Ranked #1401

Needless

NEEDLESS to say....

While Needless bears many similarities to a previous anime, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, I feel that these comparisons are unfair and often lead to many people rating this series down. Comparing one's work of art with the Mona Lisa is an unfair one, after all.

Needless begins off on a very good note, full of high-octane energy and very manly characters. While it is admittedly similar to Gurren Lagann, it really stands in a class of its own. The story... what story? Fans of this series aren't really interested in the story, or at least in my point of view. Its a generic setting with generic characters. A badass hero, a moe heroine, a kid, an old guy. The characters don't exactly set themselves apart either, with very unoriginal backgrounds.

Now that the bad parts are out of the way, let's talk about the good. Where do I start? Needless is full of incredibly good stuff, with fantastic art (although there are some dips in quality here and there, but little enough to ignore). The music, is brilliant. While pretty much unnoticible in most parts of the show, it is when the action kicks off that the music really gets going. Heavy metal riffs with fast beats really serve to get your heart racing during the epic battle scenes. The visuals are good, with a suitable style for a show of its type. They really don't spare on the blood either, which is a good thing (for most people, I trust).

Ultimately, NEEDLESS is a series that really focuses on what its good at, and cuts away pretty much else. And what its good at, is providing ENJOYMENT. Yes, the slapstick humour, funny (though not very interesting) characters, the epic battle scenes and heavy metal guitar all combine together to provide an extremely enjoyable series. If you want to have a good time, and aren't really interested in heavy plots, emotional baggage, and complex character development, then NEEDLESS is for you! read more

NOTE: I have not read the manga, so manga readers can go to the manga page for this show and talk about it there. This review is for the anime only.

Although I've only seen 3 episodes at this point, I think I've seen enough to write a fair review. I'll update it later of course to reflect the future scope of the story, because at this time it's still not completely clear what's really going on. Besides the fact that we know Simeon is evil, what the Needless are, and that they are after Adam Blade.

STORY: 7 (Good)

The story so far is typical of a shounen, with nothing really outstanding to set it apart from the rest. It's not overly simple though, so I believe it's worthy of being called "Good".

The evil organization, Simeon, is out to exterminate the Needless, which are a sort of "super-human" who possess varying abilities (usually one per Needless). One of the main characters, Adam Blade, possesses the strange ability to copy the powers of other Needless he comes in contact with (think Sharingan), and use them all at his leisure. Eve has the Doppleganger ability, and can take the form of others using either a picture, description, or by coming in contact with them. So far, we don't know much about Cruz (such as whether or not he may be a Needless but just doesn't know it yet), so for now, he plays the part of the currently-weak, developing character that might turn out to be more useful later on.

Throw in a couple of thought-provoking elements such as the Black Spot and Adam Arclight, and the stage is set for (potentially) a moderately interesting shounen.

ART: 8 (Very Good)

While the art isn't really top-notch, it's well done, and there's not much to complain about. Some found that in episode 2 the special attacks were rather bland, due to reused animation and the fact that each character took longer to "call out" their attack rather than to actually do it... But I found this little problem less obvious in episode 3. It seems like they cleaned up their act a bit. Episode 3 bumped up my judgement to "Very Good".

SOUND: 10 (Outstanding)

Let's face it, the OP rocks. I like the rock music played throughout other parts of the show as well. It's nice. I'm a bit WTF'd by the ED though, I actually find myself skipping past it every time due to it making my IQ take a temporary plunge, but I won't take points away for that... It's at the end anyway.

CHARACTER: 7 (Good)

It's about what I'd expect from a show of its genre. Each character has room to grow, so it has potential. I liked Adam right off the bat, and Eve is definitely doing a good job of keeping the show fun. I'm not partial to Cruz at all but maybe that will change. As I said, they have room to grow, but by the same token, they're nothing special at the moment.

ENJOYMENT: 9 (Great)

At the end of the day, I enjoy watching this show. This is not the kind of show I have to force myself to get to watching, unlike some other shows I'm watching at the moment (*cough* Haruhi S2 Endless Eight *cough*). Seeing Adam kick some ass, I'll admit, is mindless, plain-old fun. And you're always curious as to what Eve will do that episode. Curiosity is a big part of what keeps me coming back for more.

OVERALL: 7 (Good)

This show has room to grow, and for those of you who judged it after episode 2, at least give it one more. Episode 2 didn't sit well with me either particularly, but I found the third episode redeemed everything a little. And after all, who knows where it's really going yet?

I'll keep watching it for sure. I vastly prefer shows that are more thought-provoking, have deep stories, and well developed characters, but to be honest, this show is just fun in it's own way. Sometimes it's good to throw away the rules and rock out to some over-the-top action.

Go watch the OP. I bet that'll have some of you at least trying it out. read more

When I first watched Needless, I thought the first few seconds in "Blah blah blah, story line, narrating, etc..." But then out of nowhere, "WE'RE MODERN STRANGE COWBOYS!" The moment I heard this song, I knew I may just have found my new favorite anime. Which leads me to say this, the music and overall sound in this series is BEYOND AMAZING! Sound (10)

As for that "Blah blah blah, story line, narrating, etc..." it is pretty much the gist of the entire story. I suppose settings after World War III are pretty common and that the series is kind of like a mix of Scryed and Gurren Lagann, but I thought it had a little bit of Ikkitousen/DBZ/shonen-ish in general in the mix too. A bunch of fighting, ecchi, etc... I would definitely recommend those kind of series to anyone who may have liked this show as well. (Even if some of the mainstream shonen have extreme negative criticism from some audiences.) To summarize, even if Needless is doing what has already been done, It's doing it RIGHT. Story (10)

Having said that just now, I want my readers to know this. This series is NOT, I repeat, NOT the new Gurren Lagann. No, if anything, Gurren Lagann is the new NEEDLESS. The Needless manga started in 2004 and I know this is the anime page, but you have to understand that these concepts all first started here. Mostly, the art and character designs. (And characters in general.) We've got a pretty nice cast, a shota for all the fans of that out there, manly man for all the people who want their fill of "WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK I AM?!" and the girl who is pretty much the ecchi fan service until all the other girls show up. All of the characters are pretty unique in my opinion and all have their moment to shine. They're a group to be remembered, not just some random set of people that are like filler characters from Bleach or Naruto. Art/Animation (10) Characters (10)

However, the most important factor of this show, which I think really will determine whether or not you can go through with it entirely... Is the "Enjoyment" factor. I could say "Hey, I watch this show, and I love it!" But it's WAY more than that. I am over here, singing the OP each and every time I watch this, like some kind of weeaboo, raving with my friends at how awesome every single moment of this anime is. We'll be over here screaming "I'VE MEMORIZED IT!" "LITTLE BOY!!!" "EVE CANNON!" and it's just the most amazing experience I've ever had in my entire life. Seriously, if I had to say what my feelings were for Needless in a single sentence, it would be something like this.

"My Need for NEEDLESS is highest on my list of necessary necessities."

I'm sad just at the thought that this series has to end. My overall rating of this series and enjoyment is a 10/10 and if you can watch this, pushing aside just the minor little similiarties and "shonen-aspect" that this show gives off, you'll be able to let loose and enjoy this as much as I do.

BE SANITY!!! (Lol, Ayako, and their subbing errors. This was my first review by the way.) read more

I don't know about you, but I love this series more than I loved tengen toppa gurren lagann. I really didn't like the whole Chibi Mecha theme in Gurren Lagann. Anywho, this anime is EPIC in terms of story, characters and ACTION. I think this anime has it all: fan-service, epic fight, supernatural abilities, and ... blood and gore. If you were a fan of Gurren Lagann or even a fan of action genre-based animes, please do consider watching this series. I highly recommend it.

I feel this show hasn't been getting the love it deserves and I think the only way to rectify this is with a semi thought out and heartfelt review so here I go
(it's the first one I ever wrote so be gentle)

Story

Okay now get this
it's about bad ass muscle-bound lolicon loving mutant Priest dude
who lives in Japan after several countries decided to bomb them for some reason and so everyone got super powers.

He fights an evil organisation filled with other muscle-bound mutant dudes
and some hot 6 year olds girls who also have superpowers
this organisation also has a bunch of bad ass robots that hunt people down.

This priest right lives with a hot 14 year old chick who doesn't wear underwear and the bad guy from Mega man, one day on a typical days jogging for the bad ass priest he come across this green haired pussy kid who's being chased by one of the bad ass robots I mentioned earlier,so for some reason he decides to help out the loser and kicks the bad ass robots ass, the kid realising that this priest is totally awesome (something green haired kid could never hope to be)
decides to go live with the bad ass priest the hot 14 year old chick and the bad guy from mega man.

Then uh a bunch of cool an funny stuff happens

Art
I can't really say much about this since I don't know too much about it.

But it has really bright outlandish colours that look lovely and capture your eyes.
It has lovely character designs the characters look pretty distinct in their appearance so you can easily tell who is who though the rare few do look similar.

The settings and background art look very appealing,
and animation for the characters is fluid and well just great making many of
the fight scenes look amazing.

Animated by the people who made Death note it's about that level I would say.

Sound

The soundtrack is filled with rock and roll type stuff which gets you pretty pumped up which is a must for this kinda show.

The opening number
Space cowboy is probably of the coolest and I guess GARest openings your likely to hear.

It surprisingly features a couple of classical sounding pieces as well which seems a little weird for the show but does not at all feel out of place.

Characters

Lets see you got

Bad ass awesome priest with lolicon fetish
Bad ass awesome hot chick with big rack
Green haired pussy kid (you can ignore him)
Dr dude from Mega man
and group of other mostly bad ass characters
who would take forever to mention,
most of the characters are cool and awesome basically.

Enjoyment

If I could give a million points for this I would
before warned though
only awesome people who like awesome things will like this
So watch it now
or else

btw

show = awesome



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This is a story about a lone survivor from a revolutionary group who meets up with a priest and a crazy woman, in a turbulent time where fragments give super powers to humans. They are known as the needless.
Upon seeing the opening sequence of this anime I thought it had potential, I liked the music they chose and the intensity I felt from it. Deeper into the episode I realized I had just been played. It felt like you got set up for a blind date by your friend and see this fine ass woman walking your way and she moves closer to your table and then... walks away revealing the real blind date partner, Joe Jonas.

Story:
It's the kind of mediocre drivel you shut your brain off for and just stare at the screen. It tries to be deep, witty and humorous but fails on many levels. For starters the main character Cruz is referred to as Yamada. Maybe the joke doesn't translate into English well, but still it can't have been all that funny in japanese either. The episodes are usually like this 12 minutes of bad humor and plot a short fight with some bad Engrish and low creativity, which results in the main characters win. What? Basic laws of logic and physics are just trampled on by the battle sequences.

Art:
It's been compared to Gurren Lagann's art, but it's far inferior. It's just a cheap imitation. The lines aren't smooth and the movements seem unnatural. It has constant fanservice, although the main character doesn't even have panties, she wears a fundoshi. And the tits are so over sized, and unappealing. They take up the entire screen at times. The background and colors don't really portray the mood, they are too flashy. Why the fuck is it so bright in a place called Black Spot?

Sound:
Voice acting is ok, the songs are good, the engrish is a plenty, I don't think that the writers took much thought in the attack names, I think when they thought them up, they took an english dictionary, flipped to a random page took the first word, and then flipped to another page and found the second part. One of the attacks is called Little Boy. It's a flaming punch. What do little boys and fire have in common?

Character:
The characters are completely unoriginal.
They stole Eve from Black Cat and ruined her.The priest is like Kamina from Gurren Lagann. There can only be one Kamina >:( . Cruz is the weak little punk who's everyone's bitch. And then there's some doctor Wily looking mother fucker who doesn't seem to play a big role.

Overall:
Not worth picking up, unless you just want to make fun of how bad it is.

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Ever since Kenshiro informed Zeed and his gang they were already dead, the badass traveling a post-apocalyptic wasteland (shirts optional) looking for ass to kick has been a staple of anime, to the point that nowadays it's almost always a parody.

Needless continues the trend of parodying the genre, by including something almost all anime seem to have nowadays, moe fanservice.

STORY: Overall the story is nothing special, it's the same thing we've seen before. The action tends to be done fairly well, albeit usually fairly one sided. The only thing that holds it back from being a 7 is the tendency to needlessly (pun intended) take time to throw in fanservice. I'm not referring to panty shots or jiggle, that's almost expected nowadays, I'm talking about taking a full 24 minute episode to slowly undress the "Pretty Girl Squad" with only the actual plot development in about 90 seconds at the end. Hopefully they won't pull something like that again.

ART: The character designs themselves are good, they just seem out of place. Adam Blade looks like he belongs, but most of the other characters have designs more fitting for Romantic Comedies like Asu No Yoichi.

SOUND: Nothing to complain about here, the OP is very good, the ED while a bit out of place is rather catchy, and as I've said, Needless covers it's action fairly well, including BGM. The voices all work, the only thing they need to work on is attack names, they seem a bit random, but that's more a script issue.

CHARACTER: The characters are for the most part fairly good. Adam Blade's lolicon tendencies are rather entertaining. And as lolworthy as the existence of a "Pretty Girl Squad" is the members are rather likeable and the loli actually makes sense as a "cute bruiser" type rather than just fetish fuel. The only pointless one is Cruz, who is so useless to anything no one even cares to remember his name.

ENJOYMENT: The series grew on me after a couple episodes, it's definitely fun to watch, it just has a few facepalm moments here and there that detract from the series.

OVERALL: Needless is worth watching. If you aren't really a moe fetishist and are more a straight up action fan you should probably give it a few episodes to try to let the intial anachronism feeling wear off. I'll probably end up giving the series a 7 or an 8 when I finish read more

No need to watch more than 2 episodes to write a review cause nothing's gonna change I bet.

Story 5/10
Nothing too special.Well,it could've been smething good so that's what 5 stands for.But that was only to get this going cause later on it doesn't even focus on it.Just battles and other stuff.

Art 6/10
Doesn't impress me,it's okay.The characters' design isn't so unique,something we all have seen.Actually their designs remind me of Yu-Gi-Oh,but nevermind.Neither the battles are impressive,just some punches and kicks.

Sound 7/10
I personally like the sound,the OP is nice and the ED is cute and offers a lot of fanservice at the same time.The music during the anime is also good but not something that'll catch your attention.

Character 6/10
They are kind of shallow,okay...a lot.But I can see some character development in the main character.There is some kind of change in Cruz between ep.1 and 2,in my opinion but you barely notice.

Enjoyment 7/10
I did enjoy it cause I wanted something to get my mind off of some things bothering me.So I believe this is ideal if you just want to waste some time,or light entertainment.

Overall 6/10
Cause the "Story" progresses way too fast.If you beat every strong enemy in each episode then I see this ending fast.Or later trying to force it to 12-13 episodes with fillers or stupid plots.

Let me know your thoughts on my review. read more

an extreme shounen an annoying whiny main character a badass preacher and a very stupid but cute and barely dressed female lead. seen 3 episodes so far its seems fairly cliche in story line but im loving the ridicules fights and the ending sequence