Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan Season 1 anime review

The first Season of Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan is a very good modern fantasy anime.  Yokai are Japanese spirits/paranormal creatures that are often considered evil.  The Yokai are not necessarily evil though and it all depends on the person.  They are however powerful, and fond of tricks some of which can prove fatal.  Their relations with humans are often strained if not outright hostile because of this. Rikuo Nura is the grandson of the supreme commander of the Nura Yokai Clan, but he is also three quarters human, and cannot maintain a Yokai form at all times.  In this series Rikuo must come to terms with both the different parts of himself, and the different worlds he must live in.  Oh yeah and become worthy to be the leader of the Nura clan so he can protect his human friends.  I really like this series and I will admit that I have stayed up later than I wanted to because I had to see what happened next.  In fact that is the only thing about this series that I find I did not like.  Its just too hard to stop watching.

The story follows Rikuo as he tries to balance two worlds, and very different sets of expectations.  That of his human friends and classmates, and his Yokai companions and vassals.  In addition for much of the series Rikou the Yokai and Rikou the human seem to be desperately trying to work out how to act in harmony.  Since Rikou is the heir to the Nura clan he must prove himself to both the Yokai of the clan and the other clans in the area.  At stake is the peace of his city, and the safety of his human friends.  Every few episodes he must take on a new challenge or intrigue, and these challenges constantly push him to come to terms with his inner conflicts.  In the end to prevent a neighboring clan from conquering his town and terrorizing the humans he cares about both halves of Rikou Nura must work together to become more than either of them can be apart.

This anime will appeal to anyone who likes modern or paranormal fantasy.  It is very well done and the plots of the individual episodes have a lot of good messages about self acceptance, and perseverance in the face of massive discrimination.

You can watch this anime as a stream at www.hulu.com.

Arpeggio of Blue Steel Anime series Review

Arpeggio of Blue Steel is a Science Fiction Anime about human AI relations.  The AI's in question started out as aggressors known as the Fog which take the form of navy ships, and have blockaded mankind from the seas.  This series has a twist that I like in that the AI's begin crafting human forms to better understand the people they face.

The thing I don't like about this series is that even though the main character a human named Gunzou manages to connect with and change several AI's from weapons to people the question of what they are, where they come from and what they should be doing that is asked throughout the series remains unanswered.  I  really hope that there is a follow up season which answers some of that.

The story of this anime is that one day the Fleet of Fog showed up and began destroying mankind's oceangoing capabilities.  They took the form of Warships, but were based on a nanotechnology that nobody on earth has.  They have both shields, and ultra advanced weaponry and human weapons cannot really hurt them.  At the beginning of the show the humans have managed to "Capture" one fog vessel but cannot even scratch its hull or access its systems.  This all changes when Gunzou touches the submarine.  Systems suddenly come online, and soon a strange girl appears to him and tells him she is the mental model of his ship, which is the I-401 that he was taken to see recently.  The series then skips ahead to a time where I-401 has been running a lone offensive against the Fog.  Throughout the show various AI's with mental models go up against I-401, and Gunzou, and when they end up losing they determine that they must learn more about humans to be better weapons.  This provides an opportunity for Gunzou to build on this curiosity and make them realize that they are people not just machines and that they have free will.  The series uses a mission to smuggle advanced technology capable of taking down fog ships as a plot device to move these encounters forward.  In the end Gunzou and I-401 are able to deliver the advanced weaponry prototype to the united states where it can be manufactured.  More importantly in the process he has freed several AI's from being bound from the program known as the Admirality code.  Some of them even leave the Fog to join his force the Blue Steel.

The series explores some interesting ideas about what it means to be intelligent, and what it means to be human.  This is interspersed by some visually stunning Naval battles between Gunzou's forces and the Fog, and some land battles with Mental Models.  All In all this series should appeal to both the science fiction action crowd and the people who want a series that makes them think.

This series is available as a stream at www.Crunchyroll.com.