Saint Seiya

This is one of my fav. anime Saint Seiya (聖闘士星矢, Seinto Seiya), also known as Knights of the Zodiac, is a manga series authored by Masami Kurumada, and later adapted to anime. The story follows five mystical warriors called the “Saints” (or “Knights”; the kanji is properly read as sei-tōshi “holy fighter” but the furigana has it pronounced “saint”) who have adopted various constellations as their guardian symbols. The anime series won the Animage Anime Grand Prix prize in 1987, but was cancelled in 1989 due to low ratings of the anime. In 2002, Toei produced Saint Seiya: Hades, which continued adapting the manga story arcs to animation that remained pending when the anime was canceled in 1989.

Plot

Six years before the events at the focus of the series, one hundred orphans from Japan are sent to different parts of the world to become legendary warriors known as “Saints”, who are the soldiers under the command of Greek goddess Athena. These warriors are each under the protection of a celestial constellation.

The power of the Saints originates from the understanding of the “Cosmo”. The concept of the “Cosmo” advocates that each atom within a human body resembles a small solar system, and since the human body consists of billions of atoms, the totality forms a “small Cosmo” or a “small Universe”. Each person’s Cosmo has its own unique signature.

The Saints take the knowledge of the Cosmo to the next level: since humans are composed of atoms, humans should be able to use the mysterious forces behind the atoms to achieve super human feats.

The story focuses on one of these orphans named Seiya. He is sent to the Sanctuary in Greece to become the Pegasus Saint. After seven years, Seiya becomes the Pegasus Saint and returns to Japan to find his older sister. Because his sister disappeared the same day Seiya went to the Sanctuary, Saori Kido, the granddaughter of the person who sent all the orphans to train, makes a deal with him to go to fight in a tournament called the Galaxian Wars, where the orphans who survived and became Bronze Saints must fight to win the most powerful cloth: The Sagittarius Gold Cloth. If Seiya goes to compete there, Saori would start a search to find Seiya’s sister.

During the series, Seiya becomes the partner and friend of other Bronze Saints: Shun, Shiryu, Ikki, and Hyoga. As the myth of the saints, they must fight together to protect the reincarnation of the goddess Athena from any danger.

Anime

The anime is based on the manga series of the same title (above). The animation series by Toei Animation first premiered on Japan’s TV Asahi on October 11, 1986. Masami Kurumada has said that he does not like the anime, but he agreed to transfer the manga to anime because of a tradition of making an anime from every manga.

The first anime series was produced by Toei Animation from 1986 to 1989. It was directed first by Kōzō Morishita (episodes 1 to 73) and then by Kazuhito Kikuchi (episodes 74 to 114). The character designers were Shingo Araki and Michi Himeno, and Seiji Yokoyama composed the soundtracks. The chief scriptwriters were Takao Koyama and Yoshiyuki Suga.The series has three main parts: Sanctuary (episodes 1 to 73), Asgard (74 to 99), and Poseidon (100 to 114). The Asgard arc does not exist in the manga and was made directly for the anime.

Other

In the mid-1980s a line of Saint Seiya action figures were produced by Bandai, featuring most of the series characters. The toy line was a huge success inside of Japan, but also in other countries such as Hong-Kong, France, Spain, Brazil and Mexico. The figures have now acquired collector status and the Japanese originals are highly sought after. Some, like Odin’s God Cloth or Kraken Isaac, have a very high value.

In 2003, Bandai created a new line of figures called Cloth Myth. Originally, only the 5 V2 main bronze Saints would be made, in commemoration of the Hades Saga being animated, but sold so well that they decided to continue the line and it continues to sell very well internationally.As of August 2008, there are over 60 figures available, and Bandai continues to release new figures regularly. The line seems to be nowhere near it’s end.

Bleach

Bleach (ブリーチ, Burīchi, romanized as BLEACH in Japan) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Tite Kubo. Bleach has been continuously serialized in the Japanese manga anthology Weekly Shōnen Jump since August 2001, and in its American counterpart Shonen Jump since November 2007. The series received the Shogakukan Manga Award for the shōnen demographic in 2005, and is among the best-selling manga properties in both Japan and America.

Bleach follows the adventures of Ichigo Kurosaki after he accidentally steals the power of a shinigami, a Japanese death personification similar to the Grim Reaper. Gaining these abilities forces him to take on the duties of defending humans from evil spirits and guiding departed souls to the afterlife. The early parts of the story focus on Ichigo and his friends in a high school setting, while later portions feature journeys to other planes of existence, expand the cast to include numerous powerful beings from the afterlife, and are more action-based.

Since its publication, Bleach has spawned a substantial media franchise. The manga has been adapted into an animated television series, two OVAs, three animated feature films, seven rock musicals, and numerous video games, as well as prompted the issue of many types of Bleach-related merchandise. Compilation volumes of the manga have sold over 50 million copies in Japan and reached the top of manga sales charts in the United States. The anime adaptation has been similarly received, rating as the 7th most popular tv anime in Japan in 2006, and in the top ten anime for America from 2006 to 2008.

Synopsis
The story opens with the sudden appearance of Soul Reaper Rukia Kuchiki in Ichigo Kurosaki’s bedroom. She is surprised at his ability to see her, but their resulting conversation is interrupted by the appearance of a “hollow”, an evil spirit. After Rukia is severely wounded while trying to protect Ichigo, she attempts to transfer half her powers to Ichigo in order to let him face the hollow on equal footing. Ichigo instead unintentionally absorbs almost all her energy, allowing him to defeat the hollow with ease. The next day Rukia appears in Ichigo’s classroom as a seemingly normal human, and informs Ichigo that his absorption of her powers has left her stranded in the human world until she recovers her strength. In the meantime Ichigo shelters Rukia in his home and takes over her job as a Soul Reaper, battling hollows and guiding lost souls to Soul Society.

After a few months of this arrangement, in the sixth volume of the series, Rukia’s Soul Reaper superiors interpret her disappearance as desertion, send a detachment to arrest her, and sentence her to death. Ichigo is unable to stop Rukia’s capture, but with the help of several of his classmates who also possess spiritual abilities and ex-Soul Reaper Urahara Kisuke, he sets off for the Soul Reaper base, located in the afterlife realm known as Soul Society. Once there, Ichigo and company battle against the elites of the Soul Reaper military, and are ultimately successful in halting Rukia’s execution.

It is then revealed that Rukia’s execution and Ichigo’s rescue attempt were both manipulated by Sōsuke Aizen, a high ranking Soul Reaper previously believed to be murdered, as part of a far-reaching plot to take control of Soul Society. Aizen betrays his fellow Soul Reapers and allies himself with the hollows, becoming the primary antagonist of the series, and Ichigo teams up with his former enemies in Soul Society after learning that the next step in Aizen’s plan involves the destruction of his hometown. After this point, Bleach chronicles the war between Aizen and Soul Society, a plotline which has not yet been resolved. According to Tite Kubo, the ending of the series is not yet planned out or written.

Naruto Anime

Directed by Hayato Date and produced by Studio Pierrot and TV Tokyo, the Naruto anime adaptation premiered in Japan on TV Tokyo October 3, 2002, and ran for 220 episodes until its conclusion on February 8, 2007. The first 135 episodes are adapted from the first twenty-seven volumes of the manga, while the remaining eighty episodes are filler episodes that utilize plot elements not seen in the original manga.

Viz has licensed the anime series for broadcast and distribution in the Region 1 market. The English adaptation of the anime began airing on September 10, 2005. The episodes have been shown on Cartoon Network’s Toonami, YTV’s Bionix and Jetix UK’s programming blocks. In the American broadcast, references to alcohol, Japanese culture, sexual innuendo, and even blood and death were sometimes reduced for the broadcast, but left in the DVD editions. Other networks make additional content edits apart from the edits done by Cartoon Network, such as Jetix’s more strict censoring of blood, language, smoking and the like.

Naruto Shippuden

Naruto: Shippūden (ナルト 疾風伝 lit. Naruto: Hurricane Chronicles) is the ongoing sequel to the original Naruto anime and covers the Naruto manga from volume twenty-eight on. After training for two and a half years with Jiraiya, Naruto returns to Konohagakure, reunites with the friends he left behind, and reforms Team 7, now called Team Kakashi, with Sai replacing Sasuke. All of Naruto’s classmates have matured and improved in the ranks, some more than others. Unlike the original series where they only played a minor role, the Akatsuki organization takes on the main antagonistic role in their attempts at world domination.

The TV adaptaion of Naruto: Shippūden made its debut in Japan on February 15, 2007 on TV Tokyo, and in the Philippines on January 28, 2008 on ABS-CBN. ABS-CBN is the first international TV network (i.e. TV network outside Japan) to broadcast Naruto: Shippūden. ABS-CBN has initially aired the first 40 episodes of Naruto: Shippūden until March 19, 2008 since it is still airing in Japan.

Naruto

Naruto (NARUTO – ナルト – romanized as NARUTO in Japan) is an ongoing Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto with an anime adaptation. The plot tells the story of Naruto Uzumaki, a loud, hyperactive, unpredictable, adolescent ninja who constantly searches for recognition and aspires to become a Hokage, the ninja in his village that is acknowledged as the leader and the strongest of all. The series is based from a one-shot that Kishimoto first authored in the August 1997 issue of Akamaru Jump.

The manga was first published by Shueisha in 1999 in the 43rd issue of Japan’s Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine and it is still being released with forty-four volumes. The manga would be later adapted into an anime produced by Studio Pierrot and Aniplex. It premiered across Japan on the terrestrial TV Tokyo network and the anime satellite television network Animax on October 3, 2002. The first series lasted nine seasons, while Naruto: Shippūden, a sequel of the series, began its first on February 15, 2007 and is still airing.

Viz Media also licensed the anime for North American production. The Naruto anime debuted in the United States on Cartoon Network’s Toonami programming block on September 10, 2005, and in Canada on YTV’s Bionix on September 16, 2005. Naruto began showing in the United Kingdom on Jetix on July 22, 2006. It began showing on Toasted TV on January 12, 2007, in Australia, which features the Manga Entertainment TV version and the German-language dub opening, although it could be watched on Cartoon Network in 2006.

Serialized in Viz’s Shōnen Jump magazine, Naruto has become the company’s best-selling manga series. As of volume 36, the manga has sold over 71 million copies in Japan. The series is licensed for a translated English-language release by Viz Media.

Plot

Twelve years before the events at the focus of the series, the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox attacked the ninja village Konohagakure. Powerful enough to raise tsunamis and flatten mountains with a swish of one of its tails, it raised chaos and slaughtered many people, until the leader of Konohagakure – the Fourth Hokage – sacrificed his own life to seal the demon inside Naruto when he was a newborn. The Fourth Hokage, who was celebrated as a hero for sealing the demon fox away, wanted Naruto to be respected in a similar light by being the containment vessel for the demon fox.

Konohagakure, however, shunned him, regarding Naruto as if he were the demon fox itself and mistreated him throughout most of his childhood. A decree made by the Third Hokage forbade anyone to discuss or mention the attack of the demon fox to anyone, even their own children. However, this did not stop them from treating him like an outcast and as a result he grew up an orphan without friends, family, or acknowledgment. He could not force people to befriend him, so he sought acknowledgment and attention the only way he knew – through pranks and mischief.

However, that soon changed after Naruto graduated from the Ninja Academy by using his Shadow Clone Technique, a technique from a forbidden scroll that he was tricked into stealing, to save his teacher, Iruka Umino, from the renegade ninja Mizuki. That encounter gave Naruto two insights: that he was the container of the demon fox, and that there was someone besides the Third Hokage who actually cared for and acknowledged him. His graduation from the academy opened a gateway to the events and people that would change and define his world, including his way of the ninja for the rest of his life.

The main story follows Naruto and his friends’ personal growth and development as ninja, and emphasizes their interactions with each other and the influence of their backgrounds on their personalities. Naruto finds two friends and comrades in Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno, two fellow young ninja who are assigned with him to form a three-person team under an experienced sensei named Kakashi Hatake. Naruto also confides in other characters that he meets throughout the series as well. They learn new abilities, get to know each other and other villagers better, and experience a coming-of-age journey as Naruto dreams of becoming the Hokage of Konohagakure.

Throughout all of the Naruto plot, strong emphasis on character development changes the plot, with very few things happening because of chance. At first, emphasis is placed on Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura, who are the members of Team 7. However, other characters are developed, such as Kakashi, Tsunade, and Jiraiya, as well as Naruto’s peers in the other teams and villages. Several major villains come into play as well, the first being Zabuza Momochi, a missing-nin from Kirigakure, and his partner, Haku. Later, Orochimaru, an S-Class missing-nin at the top of Konoha’s most wanted list, and his loyal right-hand man, Kabuto Yakushi, are introduced. During this same arc, three ninjas known as the Sand Siblings are introduced. These siblings are from Sunagakure and include Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara. Later still, a mysterious organization called Akatsuki begins to pursue Naruto for the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox that is sealed inside of him.

Art and guidebooks
Several supplementary books of the Naruto series have been released. An artbook named The Art of Naruto: Uzumaki contains illustration of Part I manga and was released in both Japan and the United States. For the Part II manga, an artbook called PAINT JUMP: Art of Naruto was released by Shueisha on April 4, 2008. A series of guidebooks for the Part I called First Official Data Book (秘伝・臨の書キャラクターオフィシャルデータBOOK Hiden: Rin no Sho Character Official Data Book) and Second Official Data Book (秘伝・闘の書キャラクターオフィシャルデータBOOK Hiden: Tō no Sho Character Official Data Book) were released only in Japan. These books contain character profiles, Jutsu guides and drafts made by Kishimoto. For the anime, a series of guidebook called Naruto anime profiles were also released. These books contain information about the production of the anime episodes and explanation of the characters designs. Another arts of Naruto are Naruto Action Figure.

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny: 13 Astray Gold Frame Amatsu Gundam 1/100

From Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny anime, this is 13 MBF-P01-Re2 Astray Gold Frame Amatsu Gundam 1/100.
In the anime series Gundam SEED Astray, the Orb Union’s Morgenroete corporation built three Gundam Astray prototype mobile suits at Heliopolis, the MBF-P01 Astray Gold Frame, MBF-P02 Astray Red Frame, and MBF-P03 Astray Blue Frame,which in turn were used to base the five GAT-X series units that they assisted the Earth Alliance’s Atlantic Federation in creating. They successfully copied the EA’s beam rifle and saber technology, but Morgenroete did not have access to the Phase Shift armor design, and compensated by making the Gundam Astray units lighter and more agile than their EA counterparts. The Gold Frame, unlike the other two, was fitted with both Orb and Earth Alliance style hand plugs, allowing it to use the beam weapons of both nations. See details