. Kuroshitsuji
12. Junjou Romantica

The above twelve animes are the ones that I am currently following - on regular paces. Others than the above mentioned series, I am watching others too - such as Kurozuka and Macademi Wasshoi and Hyaako ... but those, I'm only watching it for the sake of watching them... :P

Anyway, I'm not going to review all of them at once ... since that will literally kill me ... Am going to be reviewing Shikabane Hime. Aka today ... Probably, will do Gundam 00 when the peak for the second season is around the corner or when it ends ...

As for the others, I'll see how my mood is like ... and whether I'm too lazy :P

Right, back to the subject on hand. Shikabane Hime. Aka is an anime that's not only action filled up but also kind of bloody and violent. Still, its' censored down ... and it had a manga series that I'm currently renting home to read from the comic shop where I work at.

Although, its' voice cast consists of mostly new or rarely featured voice actors/actress ... I still enjoy the series on the whole. If I were to ignore the voices of the main characters, namely ouri and the Shikabane.Hime - Akina ... Not that they are not good at voicing the characters, but simply because of the fact that I'm still not too use to their voice and it grated on my nerves at most times.

Anyway, the series is about the corpse princess - Akina being the only one whom can kill the zombie-like corpse. I'm not too sure how to say this, but there's a contract between the Shikabane and the monk in charge of the said Shikabane - there's more than one, in the series. Right, and there's something about the rule that once a shikabane hime killed a total of 108 corpse - they will be able to go to heaven.

Right, the difference between a Shikabane and a Shikabane.Hime was that the latter had common sense of a human being, and can be 'treated' as one by open-minded monks. The former, though were merely zombies like figures whom simply cannot forget about the current world and refuses to admit the fact that they are dead. In short, corpses with desires left unfulfilled behind ...

The story focused mainly on Akina and Ouri, as the typical corpse (shikabane) roams the current world and created a whole chains of events. Initially, the monk that was contracted with Akina was Ouri's brother - Keisei ... but somehow somewhere along the line, keisei was met with misfortune and before dying had passes on the contract over to Ouri to continue it. (According to the summary of the Manga - abt bk 4 ... had yet to read ... )

Anyway, its' a good anime and manga to recommend for watching/reading. However, to each of own ... some of the customers at the shop finds it disturbing as its' too violence ...