Studio Review: BONES

As I said in my last studio review, studios play a huge role in the anime industry, and the one that I’m about to talk about is no exception. It’s mostly known for the adaptation of two of the most iconic and popular animes of recent years. I’m talking about not other than BONES.

Fullmetal Alchemist

The first adaptation of this anime came out in 2003. It was a risky inversion for the studio because the manga haven’t ended up yet so the mangaka had to make a new ending for the anime series. It became quite successful. So successful indeed that they even decided to make a remake in 2009 called Fullmetal alchemist: Brotherhood, which included the original ending. And they really hit the jackpot with this one. 

To this date, Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood is the highest-rated anime in history, with an average of 9,16/10 in MyAnimeList (the most official anime-rating website, click here for the source). Consisting of 52 episodes of pure story, no fillers in, is also one of my favourite anime. His opening theme is also one of the most popular and praised ever. Video below

My hero academia

My Hero academia has been one of THE anime series in the recent years. It also has a lot of haters and that’s why it doesn’t have much of good grades but it is a really well done superhero anime series. The story of a nerd teenager that doesn't have any superpowers in a society where 80% of the population has but he still want to become a hero. It’s emotional, it’s inspirational, it’s exciting, it’s relatable, it’s easy to understand. It just has everything you’d want in an anime, and that has led to My Hero Academia becoming one of the most popular superhero shows in the west.

I’d say this is pretty much my favourite anime series. It has over 120 episodes to this date and counting, with 5 seasons and 2 movies, so I expect it to be over 250 episodes when it ends. So it has a lot of promising moments coming. 

Other anime

But those are not the only shows that BONES has created and meant an impact on the anime industry, we shouldn't forget about Mob Psycho 100, Noragami or Soul Eater

I think this is pretty much it. Hope you enjoyed this review and see you in the next one!

Anime Review: Kimetsu no Yaiba: Demon Slayer

Introduction

Demon Slayer is one of, if not, the most popular anime series that has come out in the last 5 years. The manga written and designed by Koyoharu Gotoge was first published in february 2016, but it after 3 long years of being at the top 10 of most sold manga at most, an adaptation of the work came out on april of 2019 in the form of an anime adaption by the studio Ufotable. It became extremely succesful oh its first episodes and now that its second season is about to come in december, I think it's convenient to review this, in my opinion, gorgeous work of art.

- Story: 9/10. The story of the show is fairly simple. It narrates the story of the Kamado family in the Taisho japanese era (1912-1926), when the protagonist, Tanjiro Kamado, after he came from selling charcoal in the town, finds out that his family has been killed by a Demon, except for his sister, Nezuko, which has turned into one. Tanjiro's objective will be to become a Demon Slayer and turn his sister Nezuko back to a human. It's an easy to understand story and the progression is very well made.

- Characters: 9/10. Aside from the two main characters we already know, throughout the series we find other very interestng characters. The ones with the most importance are the Hashira, which are the "masters" of the Demon Slayers and will help our protagonist to reach their objective. Each one with its own personality and backstory.

- Animation: 10/10. As its expected coming from Ufotable, the animation is Top-Tier. I could run out of good adjectives to describe how good of an animatin this is. Just watching the opening will make yu realise this has not a low budget. Not really much more to say. Just watch and use your own words to describe it.

(Link to the video here)                 

- Soundtrack: 10/10. The soundtrack is also amazing. You can listen to the opening I linked in the animation section. 

- Enjoyment: 10/10. Even though this is a very dramatic and tragic show, it also has the time for humour and funny moments. And that's one of the things that makes anime such an interesting genre. You can laugh with it and 3 episodes later be crying so hard about it and, somehow, still love it.

Overall: Great anime, 9.5/10. Close to perfection and it definitely deserves the fame it has. I'm incredibly hyped about the second season to come out this december.

Studio Review: Ufotable

Studios are a key par of the anime industry. The studio is the entity that hires the employees (animators, voice actors, etc.) and acquires the rights of the manga they're making the adaptation of. Studios are associated with a certain style of animation. That's why there's certain always pressure under some studios of making a good adaptation, since if it's not the case, it WILL have repercussions on the studio's reputation.

Today, I'm talking about a studio that stayed in the shadows for a long time, but now is one of the most popular ones. It's not any other than Ufotable. A studio that started with just 3 guys drawing and buying a table that had a UFO form, to one of the most prestigious studios out there.

Fate/Zero

The first masterpiece that the studio created was Fate/Zero, in 2012. An adaptation of visual novel very popular in Japan. This series, made up of 24 episodes, had astonishing animation. Ufotable is one of the few studios whose animators are actually well-paid. Today, it's one of the top 70 most popular anime series ever. It's also available to watch on Netflix.

Fate/Stay Night

After Fate/Zero, it's sequel, Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works, which came out 2 years later, also had astonishing animation and lived up to the expectations of the Fate/Zero fans. So is that, that it was called by some "Unlimited Budget Works". The soundtrack was also top-tier, with japanese singer Aimer singing one of her most famous songs "Brave Shine" for the opening theme, according to many fans, the best anime opening ever. Link to one of her songs below!

Demon Slayer

But, over all of the studio's masterpieces, the one that stands out the most is, undoubtely, "Demon Slayer". An adaptation of the manga that goes by the same name, which stayed at the top 10 mangas in japan's shonen jump magazine (one of, if not, the most popular in japan), that after his release, in 2019, skyrocketed in popularity to become the first anime series in voer 20 years to surpass One Piece as the most selled manga. 

The studio did another one of his regular works. Top-tier animation, soundtrack, story, voice acting, etc. Today, its the 13th most popular anime of all time, being extremely popular in japan, with personalities such as the prime minister himself, Fumio Kishida, accepting they love the series. The most recent sequel, the movie "Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The movie: Mugen train", which came out the last 2020 year, made history as being the most seen anime movie in theatres ever, and also the highest-grossing film of the year, surpassing movies such as Sonic the Hedgehog or Tenet, and being qualified as the 5th highest rated anime movie ever.

I think that's pretty much it. It'd be impossible to tell you about all the series Ufotable made, so I'm not putting all of them here. Clicking here you can listen to one of Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works' OSTs (or in the video below) and here to the demon slayer opening. 

Have a great day and stay tuned for more reviews and content!

My near future

In this blog, I'd want to get in a more personal zone by talking a little bit about myself, especifically, my future. As many of you know, I'm still a student in high school, and this is my last year before going to university.

University of Alicante, hopefully, my future university       

In the few weeks I have into 2nd Bachiller (the course I'm currently are) I can already tell how tough of a year it's coming, and the grades required for entering the economics carrer in my city's university have been rising a lot in the recent years, needing a 10.040/14 to be accepted in there

But there's always 1 thing motivating me: This is my last year in highschool and, therefore, the last year that I have to study things I don't want. I know in university I will have to study as much or even more than now, but at least it will be things I'm actually interested in. I do not know which proffession exactly I would work at, but that doesn't really concern me, I will just work out with what life gives me.

But, even though economics is what I will most realistically study for a full-part time job, I do want to continue studying music at my town's conservatory. Working as a full-time musician is trully what would make me the happier. 

I always defended that the my happiness would be waking up at 7 a.m. because I had to practice for a recital later in the afternoon. When you like what you're doing, you don't mind spending lots of time in that specific profession. But living as a musician is hard these days and I think I could leave the piano as a secondary job for self-entertaining and to earn some extra money and working with my knowledge of economics I will get in the carreer.

Here you have a personal video of a piece I composed by my own:

(Link to the video)

And I think that pretty much resumes all I have planned for my future. Enjoy your day and click on the menu above for reviews, education tips etc.

10 blogs to help you out with EBAU

The EBAU is the main test that spanish students attend in order to get in a university degree. This is one of the toughest tests spaniards take in their student life, so that's why I'm telling you about 10 blogs that might help you out with preparing the EBAU!

1. La ventana azul

This blog focuses on spanish language and literature. It has example exams from EBAU, from 2008 to 2019 and information about authors such as: Pío Baroja, Valle-Inclán, Federico García Lorca and many more. It will also help you with syntatic analysis exercises and text comentaries.

2. Historia de España

Spanish history is another mandatory subject that all students must take in EBAU. This blog includes notes all the way from arcaic spanish history to the democratic transition, with schemes at the end of each theme.

3. Biogeleusis

This blog's subject is philosophy. Philosophy is not a mandatory subject in EBAU but it can help you to get a higher grade on certain degrees that have some relation to philosophy. It contains over 600 records about authors, ethic theories, movies or press articles. It also has the entire 2nd bachiller temary with text analysis. Oh and it also has other year's tests to practice so that's also a thing

4. Geografía

This blog is managed by a geography teacher himself. Juan Martín Martín wanted to share with the world some solved exams from different authonomous communities and current and old programming (since 2008) of Geography, glossary on geographic terms and place names to locate on a map.

5. D'economía blog

It compilates teoric lessons and practic exercises related to business economics, also a non-mandatory subject. Here you can find activities about break-even point, productivity, costs; among with long and short theoric questions and well-made PDF documents.

6. Intermatia

This blog focuses on mathematics. It automatically generates and corrects as many exercises as you want and it gives you a detailed explanation to each of them, which you can download for more confortability. It also has exercised destined to those in secondary education.

7. Mundoestudiante

This blog is full of posts to prepare the EBAU such as solved exams, tips, Frequent Q&A, etc. As well as some general information about how EBAU exams are done. It doesn't focus on a single subject but it gives you some useful general information.

8. EBAU Matemáticas

Contains past year exams from all authonomous communities for both sciences and social sciences modalities. In addition, it also provides exercises and various content to practice the subject and a blog with resources for the same purpose.

9. Segundo Pérez

This one is very used in the school I go to. It focuses on the subject of maths. It contains exams from previous EBAU tests, with their corrections and a detailed expanation of the correction. Good for practice. It doesn't have a very good design tho, but it serves its function.

10. Selectividad Inglés

Last but not least, Selectividad Inglés helps you to prepare one of the subjects students struggle the most about: English. You can expect to find solved exams, tips to prepare for them and guides to help you write better essays. They also help you to correct your mistakes. You can send them your essays and they will correct them in less than 5 days.

Extra: LINKS!

Here you have the links to all blogs:

- La ventana azul: https://laventanaazulblog.com/examenes-pau/

- Historia de España: http://blogs.iesealarcos.es/historia/

- Biogeleusis: http://blogeleusis.blogspot.com/p/materiales-2-de-bachillerato.html

- Geografía: http://blogdegeografiadejuan.blogspot.com/p/selectividad-paeg-pau.html

- D'economía blog: http://www.deconomiablog.com/2019/11/economia-de-la-empresa-en-selectividad.html

- Intermatia: https://www.intermatia.com/home.php#

- Mundoestudiante: https://www.mundoestudiante.com/

- EBAU Matemáticas: https://www.ebaumatematicas.com/matematicas-ii/

- Segundo Pérez: http://www.segundoperez.es/

- Selectividad inglés: http://selectividadingles.blogspot.com/p/inicio.html

Anime review: Haikyuu!!

Introduction

After 2 or 3 weeks of watching almost only Haikyuu!! I can say that this is without doubt one of the best anime I have ever watched.

- Story: 9/10; It’s incredible how Haruichi Furudate (The mangaka) is able to get this attention at a show about a sport that not that many people play. The story and progression of the characters is truly amazing.

- Character: 9/10; ALL of the characters have something that makes them special. Hinata, Kageyama, Nishinoya, Bokuto, Kuroo, Kenma, Oikawa, the Miya twins... I think we could easily get 5 more series about other haikyuu characters, but I’m just gonna focus in Hinata’s because he is the main character: In volleyball, height is a very relevant factor, because if you’re tall you can block other’s spikes and throws and it just makes it easier; our protagonist, Hinata Shoyo, is just 1,64 meters height but it won’t stop him from doing his best for accomplishing his dream. Kinda gives me My Hero Academia vibes, but in a more “realistic” way.

- Animation: 8/10. Despite having some controversy about animation and the new character design in the last season, I still think the animation is very good. Yes, the last season has some animation troubles in time-to-time, but for me, it’s just so colourful and beautiful that it makes up. Not getting an A because there are shows with absolutely gorgeous animation that humiliates real life and it would be unfair to give them the same grades as Haikyuu!!’s.

- Soundtrack: 10/10; I don’t really know why I shouldn’t give this show’s music a 10/10. It fits perfectly and the openings are lit. Nothing else to say.

- Enjoyment: 10/10; This could be the most subjective of all categories. I personally enjoyed every single minute of the show from beginning to end. It’s just that much fun.

Overall: I’m gonna leave it at 9/10. Even though this is an excellent series I don’t think I should give it a 10/10 right away, it’d be unfair to other shows. I’m gonna still give it the A. No need to say I recommend this to anyone. At first I thought it was cringe and when I started watching anime I thought this would be the last thing I would want to watch. I... Regret... EVERYTHING I said back then.

10 Best Free Educational Apps

Schools around the world are investing more than ever in technologies to make the learning process easier, so here is a list of 10 free educational apps that are really helping students out.

1. Google Classroom

In an educational institution, students are often required to complete and submit homework and assignments. And teachers have to review and grade them at the earliest. But is this process as simple as it sounds?.  All these processes are incredibly frustrating for everyone to say the least. Wouldn’t it be amazing if there is a way to streamline these processes?

Google Classroom is the ultimate solution to this question. Google classroom is essentially a virtual classroom of sorts. That means we can use it for seamlessly sending announcements, creating classes, starting discussions, submitting and grading assignments, asking for remarks and answers, sharing resources, and so on. It’s also easy to set up a google classroom. Teachers share code with the class. And the students can join by just entering the codes. That’s all it takes to create a virtual classroom.

2. edX 

It’s a dream of many students to study the courses of top universities like Harvard, MIT, Columbia, etc. But, they also know that it’s not easy to get into these universities at all. Well, if you got edX on your phone, nothing will stop you from achieving those dreams. edX brings these universities to your fingertips. So no matter what you need to learn, edX will be there for you every step of the way. 

You can learn everything under the sun and above from edX. There are more than 2000 courses of top universities in edX such as computer science, business studies, linguistics, engineering, and many more. The professional certificates and university credit you get from these courses will always be valuable for you in building a professional career.

3. Khan Academy

Khan Academy invariably secures a top spot on the list of the best free educational apps for students. The app’s mission is to provide a free and world-class education for all curious minds across the globe. And we have to admit that they are delivering it pretty impressively.

Khan Academy has a unique way to drive knowledge into your brains. All lessons are in forms of video tutorials. Videos display a recording of drawings on a virtual blackboard (like a teacher giving a lecture). And the narrator describes each lesson through these drawings. Pretty simple, right?

Khan Academy also provides online courses for preparing for standardized tests like SAT, MCAT, LSAT, and so on.

4. Duolingo

It takes immense patience and practice to learn new languages. It’s not everybody’s cup of tea. If the learning techniques aren’t adaptive, we’ll quickly lose focus and interest.

But Duolingo has made language learning a cakewalk. It helps us learn many languages like English, French, Spanish, Mandarin, Latin, Japanese, etc. in a fun and interactive way.

It starts with basic picture labeling games. As you complete more levels, There will be many different kinds of engaging games that will improve your vocabulary and grammar skills.

You can also set your daily goals. The app also tracks your performance to provide insights.

If you do well, you’ll receive XPs. The more XPs you get, the more sets of interactive stories will be unlocked to improve your reading and listening comprehension.

5. Remind

Group learning is an efficient practice to fill in learning gaps in students. But, it’s not always practical to get multiple students to assemble under a single roof and study together. Remind app is the ultimate answer to this problem.

Remind facilitates us to stay connected with our school community. Besides students, this community includes teachers and parents as well. Once you join this school community using a unique school or class code, you will receive regular updates on your classroom activities.

We can also use Remind to message a whole class, share photos and handouts, submit assignments, and clear doubts with your friends, both individually and collaboratively.

6. Photomath

This is the dream of many students who don't understand maths. Anyone can learn to solve any complex math problems very easily using an app called Photomath. 

Many statistics have listed Photomath as one of the best learning apps for students. 

The Learning process in Photomath is pretty simple. You take a picture of handwritten or printed questions. Then the app itself teaches you how to solve those questions through step by step explanations and instructions.

7. Kahoot

This is one of the most popular ones among students. Interactive quizzes can accelerate the learning process tremendously. Students feel an unexplainable delight when they get the answers right. In that regard, Kahoot is one of the best learning apps for those who prefer learning through quizzes.

Kahoot has readymade quizzes on any topic. So you just choose one topic and join live quizzes with other players. The app also lets you quickly create your quizzes and challenge your friends to compete with you. 

You can even use Kahoot for offline quiz competitions. The set up is pretty simple. The quizmaster or teacher creates a quiz competition on Kahoot and shows it to an interactive whiteboard or projector. And the players join the quiz using a PIN and answer questions on the app itself. In the future, every quiz competition will be like this. Wouldn’t that be exciting?

8. Udemy

Udemy has more than 130,000 video tutorials for courses ranging from technology and business to personal development lessons like drawing, writing, yoga, etc.

Another exciting thing is that we also get to learn these topics at our own pace. If you feel stuck at some lessons, you can ask questions and clear your doubts with students and instructors. For instance, if you got some mobile app ideas, Udemy’s expert teachers take you by hand to your dream of developing an app for that.

9. Socrative Student

Socrative Teacher app offers an interactive environment for students and teacher to share their learning. Socrative is easy-to-use and fun to implement. Teachers can ask questions, conduct polls, and conduct assessments with real-time data displaying during the session. Gauging student understanding and ideas has never been so easy.

10. Explain Everything whiteboard

Explain Everything is one of the easy-to-use and best interactive whiteboard and screencasting app. It can be used to present information to students in a visually engaging way. The exciting part of this app will help your students learn to create and present with it – individually or on group projects from sketches, through PDFs, to videos.

The app creates collaborative learning experiences where students and teachers can share thoughts and ideas in real-time. You can strengthen leadership and collaboration skills by giving students the tools to create and share their own tutorials, animated stories, and presentations.

Extra: Book Creator

Book Creator is the simplest way to create digital books, even for not-yet-readers and writers. Children can add photos, videos, or drawings to enhance or tell their stories. It's easy enough for preschoolers, yet can be used by older students or adults. It is a rare content creation app that is just as at home in a child’s hand as it is a teacher’s. With this app both can create useful and compelling eBooks, magazines, and guides without taking an age to learn how to use the software.