M.W.

Ok, my next review is on a Japanese action thriller called M.W. ムウ basically this about a man’s revenge on a governmental conspiracy that ruined his life.  It was a fantastic movie, keeping you on the edge of your seat within the first 10 minutes. You can view this movie on WAT.com, easily found through CrazyDrama.net, it is in parts but it is well worth the load of each.
This movie is a live action of the manga and anime created by well known Osamu Tezuka, directed by well known Japanese director Hitoshi Iwamoto (also directed Queen’s Classroom and Nobuta wo Produce [which I am currently in the middle of and will probably review one day]) M.W. Stars Tamaki Hiroshi (who also appeared in another favorite of mine, Nodame Cantabile, which I will review in near future) who played successful banker Yuuki Michio, who when he was young living on the island near Okinawa was exposed to the most dangerous nerve gas ever created named M.W. While most people exposed died he was lucky enough to not die but suffered in another way, he was slowly going mad.

Yuuki and his friend Yutaro Garai (Yamada Takayuki who also appeared in Crows Zero) who becomes a catholic priest in his adulthood who runs an orphanage through the church. Live their lives on, Yuuki though going mad from the gas exposure very cunningly comes up with a way to get his revenge or justification from the people who covered up the accident on his home island, which was exposed to an accidental leak of the M.W. gas and was destroyed, people and all, but covered up to say it was abandoned.

I do not want to give away too much and if I say anymore I am sure I will not stop myself from giving away the whole movie. I have to tell you all though, it is a great movie, I am not one who is normally drawn into action movies as fast as I was this, it normally takes the half the movie before I get sucked in, this one who got me so fast.

Random facts:
This movie starts off in Thailand, which I loved, I rarely see movies in Thailand really, I have to start watching more Thai movies, hehe.
Also this movie gives hints to yaoi (boys love ^_^) which many fangirls will love because the two main characters who are hinted with are amazingly good looking.
This movie features some of my other favorite actors, Yusuke Yamamoto, who you can see in Hana-kimi Japanese version! I will do a review on both the Japanese and Taiwanese versions comparing them one day.
Also features Ryo Ishibashi, who you may see in the Ring (both versions I think), The grudge (again both versions) Suicide club, and just about any and all horror movies where they need a cop xD He is everywhere in both Japanese and English movies. He speaks English very well actually; you will hear him speak English in M.W multiple times.

0x0 memories

The second review I shall be doing is on the Manga 0X0 Memories, which can be read at mangafox for free; a one shot story, so it is indeed short and would probably take less than an hour to read. 0X0 Memories is about a young girl Tsuda Rei; Rei means Zero in Japanese;  who is in an accident, she was hit in the head by a football (a soccer ball to those who do not know that the Japanese call them footballs), and lost all of her memories. She cannot remember her family, or her childhood friend Ichi (1 in Japanese). While reading you find out that it is Kujou-san (kujou if I am not mistaken is 19.. I am seeing an odd pattern here XD) who kicked the soccer ball that hit Rei. Kujou offers Rei any help he can offer, this kindness we see irks Ichi who clearly crushes on Rei but probably never said anything about his attraction beforehand. In the first few pages we also meet Rei’s female friend, Nanami (depending on the characters used means 7 sea, beauty, life, or fruit it doesn’t show the characters for her name so I am not sure the direct translation) who is seems very filled with energy and would be one of those girls in real life that you need to concentrate when she speaks just to keep up with her.

Through the one shot we see a one-sided tension between Rei and Ichi, Ichi clearly likes Rei but refuses to tell her anything of her life, he wants her to remember everything herself.  He comes off as a jerk but his intentions are good. You also see his jealousy when Kujou-san tells Rei not to worry about the past that the future is more important. Not that I would agree with his words, both are important,  you do not want to be held back by the past but to forget the past is to forget what made you who you are.   Due to Kujou’s words Ichi works harder to help Rei recover her past memories, he brings her 16 years worth of photo albums for her to look at hoping it would trigger something. Along with juice, but this doesn’t trigger any memories, just her taste buds. Her family even tries to help by giving her all her favorite foods, hoping that something will trigger her memories.

Not to give to much away, so that you all will actually read the manga, it is a cute manga, with drama, a love triangle, the art work isn’t 100 % but it still has the Shōjo sense to it. Big, curious eyes. For those of you that don’t know what Shōjo is it is manga marketed toward female audiences, so they do not tend to base the whole thing on fan service it goes more for the plot.  I give this manga a 7 out of 10 rating, recommended for those who want a quick read but if you want  a really good romance plot you will only get fluff here.

(513 words)

'Akira' review

Akira

If you are trying to get a friend into anime, there is one movie that should immediately come to mind; 1980’s animation Akira. For nearly 30 years, this movie has rocked the world of anime. The story is brilliant, the artwork and animation, despite its age, is gorgeous, and the dialogue is genius. Akira, however, is not meant for children to watch. There is gore, brutality, nudity, vulgar language, and violence. But, the good thing about it is that it’s there for a reason. Akira would not be the same had the intense violence been edited out. It creates the emotion that drives the story; anger, helplessness, pity, passion, and despair. The ‘adult themes’ in the movie make the storyline more relatable, more realistic, and more captivating then it would have censored. In a nut shell, the movie takes place in post-apocalyptic Tokyo, Japan, or ‘Neo Tokyo’, after an atomic bomb destroyed half the country. The main character, the leader of a biker gang, Kaneda, goes through a psychologically traumatic series of events which include searching for his mutating friend who has developed terrifying telekinetic powers, dodging the military, and witnessing what could possibly be a second apocalypse.

In my opinion, this is the best anime movie to date. The first time I watched this movie, I was around the age of 5, and even then, I thought this movie was brilliant. Looking back on it now, I remember all of the little details that made the movie what it is today; amazing. A must see for those wanting to get into anime. It’ll prove that not all Japanese animation consists of cuddly pocket monsters and pretty super girls…

LIFE

Hello everyone, this is going to be my first review on here, I am going to talk about my favorite Japanese drama at the moment, LIFE (ライフ). This is a prime example of what I would call a slice-of-life drama, featuring romance drama, back stabbing, bullying, suicidal tendencies/ an attempt failed (which I am glad it failed, I would have cried otherwise), self-mutilation, attempted rape, and great examples of true and false friends, and many other issues. The show’s theme song is done by one of my favorite Japanese singers, Mika Nakashima (Who I will probably review one of her movies in the near future), the song is called LIFE as well. This drama, like many others is a live action of a manga (by the same name as well), I have read the manga but not fully yet. I must say though I love both.
LIFE features actors and actresses such as Kitano Kii who plays Shiiba Ayumu, the main character who moves to a new town and new school; upon entering she becomes friends with Fukuda Saki’s character Manami Anzai who is basically the head honcho of the school. No one messes with her; those who do, are doomed to years of bullying in the school. My favorite character of the series though is Hatori Miki who is played by Seki Magumi. She is a character that is a sort of outcast at school. Doesn’t care about the status of the popular people, she will stand up for what she believes in. She plays a huge part in the series for helping Ayumu through a lot of the bullying she comes to encounter. Other characters I like, Hojo Takahiro who plays Sonoda Yuuki, another victim of bullying, but not from the girls in the series. Him, Miki and Ayumu are in my mind, the three main characters. They are the most important.

So as to not give the whole series away I will end here. Let me just tell you there will be lots of twists and turns that will keep you watching begging for more. I give this series 5 out of 5. The acting is good, the plot is great, it flows, it doesn’t drag, and it is realistic to a sense. I recommend it greatly sadly the site I watched it on took down everything and is slowly putting them back up. If I do find a place to watch it I will post it.
Thank you for reading,
Rogue

Please forgive if this is written poorly, I have never written a review before but I shall get the technique down in time

Introductions

Hello everyone, this is the Psycho Witches Reviews, where we shall obviously review a variety of things that interest us.  The Psycho Witches consist of Rogue and Shinigami, there are others in our group outside of the blog but in the blog only the two of us shall speak. The reviews we will mainly do will consist of things of the Asian culture, one of our prime interests. There will at times be many reviews in one entry or just one, depending on how much we have to say about the topic. At times there will be random reviews inserted as well but only once in a blue moon.  In our individual introductions we shall explain what topics we will do, who will do them and also we will give some basic information about ourselves so you can get an idea of who we are and where some of our thoughts and opinions may have spurred from.

Greetings everyone, I am Michelle but I will refer to myself as Rogue in the blog, as you can tell my part of the posts will be in purple, in case you ever forget who is what color remember to refer back to this entry to check. In the blog, as stated, we will be doing things of the Asian culture, primarily Anime and Manga, Dramas and Movies, along with Video games (the video games most likely though will not just be asian create or based but American games as well, we shall let my friend Shingami handle all that) I personally will be in charge of the reviews of Manga, and Dramas.  Shinigami and I will be sharing the movies, who ever doesn’t do a movie will do our random review which can consist of anything from the Asian culture, music, fashion, festivals, a convention, anything.  Okay well, let me give you some information about myself, I am very selective about my likes for certain things but for these genres I am very open to what I will like. For Dramas I will probably review more of the romanced and slice of life dramas. A slice of life drama for those who do not know, basically is one revolving around real life based things, school, bullying, the basic stuff. As for manga, well that will probably be anything, I will try to keep away from things that are inappropriate for all ages. Violence though maybe the only thing that actually slips in, I will try to keep all reviews on manga that is T rated or lower.  I tend to get sidetracked as well, so during a review of a certain drama I may go off a little on the main actors and what I think of them. We both go to school together and hang out a lot talking about these topics so some reviews may have a mix but will primarily be our own words. We both study Chinese, I read and write fanfictions, many on these topics.  Other than that it will be blunt and straight to the point basically. Nothing else really important to the blog, so please read and enjoy, now here is Shinigami.

Hello all. I am Arielle, but for the sole purpose of these blogs, I will refer to myself as Shinigami...nerdy, I know. I will be the blogger in red. As my friend has so graciously told you, we will be reviewing things of the Asian culture; movies, games, anime, dramas, etc. Rogue has done the clarifying. Seeing as though Rogue is in charge of the dramas and the mangas, I will be the one who will review the anime and the games. I will clarify who the main characters are and the stories behind them. Warnings will be posted if there happen to be any spoilers. As a warning for the future, there may be things that venture out of certain age groups, remember this warning and steer clear of anything you may find offensive. I will make sure to post the age recommendation in the title. So, let me tell you about myself. I am generally opened minded about new things. I am not really that picky. Though I do have specific genres that I enjoy the most, I try to explore new things. I tend to go into GREAT detail when I’m on a roll about something I really like. So be prepared for large posts. I do study different languages. As of now, I can speak two others besides English. I am also an experienced sketch artist, thus, all artwork posted on this site will be mine unless stated otherwise. I have known Rogue for over a decade so I do apologize if any inside jokes end up on any of the reviews…we tend to do that, and leave many people in the darkness... So yeah…Enjoy!

Okay now that introductions are out of the way, I think we should put down a few rules.

1. No trolling, or flaming. For those who do not know what they are, trolling is basically when you go into a topic you knowingly dislike and express your hatred in highly annoying and rude ways. Flaming is basically the same thing but you maybe degrading the topic, the writer, or anything and everything.
2. No profanity, yes I know sometimes we get excited and just start typing up a storm and a few curses in your head may flow through your fingers into the computer, but please keep it out of here. If you can not express yourself with a curse word then take a few minuets to collect yourself and think about it. The profane words do not make you sound better if anything they make you sound worst, uneducated and just plain disrespectful.  
3. Also NO online bashing...like cyber bullying...or fights on posts, like you see on youtube. The comment area is not for you to debate or fight or pick on people it is for you to put in your opinions on our reviews, maybe ask a questions or something. 
4.  Please No spamming, or advertising. We do not wish to see half our comments from the same person saying the same thing or any of you trying to sell things to other viewers