Ranked #1802

Asura Cryin'

Someone will undoubtedly be cryin' during this anime and it will be you for watching it.

Asura Cryin' is a series that makes progressively less and less sense as it wears on. Bad story, bad characters, bad enjoyment factor. It is a fine example of negative plus negative plus negative equals... negative.

High school student Natsume thinks he's just moving quietly into his Convenient Mansion with his best friend, Misao the friendly ghost. However, on moving day, he gets thrown into horrible amounts of action as two groups of people come after him for possessing a suitcase that mysteriously appears before him. One group wants him dead. The other wants him to... join the science club? Huh? Anyway. Being a smart lad, he sides with the group that does not (evidently) want him dead, and thus begins a tale of ghosts, mecha and monsters for young Natsume.

Given this ridiculous set up, we are made to trawl through an anime that makes no sense and has bewildering development. Watching this series feels like reading a book where some jerk ripped out the last page of each chapter. There is no transition from episode to episode, and the events of a later episode truly baffle as it is not clear in any way how anything happens. Not to mention the Asura Cryin'-specific lingo and rules make no sense. The explanations for them make you wonder what the writers were smoking and where you could get some for yourself. What the hell are the Asura Machina? What is Asura Cryin'? Why are there demons? Why are there mecha? Why are there ghosts? What the hell is going on with Natsume's hair?

All right, so let's see if we can work this out. You have demons who form contracts with regular humans, and can make monsters known as familiars. But these humans also have projected spirit friends who can turn into huge robots, some of which house the real bodies of the spirit people inside of them. Did I get all that? Did ANYONE get any of that?

The art is average at best, though it is very inconsistent (the ghost had a bloody shadow in one of the scenes; quality control obviously failed). Asura Cryin' also seems to have just discovered the use of the split screen, as the anime noticeably abuses it in episode three. About twelve different angles are used in the span of three minutes with all the split screens overlapping one another and giving the most pointless point of views ever. Why did they do that? The use of this is to enhance the visuals and appeal to the viewer, not make them burst out in laughter at how silly it is, which is the effect this anime unwittingly creates.

The character designs are largely unspectacular, save for the main character who wins the award for looking the silliest. He has an ahoge AND this gross weird rat tail hanging off the side of his head. What's the point of that? Did nobody stop these artists and say, "You know... he looks pretty stupid."? Most of the girls look fine (because they are generic), but the male characters look terrible, and their hair is even worse.

The music is actually pretty good, lots of piano and violin driven moments, some techno beats to amplify the dull scenes. Even the OP and ED are decent, but it's not a memorable soundtrack you'll be getting here. The voice cast is pretty good, with some good actors in it, but mostly you'll just be wishing that they'll shut up for a few minutes. It's as though this anime is allergic to silence or subtlety as each scene is bombarded with inane or overly technical dialogue that will make you want to punch the characters in the mouths so they could just shut up and give your ears a break.

Asura Cryin' is blessed with an incredibly idiotic cast as well. Some of the stereotypes don't even make sense. There's an android, a miko, ghosts, bifauxnen, TWO student council presidents, a meganekko... Damn it!! They totally left out neko mimi girls and vampires! (For now, perhaps? There is sadly another season of this on the way.) It's as though the creators picked up a Newtype and checked out the rankings for favourite character types and decided to make their anime extra "special" by including nearly every type in the book.

As for the characters, you know you aren't dealing with the most intelligent bunch when one of them says (after handing over a deadly weapon to the bad guy), "I feel like we've given him something dangerous!" NO SHIT, SHERLOCK. You would think that they would get smarter or develop, but none of them do, as clearly illustrated in the life or death situation presented in the last episode (they all have mecha or superpowers, and yet it's the village idiot who tells them to use it to save their lives). Natsume is a worthless, boring protagonist, by the way. He fails at even holding the interest of most of the girls in his harem. A lot of them seem condemned to pay him a few minutes of attention, but then they all quickly become interested in other things. Some of them seemed to be thinking, "Okay, Natsume, I'll let you grope me for a minute, but hurry it up--I have a mystery to go solve/ass to kick/better people to meet."

Generally, this anime is comprised of parts so bad that you wonder how seriously the creators of this anime took their job. An actual important conversation between one of the anime's more "serious" characters and the protagonist plays out entirely while they're both peeing in urinals. And the conversation is about sex and death. Are they kidding me...? And what's with the costume changes and the ghost? I guess ghosts now are sick of having to wear the same thing over and over again. Also, why is the android woman who has guns in her limbs going to take a bath in a hot spring? Wouldn't she, you know, malfunction? Better yet, how does someone whose body isn't made of entirely of flesh get a fever...? Then there's a lovely prop in the anime that's about as big as a horse's penis, is shaped that way, and functions like a gigantic vibrator. Oh, but it's a plug-in for the Asura Machina. Sure.

This is an awful anime. Every episode is like a torture. There may have been one or two redeeming moments, but if they exist, the bad elements of this anime formed a gang, followed the good parts home, and then murdered them in their sleep, stealing whatever loose change and valuables they could find.

Whether it is out of misery or hilarity at its badness, tears shall be shed for Asura Cryin'; it is one of the worst series ever to be animated in recent anime history and it makes me masochistically wonder if the next season will keep up its fine tradition of failure. read more

Story 6:

The storyline of "Asura Cryin' " happens to be one that has a lot of detail and a lot of planning to it. However, it is one of those storylines that as good as it might be, was definatly not executed to the best ability. On top of this, there are a few things that one should know before they watch the anime.

One of the things that is problematic is that the storyling does not flow well, there are constant flashbacks, and important details that help the anime to run are revealed at intervals that are not always the best time for them to come into play.

Another thing is some of the humor that is crammed into the storyline. While some of the humor is actually funny, some of it is not that funny, or it happens to be put in at the wrong time, or the humor is not needed for the story to run along. Some of the humor is sex related.

Another thing is, "Asura Cryin' " is not really about the occult, and not really about the church. It is really a fantasy version of the two, where magic, demons, and mechas exist. Yes, I said mecha... technollogy actually plays a big role in this, which was not something I was expecting. But the way they work together is a nice asspect, however, not exactly executed to the best ability.

Art: 7

I may be the only one, but I was in a way disturbed that two of the male characters had a bang of hair that was longer then the rest of their hair, like double the length, if not more. The art work, which is beuatiful, had been given a down trodding by such things as this that just don't seem in place, or they have a wierd effect.

Sound: 10

The sound on this is supreme. The opening and ending is beuatifully done, not to mention that the voice actors are fairly good. The sound effects also work into it well.

Character: 9

Another strong point in "Asura Cryin' " is the numbers of different characters that are within the work, and the depth that has gone into them. Problem is, we only get a glimpse of them overall.

Enjoyment: 8

I had to say I enjoyied the anime for it's relativly neat ideas and concepts here, though I was disapointed by the way the storyline was executed, it seemed sporadic and disconjealed.

Overall: 7

This Anime is definatly not going to be for everyone. As stated above, it will have it's problems. But if one overlooks, or is even forewarned about the storylines... ddity... they might be able to get through it. read more