Aki's Taste In Anime: The Do's and Don'ts

     **These are my opinions and guide lines**

Anime. It can be a lot of things, lets take a look at all the genre's available. 

• Comedy

The name sort of explains it. These anime usually have a light hearted plot that can kinda be unpredictable. They draw in other genres to keep things interesting sometimes.  
Examples: Ouran Highschool Host club

• Drama

This genre features lots of emotion and is commonly paired with romance and adventure. The plot is generally well developed and the characters have a lot of "Personal growth" throughout the anime. Meaning they realize their faults and grow stronger for the one they love etc.
Examples: Vampire Knight, Seraph of The End 

• Action

These anime usually lack a strong plot line and character development, however they make up for it by being overwhelmingly exciting and constantly drawing in other genres.
Examples: Naruto, Bleach, One Piece 

• Adventure (There is a difference between action and adventure)

First thing that comes to my mind is...(drum roll)... FILLERS!!!
Sadly yes, Adventure series seem to go on forever! They are well worth the wait though! Adventure series usually give a sense of fulfillment at the end that is hard to find in some shorter one season animes. ( I Am talking to you, makers of Ouran HighSchool Host Club!)
Examples: FullMetal Alchemist, Pokemon (When is Ash going to grow up?), Attack on Titan

• Love/Romance

I don't watch a lot of Romance anime mostly because it ruins my expectations of real people, this is what I have gathered though.
Romance anime features a lot of complicated emotion that usually isn't tackled in other animes. You end up becoming emotionally attached to one character or another and you find yourself cheering on your favorite couple and feel a sense of achievement when they finally end up together! (Or totally crushed when you find out the ship has sailed.)
Examples: Again, Ouran HighSchool Host Club(Remember all those sub genres that comedy has? Yeah.)
Yahari Ore No Seishun Love Comedy Wa Machigatteiru

• Josei

This genre is very new to me, I haven't seen anything that is in this genre however I hear it is supposed to portray the realist side of relationships and life as apposed to the Shojo glittery eyes and fairytale themes.

• Horror/Gore

This doesn't actually mean scary, what it really means is blood and lots of it. Have you ever watched Sci Fi's Halloween line up? Yeah.
There is usually a good plot and decent characters however when they get in a fight and die they don't come back like in most anime.
In fact their death statement probably says "They found most of him".
Examples: Attack On Titan, Tokyo Ghoul (haven't watched), Death Note(More on the mystery side)

• Demons   

This may seem like it is a minor theme, which I suppose it is a sub plot but eh, its on the list! This sub plot genre is seen a lot in anime, everything from good ole Inuyasha to Black Butler. It just ends up being a plus to have a Demon with infinite powers that is really hard to kill, apparently. 

• Examples: Blue Exorcist, Soul Eater, The Devil is a Part-Timer

That is all I am going to cover for Genre's because I won't really be covering much else. I know that there are some more intense genres like Yaoi, Yuri, Harem and that type of stuff but I see no need for those. Sorry if that's your favorite type of anime, its just not my cup of tea.

Ok, Now for my anime standards!!! Yay, you get to look inside my brain! Be careful O.o

Do's

• Do have interesting characters and a good plot line.
• Do continuously show improvement in either the status of the problem or the characters.
• Do give me something to ship, it's not needed but it makes things a little more fun in the fandom.
• Do have a good ending.
• Do teach me something. I don't care if its something about myself that I didn't know before or if its some fun fact about Japan.
• Do be something that I am proud to talk about no matter where I am.

Don'ts

• Don't be cussing. I don't respect it or put up with it, I usually look for subbers who don't sub the cuss words but dubbing is getting worse and worse with it.
• Don't have trashy dressed characters. I expect people to have practical clothing. No one wins a battle in high heels and a mini skirt. If its all about accentuating the wrong things then I am NOT  interested.
• Don't go off and kill characters all willy nilly, (One word. Neji) If you kill off 20 characters and then bring them back how am I supposed to cope when you actually kill someone! Its like whack a mole. He's over there! Nope he is gone, Wait he is back. Nope gone again.
• Don't give me a bad ending. If its only had one season and that ended with a cliff hanger, you better finish it. I am an Otaku and I need closure!
• Don't play for the fans. If your heart isn't in it than don't do it. We love it because you love it.

So by now if you are wondering "What does this person watch?!" Here is your answer. I watch good wholesome anime, occasionally I might watch something that breaks one of these rules but that will usually be because I am cleaning and just turned something on. Or if I am doing a sponsored review and I have to watch it. Trust me, I don't always enjoy myself. :P

No matter what I hold myself accountable. So here are some of my sideline animes, Where I watched some but didn't finish because they broke to many rules.

• Blue Exorcist

This anime was good starting out, it was so entertaining and kept me on my toes. Then the red headed swordswoman got added to the show and they just pushed it to far. I love my twins, but that I would not watch.

• Naruto Shippuden

They didn't cuss in the early Naruto because it was aired on Cartoon Network and other kids stations. At the end and into Shippuden it grew into an unneeded and overused form of communication.

• Parasyte. Lets just say that one didn't last long at all -_-

• Tokyo Ghoul, Episode one and its already a failure.

• Psycho Pass really pushed its limits and something tells me if I go back and watch some of the episodes I missed, it would be at the top of my list of sidelines.

• Soul Eater, I love the art style **but** Tsubaki and Black Star really ran my standards into the ground.

• Deadman Wonderland, I have always had a fascination with prison/ camp related themes so I was interested in this anime. However Shiro's morph suit (given it is more covering than some, its just tighter than some) and the language swiftly doused the flame of fascination. 

• Durarara!!! is pending, its not even the language. Its Celty. Her jumpsuit is somewhat tight as well. There are slightly more suggestive themes (which is a no-no) and it is breaking the "Don't write for the fans" rule. IMO.

• Fairy Tail 

The first episode of this anime is an awful representation of this anime. For it to be focused on the guild and how much of a family they are the first episode really focuses on all the wrong things -_- 

Basically what I am trying to say is, don't think you have to watch the same anime as everyone else! You have options! There are classy anime out there. I recommend Howl's Moving Castle and Wolf Children, even though they are movies. They will give you the right feeling for what anime should feel like.

I am always here to help you find something new to watch, or to help you make what you watch now, better. 

I hope you learned something new today and that it got you thinking.

Also if I offended you, don't take it personally. I am really a nice person. (Sarcasm)
Honestly though, I didn't mean any harm.

Sincerely
            ~ Aki Ame Okami

Morganton-Con 2015!!!!!!!

                      Its Con time again!!

First I would like to say, when people tell you to not wait till last minute, LISTEN TO THEM! Sorry didn't mean to yell....

I stayed up until 2 A.M. (the morning of the Con) trying to finish my Kiba cosplay. I made 2 shoes (Traditional ninja sandal things), A kunai pouch (Turned out way to big because I couldn't find any good patterns. Winged it :P ) and a Ninja forehead protector. I did some minor things like attaching fur to a coat and sharpening nails, making fangs, etc.  I did all of that on Friday. What a day :P

Back on topic.
Morganton Comic Con   Is a smaller local con that really has that small town charm that was kinda lacking at Hickory-Con. Sadly my late night made me a bit forgetful this morning and I forgot my camera, I only have after pictures. Sorry :(
Any who I still can tell you about the vendors!!

• Zexainia Sutcliff

This was an art table that had some really cool pieces. The vendor herself cosplayed an original character of hers based off of the anime Bleach. She looked really awesome and had a real zanpakuto sword! (Long sword used by soul reapers)
Her art was on point, I saw a many of my favorite characters in her work. She also does commission work. (At least I think that's what her sign said, I was super busy looking at her art.. She draws Sebastian Michaelis very well. o.o)

• Baby Rabiez 

I was weak. I bought 2 awesome bracelets from this vendor. (One of the newer SAO bracelets and one of the newer Sebastian bracelets.)  The vendor was very fun to talk to and she had a great selection of merchandise, everything from sling bags (Those draw string bags that are great to use at conventions) to the most adorable dog tags. They are the fix for every fandom seeing as they carry a little of something for everyone. It made me so happy to see they had some Ouran HighSchool Host Club stuff.
You should really check them out!
I am going to link their FB page here- Baby Rabiez
Also I can't wait to see their booth at Yama-Con!!!! 

• Yarn Alchemy

This vendor has some of the coolest Crocheted items I have ever seen! It was really tempting to buy something but I had already spent all my money.. Bring more than $18 to a con. She had the most adorable poke-balls. Here is a link to her Deviant Art where she has some more details. Also seems like she might be planning on going to Ichibancon    Which is a convention I have looked at for a while.. Who knows maybe I will finally get my Poke ball at Ichibancon!!!

I got to see some good repeat vendors like Lindee and Chris wands, The magic within. Plenty of Comic vendors and Ding Bat Cosplay  made an appearance with their own booth/table. ( I never know what to call those *-*) She had some awesome stuff for sale! Not to mention a wonderful cosplay.

That is about all I can report from Morganton, there would have been more if I had my camera with me... 

Last but not least, a picture of me. I never could get the fangs to sit just right so I decided to leave them out.
I got 2 compliments from strangers, the first from a man and his friends. "I like your Shikamaru cosplay.".... Yeah, I guess the way I put my hair up under my jacket did look like Shikamaru. Fudge. 
A compliment is a compliment!
The second wasn't actually said to me but I over heard it, a girl when we first walked in, kinda had a fan girl moment over Kiba.. Which I am totally cool with because I would have to :P I hated being a disappointment to her, seeing as I am female and all O.o  But I think she was their with her boyfriend so it was ok anyways

 Glad I washed the jacket cause it ended up shrinking so that's why the zipper does that annoying independent thing.

Any who, Loved blogging with ya :D

~Aki Ame Okami

Morganton Comic-Con

Aki and I will be wearing home-made cosplays to the Morganton, NC Con tomorrow! We are very excited and will definitely be posting pictures soon!

My character is a version of myself-- Heiwa Kibo Hane-- and Aki is going as Aki Inozuka (Kiba's clan from Naruto). This is our first time totally creating our own cosplays! We are excited to share our experiences with our followers! Definitely more to come tomorrow afternoon, but thought I would give you the heads-up :)

If you plan on going, look for us there!

~Heiwa Kibo Hane

Halloween 2015

           Halloween means many things to many different people.
To some its a chance for candy, to others its a chance to scare your neighbors (or strangers) senseless. Whatever your idea of Halloween is I can promise you it isn't how my Halloween went.

I woke up real early (super late) to help finish a friends steam punk cosplay, we had decided last minute that sleeves would be useful seeing as it was freezing out. Sadly I got up to late to help her before she went off to her charity Trunk or Treat, she was handing out candy.
That was a disappointing way to start the day however it gets better.
The charity event I was volunteering at was already started so there was no way I could get in costume and get there (Live 30 minutes from anything) in time so I missed that.
That's ok, there is still plenty of day to spend with my family...
Haha no. Just no. Between the cleaning, gaming, watching anime, and work that I had to do that just wasn't happening. As evening neared I just happened to think of somewhere we might have lost something of Heiwa's so the family heads in town.
Well now,  Kuruma had a car he just fixed so of course we had to take it to town!
So its late and here we are peaking in the windows of a church van.
Just as another car starts to pull up we notice that our car is smoking and stinks of coolant. Thank goodness the car that pulled up was one of the pastors.
We ended up fixing our car with some PVC pipe and thankfully there was some clamps in the pastors garage so we didn't have to use any duct tape from my bug home bag.

So I wish you all a belated Happy Halloween!!!!!!!!!!! I hope you will have an even better November :D Expect a many blog posts ;)
Don't forget to go like my personal page Aki Ame Okami  .
And our page for this blog Ani-Maze-Me 


See you soon
                     ~Aki Ame Okami