Trip to Kyoto!

Hello! As for today I want to mention about (in my opinion) the most beautiful town in Japan- Kyoto.

Kyoto is located on the main island of Honshu near Nara. The city is one of the former capitals of Japan, and its monuments have survived World War II in excellent condition.

Kyoto is a city that every tourist must see in Japan. The city is literally overflowing with monuments and even a week is not enough to see the most important temples. Visiting Kyoto it is worth to pay attention on the outskirts of the city and nearby tourist destinations. The town has about 1,600 Buddhist temples, 400 Shinto shrines, as well as numerous palaces and gardens. In Kyoto, you can see, among other things:

Kiyomizu-dera

Kinkaku-ji

Ginkaku-ji

Ryōan-ji

Kyoto Imperial Palace

Kodaji Temple

Shorenin Temple

Eikando Temple

Ok that will do :). Of course I could mention many more, and certainly not one book would be enough to describe all the temples of Kyoto. Kyoto is also a great place to enjoy the Japanese atmosphere. Apart from the contemplation in beautiful gardens, try traditional Japanese tea (Matcha), spend the night in Ryokan and for the more courageous ones- go to sento! 

-> The sento is a type of traditional Japanese bath. For us- Europeans it is quite embarrassing because we are not used to take a bath naked in a common tank. Before the WWII, sento were coeducational but due to the European embarrassment they changed the custom. While the Ryokan is a kind of traditional Japanese hotel where floor is covered in rooms with tatami and you sleep on futon (type of mattress or a thick quilt).

Family sento

Onsen- Japanese hot springs- Paradise on earth :)

Modern type Ryokan

Futon beds

Traditional Ryokan from outside

Bleach- incomprehensible phenomenon

Hello!

Okay, as for today I want to mention about anime which I don't know why is so famous...

Simplifying the division of the anime's fans in Poland there are three main groups. The first one consist fans of anime like Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball or Pokemon, in other words, anime that someone watched in childhood and usually due to sentiment has a good opinion about it. Another group includes fans of one or a few chosen anime's genres, usually consisting very popular titles or anime's type such as: school life, romance, slice of life, shoujo. The last one is my least favorite group of anime fans who watched actually two anime's titles: Naruto and Bleach. Sometimes they also watched more well-know titles like Death Note or FMA, but I believe that somebody who watched just Bleach cannot call himself an anime's fan. 

I couldn't even find a good picture ;__;

Bleach is one of my hated anime. I read manga and I watched anime and I still cannot understand why it has gained such fame ? So many movies, games and even gadgets related to it... I fell so sorry when I talk to the newly encountered fan of anime and it turns out that he watched only Bleach. I mean manga and anime have much more to offer! Bleach's storyline is rather ordinary one. It tells the story of teenager Kurosaki Ichigo who accidentally becomes Shinigami- god of death. Thanks to Kuchiki Rukia, he discovers a new world of Soul Society, where live other Shinigami. Storyline  itself is not bad and the couple of first episodes may seem interesting, but the main problem is connected to the development of the plot. Bleach's storyline never develops. It just comes in circle. Every time Kurosaki- the main protagonist, wins over every enemy no matter how strong and clever his opponent is. While Ichigo is a newbie, magically he is able to handle the enemies to whom lose the most powerful Shinigami with a few hundred years experience. Strange isn't it? Ichigo is neither strong nor cunning, not improves himself through training and before any serious fight someone shows up and wants to help him win. 

Bleach has a lot of left out characters who get a little time in the anime and usually only to be rescued by Kurosaki. More attention is paid to the closest Ichigo's friends- Orichime, Sado and Empitsu-kun- God I don't even remember their names! They are transparent, no interesting personality, nor intriguing past- just nothing. But characters like the one below who won the hearts of many fans vanished into thin air. It is like the authors themselves did not want their anime to be successful one. 

 


I could write a lot more against this anime but it is painful even to think how much money was wasted to create it. So this is how I feel :

Dango Daikazoku

Hello! Today I want to mention the anime which I completed watching recently. It is called "Clannad" and for anime loving ones I guess that name rings a bell. 

From the moment in which I ended the last episode I wonder whether I am the only one that want  to get on a plane and find the responsible ones for this kind of the end of the plot? Am I the only one to hate Dango Daikazoku, song that seemed so sweet at the beginning? People come on! What happened at the end of second part of the anime? Why it had to finish like that? Okay, I will write about it below...

-> Dango Daikazoku  HATE THIS NOW ;(

Well, "Clannad" is divided into two short series (each of about 24 episodes) and tells a story of two young students in love (Nagisa and Okazaki). This anime is full of touching scenes and the genre can be considered as comedy, romance, drama and slice of life. The difference between the first and second season is significant. The first is dominated by light comedy with a predominance of jokes that describes the school life of couple and their friends. Despite this fact, there is a lot of touching scenes and serious threads such as alcoholism, physical abuse, problems with self-acceptance, or the inability to overcome shyness.

As for the second season of Clannad .... I don't buy it at all!

The plot is great, although it would be difficult to come up whit sadder one, it is so touching that will force everyone to cry. In my opinion sometimes the authors exceed the limits showing how painful life can be. I would not mind if probably not surprising "happy" ending not occurred. In the last two episodes they try to cover up everything that took place throughout the season and this is called a happy ending? NEIN! OK let's assume that  the Japanese fans were some mad about this anime  becoming so overwhelmingly sad that the authors had to fix the ending. This is wrong. Trying to cover up the events and consider them as an alternative world's incidents won't do... Personally I was a bit confused and disappointed at the end. I fell like not being able to watch it to the very end.

Despite of all I wrote hear I strongly recommend this anime to everyone. It is amazing that a cartoon can be so touching and emotionally absorbing :)

To admit the truth I hate and admire this anime at the same time :). 

So.... Dango, dango, dango, dango dango daikazoku....

Gintama 2 ? - No, not again!

Yep, I will write second time about Gintama. You ask why? Well I think that even a ten posts wouldn't be sufficient to describe this M&A. This anime is surely long but it can be watched separately, because plot is divided in so called "arcs". I am really pleased due to the fact that Gintama was resumed and we can watch starting from last week new episodes. In fact forth series was canceled because of financial problems, but after the great success of the second film called Gintama The Movie : The Final Chapter : Be forever Yorozuya it was just a matter of time to see Gintoki once again :). Gintama owes its popularity to an unusual combination of jokes and light comedy with great fighting scenes, interesting plot, sometimes even squeezing tears endings.

And here some evidence that even the saddest story ever can turn out a trolling joke :) ->

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPzzOVb0XiI

Last time I wrote briefly about the main characters, so today I want to add my favorite list :

1. Katsura Koutaro- one of Joui's revolutionaries and Gintoki's old friend, person which you can never guess what he is thinking about. Normally he shows a worrying lack of intelligence but somehow you can fell that it is just some sort of acting, maybe his jokes and personality create for him a path to forget about his painful past.

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2. Okita Sougo and Hijikata Toushiro- right I didn't have a chance to mention Shinsengumi- a police group protecting Edo and Shogunate. Actually, Shinsengumi existed and Okita, Hijikata, Kondo and Yamazaki are historical figures (that is why Shinsengumi appear in dozens of Japanese anime). You can check it here -> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinsengumi 

Let's return to Sougo& Toshi combo. I love every episode in which Shinsengumi appears :). They are good friends but none of them want to say it, so Okita, the young and sadistic genius seeks ways to mess Hijikata's life. Toushiro has a reputation of ruthless samurai, but the reality is caring and sometimes too gullible. 

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3. Gintoki Sakata- well firstly I admit that in most of cases I don't like or admire main characters. I read a lot of manga where main character takes all the attention (even if rest of interesting ones are omitted), they can beat every opponent by themselves so rest of cast can just shed tears of joy that they have such a great "hero". Praise the Lord! in Gintama main charater- Gintoki has some limits and anime producing staff well know the limit where to stop and share some attention. For me it is easy way to not get bored of watching the same guy all the time. I also like Gintoki because he is imperfect and regardless being strong in anime is shown as some sort of a middle-aged life-loser. 

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It is all for today! See you soon (really soon ;) )

Gintama- Masters of trolling

For today I would like to stop for a moment and change the subject of recently described interesting places in Japan. There are many good examples of manga and anime that are worth mentioning, but in the end I chose Gintama, the one that I can definitely say is my favorite one. Taking this opportunity I would like to encourage all fans of Japan to familiarize yourself with this title. It not only has an interesting story, but also a wide range of characters who you will love for sure, as well as fast-paced action and lot of funny situations. Not without reason, Gintama is considered as a the king of trolling in the world of Japanese animation.

The main thread of Gintama is focused on the Yorozuya, a group under the leadership of Sakata Gintoki- Jack of all trades, as well as the former revolutionist from the liberation faction called Joui - group of rebellious samurai which fought against Shogunate. To the Yorozuya also belong: Shimura Shimpachi, shy teenager and Kagura Yato, the alien from the infamous clan warriors.

The title of Gintama means in english - silver (gin) soul (tama- tamashi), which refers to the main character Gintoki, who has silver hair.The action takes place in Tokyo, during the Edo period and is based on the story of invasion of aliens on Earth.

Yorozuya

Gintama is the anime full of captivating action, interesting stories and jokes are not always are in good taste.- Keep it in mind that it is not the anime for children! :) Personally I love this anime just because it contains so many jokes and parodies. Along with countless parodies of Japanese world of show business and television programs, in Gintamia we can see parodies of anime (examples: One Piece, Bleach, Naruto, Dragon Ball, Capitan Tsubasa, and many others), as well as persons and films from abroad (Barack Obama, Will Smith, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Chuckie, Jackie Chan, Rocky, Star Wars and so on). You can check full list -> http://gintama.wikia.com/wiki/Parodies

Just like I said before, not only parodies can make you laugh watching Gintama- jokes are sometimes a bit cruel but believe me or not Gintama is an anime worth trying!

Talking about jokes, here some of Kagura x Okita :) :

Okita's sadistic joke to Kagura :)  -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEP16wTjNb4

 Hijikata's revenge on Okita :) -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjDVtmx9Z04

It is all for today, but I will certainly come back to this anime and write some more information about its characters :) so stay still and keep waiting :D

Masters of trolling - Gintama "Crazy"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3D1UpdkW_1c