The Vice of The Seven Deadly Sins

By: Steven Saunders

We open on a young boy in a tavern. The boy looks to be about ten years old, blond hair, and a dragon claw sword on his back. He’s hearing stories of these villains called the 7 deadly sins and how one of them in rusted armor is roaming the land. Then enters the villain in rusted armor. As the villain falls to the ground, the armor falls off and inside is a young girl. It is discovered that she is looking for the villains the 7 deadly sins and that the young boy is their leader, and the most dangerous of them all. Sounds like a nice fairytale right? Well it’s an anime. The Seven Deadly Sins are a Netflix exclusive and awesome to the core. Filled with great characters and development, tons of laughs, and the battles are filled with epic power and innuendo. The Seven Deadly Sins come from myth and legend, giving old stories a new life and from a different point of view. So go watch this now and be amazed. It leaves you wanting more, and soon there will be. Season two is coming!!!

Madoka is Magical

By: JD Hardin

Directed by Akiyuki Shinbo
Produced by Atsuhiro Iwakami
Written by Gen Urobuchi
Music by Yuki Kajiura Studio Shaft
Licensed by
AUS
Madman Entertainment
NA
Aniplex of America
UK
Manga Entertainment

I know, I’m not known for anime reviews but, recently I became fascinated with a character from this series and had to watch it.

An absolutely fantastic anime series from beginning to end. PMMM has reignited my passion for anime.

SPOILER ALERT

Centered on a a middle school student named Madoka Kaname, an encounter with a small, cat-like creature named Kyubey introduces her to a world of magical girls and their hunt for witches. Kyubey offers a contract in which she may have any wish granted in exchange for obtaining magical powers and hunting down and killing witches. A new student named Homura Akemi tries to stop Madoka from making a contract with Kyubey at all costs. This seems strange to Madoka as Homura is also a magical girl. Madoka and her friend, Sayaka, then meet Mami Tomoe, an upperclassman at the their school who is also a magical girl. Mami offers to bring them along on her witch hunts so they can learn what being a magical girl entails.

As Madoka considers making contract with Kyubey, she witnesses Mami die at the hands of a witch and realizes that a magical girl’s life is filled with danger, anguish, and suffering. This is supported by Kyoko Sakura, a veteran magical girl whose wish indirectly caused the death of her family. Madoka also discovers that not only do magical girls give up their souls to form their Soul Gems, the source of their magic, but when the Soul Gems become too tainted with despair, the girl will turn into the very witches they fight against. This is revealed when Sayaka falls into despair and turns into a witch. The girls soon confront the cause for all of their suffering. Kyubey’s alien race is harvesting the emotions from magical girls to use as energy to counteract the spread of entropy.

PMMM takes a genre that is normally filled with fan service, cheap humor, and generic cookie cutter themes and makes a very serious story. Tones and messages run as deep as the Marianas Trench through out all twelve episodes. Characters voices and on-screen appearance leads you to believe they will be simple, and generic. This notion is quickly smashed away with characters in deep self-reflection, pondering consequences, and have moral fortitude on a global scale. The series is pretty action packed as well. With each character, in time, illustrating their capacity for direct physical conflict.

5 of 5 Capes!