Jul 9, 2011 9:24 AM
Honey and Clover, Azumanga Daioh, Fruits Basket REVIEWS
Anime Relations:
Hachimitsu to Clover, Fruits Basket
Ctronl + F for Azumagna and Fruits
HONEY AND CLOVER
Real life is hard to animate. Several anime have made attempts, but most have failed because the “realism” extends to setting alone or because the anime insists on recording every bland nuance that someone can relate to. Real life is boring and Honey and Clover never let me forget it. Honey and Clover is a journal, chronicling the uninteresting lives of a couple of average and ordinary people. It’s supposed to be melancholy, subdued, and even heartbreaking, but it only turns out as mundane, monotonous, boring, and dull. I find this slow paced and eventless…. sometimes life can seem that way or maybe it just is.
Through some prodding from my friend I watched this anime. All I can say was oh yeah, I was right, I don't like this anime. For a second, I thought that this anime must be really-really good since it's rated so high~
The story of how if I need to explain further then imagine minami-ke or lucky star or whatever other slice of life anime you like but not as funny and a lot more pointless.
Though some may argue that anime in the "slice of life" genre need not have a plot, there should at least be something going on that keeps the anime feeling fresh and dynamic. Each episode drags, and each character repetitiously does whatever antic the creators assigned to him to make him seem more "unique." The girls whine endlessly, the guys angst and nothing ever really moves forward. Though the writers did make an effort to include two separate storylines, neither one ever goes anywhere. Instead, the characters spend a lot of time crying, suffering, internalizing their problems and staring at the sky or out of a window while music plays in the background. Occasionally, the endless boredom is interrupted by something genuinely beautiful or moving, but without fail the mood is shattered by ill-timed and badly conceived attempts at humor.
Honey and Clover is not a great anime; it is a decent one that manages to have the occasional great moment. All in all, your average slice-of-life/romance anime which tries to be clever by introducing motifs and ideas into the anime which are either too superficial or subtle for the average viewer to comprehend. It's lacking in many areas, and in the end, the anime is very much like reading a book in which there are pages upon pages of dull material… yet the final paragraphs are always excellent and worth reading.
I call this a "pathetic" anime. Pathetic in the sense that the characters you grow accustomed to are at their lowest, pathetic if you will. Perhaps they were designed so that you would feel sorry for them. That makes sense right? I mean, I guess that's why it's a feel-good anime, because of the fact that you know you're better than them? Heys, it worked for Welcome to the NHK! in a way~
Or perhaps it is just the demographics. Maybe it was made for the female viewers to feel sorry for the male characters. This sums up the value of the anime, right there. Instead of somehow making it more accessible to everyone, they closed this anime off to the girls and pansies.
Story -
The beginning was okay like over-the-top comedy which is actually funny, and pretty good introductions for all the characters. The start definitely gives the impression that they've actually done something new with this anime. But once the series gets going, old jokes get recycled, and the comedy just vanishes. But as the story goes I kept seeing the same kind of things, and it became dead boring. Needlessly to say, the best parts were the comedy since the drama-romance parts did nothing for me. The humor of the series is silly and tries to force the viewer to laugh but is at the same time it comes out from the warmth and interaction of the characters.
If I were to judge Honey to Clover solely by its outrageous opening theme, I would have ignored the show completely. I delved into the anime further, however, to find that the story is nearly non-existent. Each episode begins nearly the same way: When this formula isn’t being executed, the show is either pushing half-baked comedy (mostly centering on Morita’s antics or the vapid interactions between the characters) or indulging in introspective monologue. To the anime’s credit, sometimes the comedy hits the mark (that Twister episode was like fun), but most of the time, it… doesn’t.
Every episode, we just get to see a snapshot of a daily life of the characters. With each new episode the story will most likely change a little, but the characters will through their relationships and as well as introspectively. But you know, that's not a story, especially when the characters spend half the screen time talking in their heads. Indeed, each of them are unique in a realistic scenario, but all together, it is just so BLAND. For example, during the beginning every episode consists of the same repeat of stuff
It might be argued that the story is meant to be realistic as possible with true down-to-earth dilemmas. True, it does do that, but because of that I really found each episode to be a bore.
More importantly, it's all about the ferris wheels and bicycles!
Honey and Clover features some recurring motifs which are just too superficial and/or subtle for the average viewer to address. There's the recurring image of a Ferris Wheel, and SOMEHOW, the story centers around this confusing theme. Ferris wheels, man. What the crap. But if you think that's ridiculous, you'll love the question Takemoto asks himself every two episodes, the "How far can I go until I stop?" speech which gives a flashback to a scene where a young Takemoto is shown riding his bike until the flashback ends. This happens way too regularly and it's just exhausted...
The timeline that assigns each episode leaps literally by months in between, yet does not stay consistent in length, marginalizing the framework of the plot development and confuses viewers. As one episode features a winter festival in a shopping arcade, the next unfolds with a cruise trip in the spring. It becomes tempting to attribute any semblance of realism to the proceedings that whatever the issues that consternated characters would have been resolved during the substantial amount of time allotted between episodes. Sadly or reassuringly, they remain relatively the same, dragging down the plot overall in spite of the passage of time. Despite the transitory nature of the setting, events and characters are rather ham-handedly manipulated to keep the relationships static and stagnant.
I can't believe this story spanned several years. Nothing happens! Wait, Takemoto gets a hair cut.
There's some depressing romance stuff that doesn't go anywhere. Some lovey dovey stuff, nothing hot or steamy though. This series is going for the realistic approach or something, or the literary kind of approach anyway. Yeah yeah...it just sucked, didn't draw me in at all. I never cared what happened to anyone or what the next ep was about. I think each ep did at least contribute something though. So the romantic aspects fell short for me.
Although full of thoughts that most anyone can relate to- unrequited love, disillusionment, and individuality- it is dryly executed. For example, Hagu should have been the most dynamic character (for all the other characters seem drawn to her), but she is never fully explored, and ends up as only the typically underdeveloped kid used for the occasional comic relief. You don't feel the depth of the emotions that they portray on screen. I personally couldn't feel any emotion when watching them. After all, how can you take those weird expressions seriously.
The anime's only strong point is the style of execution.
CHARACTERS - I guess a little spoilery, but the anime just goes on and on about whatever triangle so in a way... don't really think it's that
Every every characters in this anime have their own personalities, but not all of them are interesting! I was not impressed by the characters. None of them really memorable, except maybe one, well this is "realistic" so they're expected to be ordinary and all that.... Characters change slightly in appearance over the course of the series. Big deal. They're all ugly no matter what. They're annoying with flaws or weaknesses that will piss you off. Pissed me off anyway. The characters in this anime show no driving force or motivation.
Although it boasted romance, I found the characters annoying and thus the plot had very little impact on me. Personally for me, I cannot relate to the chracters, not in the slightest. Now, here's where the turd hits the fan. A love triangle I mean....why? WHY?! That's where they TRIED to be different but gave in to the cliché romance plots.
AND, everything with Takemoto was awful. His life was uninteresting and his love triangle was a joke. Despite his excellent monologues, he is a bland narrator and an even blander protagonist; his journey of self-discovery didn’t reach me, and this character is so dry. He would fit right in in a harem show. He is your typical shy, introverted nice guy. Without the handful of beautiful girls throwing themselves at him, he gets lost and doesn't know what to do. He spends most of the show confused. Pretty boring guy.
Perhaps you have to be a 19 year old adolescent with a bike to understand his feelings. I wouldn't know, I don't have a bike.
The anime centers around the previously mentioned "pathetic" 19 year old, the King of Adolescence. Unable to express himself to his friends, he decides to take a journey and we follow him (unwillingly) and watch him grow as he travels. But he doesn't, and he's still the same once he returns, and we, the viewer, feel that we've just wasted our time (which we did for watching this wretched anime).
Unfortunately we get to hear him whine the most about everything from jobs to romance. Pansy boy who can't AND he doesn't mention exactly how Maybe he is
There were parts of interest when the story depicted something other than the main character, Takemoto. Almost every time the story depicted Takemoto, the flow of the events became annoying because of his whiny, depressive personality combined with the notion "I just need to sit, whine and everyone will come to support me". I'd rather not want to see the Takemoto character ever again. Therefore, this whole anime as well.
Continuing on, you've got a ladies-man/player who got caught up in another Then you've got an over-the-top final-year student who's
good at understanding the feelings of others but is unable to express himself (how the hell...?). He often he doesn't get as much air-time as the other characters. In a sense, he is the most under-developed character since in the scenes where he IS present, he does exactly the same things as he did in the last time he was present.
Hagu looks like a little hamster who really doesn't know how to do anything and who has no clue as to what is going on. She's painful to look at, and she's immature, selfish, naive. She pissed me off when she had screen time. She's an autistic girl (now, no-one's said that she's autistic before, but it all comes together when you see her talk. I mean, all artists have some mental inhibitation which gives them the ability to make trippy paintings which sell for tens of thousands of dollars, right?). Well, she's a loli and apparently, the center of a love triangle. I mean, what's so attractive about an autistic loli? I could not stand how these people kept saying how cute she was or whatever when she clearly was not. I don't get why everyone is going crazy over this tiny girl since she's annoying. She's a brat, period. Hagu's character is questionable at best.
When she was introduced, I was like "little girl". Then it was revealed
She acts like a child, looks like a child, and sounds like a child. tell me again why 2 or 3 grown men are in love with her? lolita complex? if hagumi never existed these 3 fellows could be convicted sex offenders in 10-20 years (of course, in their world).
Next, we have the other triangle. Mayama is a really nice guy so I understand why Ayu loves him but hey didn't explain WHY she loves him so much. mayama is a pretty boring character. he has one thing on his mind: rika. It gets pretty repetitive...him thinking about her. And they didn't explain why Mayama continues to pursue Rika even though she's not interested. yamada actually likes this boring mayama. she doesn't even know why. exactly. again, through out the anime we get to see her talk about why she wants him and how important... blah blah blah. So I just couldn't get myself to care... Romance isn't even in the question, it's more like just figuring out the basic kinks like why the hell does _ like _ in the first place.
Only character I really liked was Morita just because he was funny. I can't take this eccentric character seriously. He's easily the best character in the series who's used as a zany way to make you laugh. It is obvious that there is more to him than meets the eye, but the anime never gave me an idea of what the hell is going on inside his head. Morita's nonstop wackiness is utterly unbelievable, ruining any serious moments involving him and casting doubt on Hagu due to her infatuation with him. Ultimately, he's only there for comic relief...
The other characters aren’t worth mentioning; they’re either too zany, too dry, or too cute. Bunch of annoying fools. And if they are none of the above, they disappear in the middle of the show.
Yes the characters are in love and supposedly that means I would want to see what happens but I didn't care because I didn't care for the characters. Because Honey and Clover relies on the charisma of its characters, if the characters fail to draw in the audience (in this case, me) then the entire anime will fall on its face.
Ultimately, they want you to empathize with at least once character so that you can compare yourself to them and then evaluate your life, right? With such unique and inaccessible characters, they won't let you.
ANIMATION
This is probably the reason why everything else was lacking.
Instead of improving the plot/character designs and whatnot, you've got overdone and over-polished animation. Not that it's a bad thing, but with such a lackluster plot, do you really need to put so much effort into the animation?
OPs and EDs had lots of live action shots, never a good sign IMO. But anyways, I thought the opening was rather innovative - featuring an assortment of hilariously twisted/grotesque food-related items.
The animation is great, different with a sort of washed out effect with all the blending and such. The animation is unique being excessively bright andhazyfor some reason- giving it a soft, gentle, dream-like atmosphere. It wasn't pale, nor it look like a amateur's work. The animation's actually pretty good and rather detailed.
The scenery in Honey and Clover is crisp and polished. The water textures and the skies in every scene have been rendered by the animators, so you can see for yourself that they have put in a lot of effort in that department.
However, the art is absolutely horrid! The drawing style was incredibly annoying but perhaps realistic. But the character designs. Um....yeah. The characters... it is almost as if they are undeserving of the beautifully done scenery they run around in. Maybe it's just the style of the designs of the characters, but the way the characters were drawn just irks me. Man I've never seen such ugly anime girls. Unfortunately, lots of the characters look like bugs, they are just disgusting. Many of the guys looked really similar except for maybe a slightly different hair color. I'll flat out say that the characters look ugly. their eyes bother me most of the time. and their mouths look like they belong on a fish, big and wide. that's on their serious expressions. the "pretty" female characters aren't so pretty. The series tried to "over-beautify" one of the characters at the begining of the series, but all that shininess made her look, well, plastic.
D:
Seen that smiley before? That's what the main character pulls off every episode. I'm not even joking, that's his most used facial expression. They have such silly looking comedical faces on half the time.
SOUND
I thought the OP was a joke at first. like Mikuru singing in the first episode of Haruhi... surely? But no , it's for reals and the OP is so lousy I couldn't listen to more than 5 seconds of it without going nuts.They picked some girl with the worst voice you can imagine. I could sing a better OP, I swear.
Music doesn't really fall into any genre, maybe emo, just like this series is emo. Since all the insert songs are done by two artists, you'll find them a bit repetitive, and they happen too frequently. About every second episode has an insert song. But still, I liked the inserts of songs during the middle of episodes.
The opening and ending match the anime though. I like the song Waltz (ending song) and sometimes they timed it very well with the story for a good, effective ending.
Takemoto had an annoying, whiny voice which matched his personality. His voice enhanced the pathetic portrayal of that 19 year old, low self-esteemed, effeminate emo.
Morita's VA was good and the rest is okay.
LAST
Well, if you don't like life animes, you might want to try provided: you have high "boring" tolerance. If you do like life animes or j-dramas or k-dramas this is a MUST WATCH. Or if you're the artsy fartsy type maybe you'll like it for it's creative value. I DID NOT LIKE IT. Lots of other people seem to enjoy it so you might be a part of that happy majority. I cannot however and thus, cannot recommend it to anyone.
I just couldn't bring myself to enjoy it. I'll never watch this again. Of course, some will undoubtedly find it charming and unique. Others, like myself, will find it frustratingly dull, filled with pointless melodic interludes and get fed up with the repetitive angsting. This anime is far from groundbreaking.
I'd just recommend NANA over this, which is similar in that it's realistic, romance, comedy, drama except I loved it instead of being bored by it. I don't think I was ever bored when I was watching NANA. Plus it's steamier and longer~
oh and a little excerpt (is that the correct word??) from a review I read online
原作は読んでいないのですが、家族が見ていたため眺めるように視聴していたアニメ。そう、「眺めるように見るアニメ」です。
近眼の私がメガネ無しでみていても、メガネをかけまで見たいと思えない作品でした。登場人物には詳しくありませんが、「どいつもこいつも男女関係なく、ウジウジしたコッパずかしいポエムの朗読(?)ばっかしてんなぁ…」と言うのが、率直な感想です。
やや個人的な見方ですが、当時デザイン学校で課題地獄に溺れ、睡眠障害に苦渋していた私には、「あ゛り゛え゛ね゛ぇ゛よ゛…」と断末魔のような感想しか持てませんでした。
この浮世ばなれした世界観が好みの方には良いかも知れませんが、登場人物に近い立場だった者には本当に絵空事にしかみえない作品でした。
作品自体はピンポイントな層には良い作品かも知れませんが、なぜこんなに世間一般に広くウケたのかが不思議です。
視聴したタイミングが悪かったのかも知れません。「とても悪い」と評価致します。
one point he made was that design school is not as easy/full of fun fun fun as the anime makes it seem out to be... he said he goes to/went to design school and he had to go without sleep from all the assginments from the design schoool. he hates hhow unrealistic the anime is in that sense.
AZUMANGA DAIOH
This anime is EXTREMELY overrated. Like it's so ridiculously popular and everywhere I read people go "Oh this is funny but it's NOWHERE near as funny as azumanga daioh. Since comedy is subjective – what one person finds funny, another won’t. This anime isn't for everyone so [PLEASE] give up after a few episodes if you find it boring-dull-etc, there's no point watching every episode of whatever anime that's ridiculously popular unless you yourself actually like it (especially this one because there's no plot).
There is no story, period. But that's not important because this is a comedy anime and all that's important is that it's actually funny and fun. I must first mention the pacing of this anime, it's VERY slow, as in really EXTREMELY boring. Well it is slice of life but still, but if you LOVE slice of life perhaps that's fine. The formula they abuse and pound into the ground is: they do a joke, it's lame probably and not that funny, and then they do a long long long silence with the characters staring out to the side or something. The thing is the joke or the awkward thing usually isn't even that interesting or shocking as they make it out to be with these long silences which I would guess they put in since they're deluded that someone will actually laugh uncontrobally for 2 minutes straight at that joke... The anime has lots of moments like this where it's so dragged out you feel like ripping your hair out, or you already fell asleep so the mentioned doesn't apply. The dragging out "moments" of silence are just excruciating and really pointless, cheap maybe... I actually read somewhere of someone who thought this show was "fast-paced" (笑 LOL 笑) because every episode is consisted 4 parts, each being 5 minutes but honestly I was so bored I didn't even notice? In fact I didn't even realize this show takes place over a span of time of their high school years, well they look the same... jeez.
I can watch a crazy anime with no plot but this anime isn't even funny. I understand the jokes, randomness, and humor it's just that the jokes fall short of anything funny. Most of the jokes left me with a faint smile at most. The jokes are not laugh out funny and honestly they're just childish, simple, and sometimes dumb (there's nothing clever or brilliant). To me laugh out of funny means funny so therefore I do not think this anime is funny. The jokes are clean, the whole anime is clean, you know those new ones with the fan-service and ehhh-ughh but I've seen clean anime that are funnier/actually funny/even hilarious so it's not too significant or much of a merit.
What's more is that you eventually start predicting the jokes just from the set-up or from the sheer repetition or from the boredom with the long silences. Maybe some of the jokes worked the first time or second time to the point of mildly amusing but they repeat it and it whatever joke soon becomes even less amusing and possibly annoying.
I do appreciate the randomness of this anime but it works sometimes and I do enjoy those parts. Sometimes it's lame and/or dragged out and/or trying too hard, repeated, and if it works it makes the anime amusing/nice slice of life and keeps it at bay for that moment from sleep-inducing boring.
Overall, there is literally one or two episodes and maybe a couple of moments from other eps that are possibly amusing enough to be enjoyed.
The anime relies solely on it characters but even so the characters seem a little cliche and flat, like the dumb one, smart one, athletic one, etc. But nontheless they're all right overall because they are likable and distinct, even Tomo for me. Tomo, I see why people hate her but I think she keeps it real. Osaka at times is good and the jokes work with her sometimes and that kimura-sensei is awesome compared to anything in this anime - probably the most interesting thing out of this whole anime, he really made this anime more enjoyable (by that I mean, he keeps me awake). Those two characters are the ones that are genuine sometimes and close to actually funny at times.Yukari-sensei was just trying way too hard and I don't know what that other teacher's name was... Honestly, the characters sometimes seemed boring and annoying because of the slow-pacing and that they weren't doing much to make it move forward if they were trying too hard to be funny which is a really big turn-off for me.
Of course there's not much character development if any or depth since there is no plot but like I said it's about the anime actually being funny. But it is sorta annoying and pointless that the same things happen to the characters and they react to it the same way however many times they repeat it.
The animation is below average. It's clean, simple and sort of dull but it fits really well with the anime.
The BGM was okay, but some of the BGM got annoying eventually. But more significantly was the lack of BGM, like I mentioned about those moments of silence, I really think there's more silence then actual BGM. To me moments of silence = silent treatment so I in a way I felt insulted, in all sarcasm... creepy....
It's not enjoyable overall. It was a waste of time for me. From all the raving, buzz, popularity etc you'd think it would be the most fun/enjoyable/hilarious/etc anime ever in the whole wide world and it's just not. So don't wait for it to get amazingly hilarous, it doesn't... Or if you find it hilarious and whatnot then go for it, watch all them episodes.
However, I liked Ichigo Mashimaro & Minami-ke which is similar with the slice of life, comedy, no plot, bunch of girls, but I wasn't bored to death by them as I was with Azumanga Daioh but was actually genuinely amused and had some laughs so I recommend those instead of Azumanga if you wanna see a slice of life/comedy.
Or if you want to watch a hilarious anime that will actually make you laugh out loud but has less than 5% of the popularity of azumanga daioh: akazukin cha cha. also jungle wa itsumo hale nochi guu which is actually random. I don't consider azumanga daioh random at all actually. I mean compared to Jungle wa itsumo hale nochi guu or cha cha or any other actually funny comedy series, especially the former, it's just not...
Fruits Basket
The premise behind the story isn't original and there really isn't much story to this anime.
It's chock full of uninteresting, repetitive humor and pointless character clashes. Also, a large number of boring, long, pointless dialogue sequences plague it throughout.
Fruits Basket has a nice message and so it WAS nice at times. I'd say 3 or 4 out of the 26 I actually enjoyed/felt something and maybe a couple moments from a couple other episodes.
Here are the problems: no plot really, fillers, boring, slow-paced, formulaic, not that funny
NO PLOT
The story is horrible because there was none to begin with. While I did enjoy this anime during a couple of the episodes, I felt that it was seriously lacking in the story and character department. It felt as if we were going in a circle, the "story" just did not move enough, it was just static and it felt the same all the way through. The further along I got, the more I felt like I was wasting my time and the last episode proved it. The ending which this series has is very irrevelant to the story itself. Out of no where "something" is revealed and almost nothing is solved. The ending was like... that's the end... It leaves the viewer in disgust and in disappointment. It leaves the view wondering in anger. What was the point in watching it in the first place?
FILLERS / BORING / SLOW-PACED
I was incredibly bored every minute I was watching it. It is a struggle for me to finish most of these episodes. I did not really find them interesting or enjoy their interaction. They just talk all day long that it becomes boring and there are also times when what they're talking about is just pointless. There are some awful fillers that have absolutely nothing to do with anything and aren't interesting in any way.
There was no way I could watch to episode 26, especially after hearing that the anime ending has no closure but I did and I regret it. Don't you hate it when animes do nothing for 90% of the episodes, and then, like, 3 episodes to the end, they make up some sort of convoluted plot, and the resolution of THAT story is considered the end of the show. I've seen it done way too much, and it's stupid. The end is badly paced, under-explained, just lame and stupid (I felt stupid for watching it... No seriously, it was like watching Wedding Peach and that says something... You know as much as I hated/loved wedding peach wnen I was 6.)
FORMULAIC
Every character had a tragic past that they needed to overcome, and I just got tired of watching the same sequence of events
There are so many characters, and Tohru can only be in one place at a time. Most of the episodes had very similar plots since the characters are similar... There are some touching moments/episodes, but sometimes they're like deliberate. I got the feeling they were trying too hard to make sad stories for the characters that it ended feeling contrived, so I didn't really feel much at all for the characters in question.
While usually the emotional moments are okay, some tend to be dragged out WAY too long, it was sickening.
NOT FUNNY
It "tries" to be funny, and sometimes way too hard. I'd say Furuba is mostly-lighthearted anime with light-hearted comedy. Honestly, there were comedy elements that I didn't like at all. The antics of ~plot spoiler~ is funny to an extent but it's sorta becomes cheap after they repeat you know for the god knows how many times and just that antic itself. But in the latter half of the series, it turns into a drama. But while it's trying to be dramatic all of a sudden, bits of comedy show up and prevent you from taking the drama seriously. Also, the setup itself from the start with Tohru's living circumstance just bothers me because it's plot-holed, unconvicing and seems to have been put there solely for comedic effect (and it wasn't funny...).
CHARACTER
It seems that many of the characters seem to have "special" feelings for another but nothing happens. However most of the characters are likable, if a little annoying during the "comedy" moments. Actually they're annoying because they are the SAME throughout the series. I never felt any of the characters grow. Yuki and Kyou just keep on fighting and it gets old very fast, I wanted them to just kill each other by the end of the anime. SO there's no romance... maybe a little fluff
Only 2 or 3 episodes made me actually feel something for the characters. Furthermore, many of the character reactions were unrealistic and not consistent with their personality. I have this feeling that they forced the characters' behaviors/reactions/thoughts too much and it made it hard to get into it.
But anyway, you hardly get to really know them with the slow- no progression- no plot circumstances. More and more of these characters are introduced later in the series. It's almost as though it is building up to something. But then it doesn't go anywhere. It's almost as if the time spent with these less important characters was wasted and would have been better spent with the characters you're already familiar with. But even so, many of the characters ended up with only a few sentences of development. The characters could have been given appropriate screen time instead wasting time on stale- pointless dialogue.
All the character's have a similar story. they all either act To sum up the characters, you have boys dressing as girls, or people with anger management problems and you have to feel sorry for them. There's at least 1 Sohma that is just completely cliche, over-the-top, trying way too hard, not funny, and just lame.
Tohru
Too bad the main character is so awful, and takes away from the anime so much.
She is one of those main characters that is overused, cliché, and found in any anime.
She is very dumb, dense, unimpressive, crappy, unrealistic, ridiculously too kind and never gets angry, constantly smiles. We are supposed to identify with and empathize with her?
I can't take "let's save the world with a totally depthless, clumsy, naive and dumb girl. Let's inadvertently fix everyone's broken hearts, souls and sad past with this personality of someone inhumanely nice. Tohru is annoying most of the time with her lack of thought pissing me off often. I understand that she is in a mental distress since ~spoiler~, but this anime did not address that very well so I don't feel guilty saying this.
SOUND
Overall, the music was average. The OP was calming and fits with the show. Each character has his or her music theme that represents their personality. The BMG was nice and the ending song is okay and fitting. My only complaint is that they used the opening theme as BGM in a lot of the episodes cause that's cheesy...
Voice acting was good, though sometimes when the characters try to sound emotionally broken etc, they end up sounding ovserly flat and apathetic instead, as if slowly learning to read from a script.
ANIMATION
There are times when I couldn't believe that there are so many freaking scenes with the fuzzy background, and for some reason a slight breeze is going through someone's hair to emphasize how beautiful they are, or a romantic scene, etc. It's just like...
Fruits Basket has huge eyes and that kiddy style animation made the drama even less serious. Character designs are of the typical big-eyed cuteness kind we've all seen so many times before.The style of animation just hurts the show overall. Plus there was horrific overuse of the super deformed style, which I disliked to begin with.
I don't think the "animals" are cute at all, why do people say that, they just look cheap like a simple shape and 2 dots for eyes.
SO
Don't feel the need to go out of the way to watch this one. I will never recommend this series to anyone, especially a male. I only watched this series because people gave it such high ratings, but it turned out to be a REALLY overrated. This show reminds me of Full Moon cause they're both overrated has some really big flaws, awful main character but even so I think Full Moon is better because of its redeeming last arc. At least that anime "ended" and actually has a "plot" no matter how filler-marathon it was.
HONEY AND CLOVER
Real life is hard to animate. Several anime have made attempts, but most have failed because the “realism” extends to setting alone or because the anime insists on recording every bland nuance that someone can relate to. Real life is boring and Honey and Clover never let me forget it. Honey and Clover is a journal, chronicling the uninteresting lives of a couple of average and ordinary people. It’s supposed to be melancholy, subdued, and even heartbreaking, but it only turns out as mundane, monotonous, boring, and dull. I find this slow paced and eventless…. sometimes life can seem that way or maybe it just is.
Through some prodding from my friend I watched this anime. All I can say was oh yeah, I was right, I don't like this anime. For a second, I thought that this anime must be really-really good since it's rated so high~
The story of how
Though some may argue that anime in the "slice of life" genre need not have a plot, there should at least be something going on that keeps the anime feeling fresh and dynamic. Each episode drags, and each character repetitiously does whatever antic the creators assigned to him to make him seem more "unique." The girls whine endlessly, the guys angst and nothing ever really moves forward. Though the writers did make an effort to include two separate storylines, neither one ever goes anywhere. Instead, the characters spend a lot of time crying, suffering, internalizing their problems and staring at the sky or out of a window while music plays in the background. Occasionally, the endless boredom is interrupted by something genuinely beautiful or moving, but without fail the mood is shattered by ill-timed and badly conceived attempts at humor.
Honey and Clover is not a great anime; it is a decent one that manages to have the occasional great moment. All in all, your average slice-of-life/romance anime which tries to be clever by introducing motifs and ideas into the anime which are either too superficial or subtle for the average viewer to comprehend. It's lacking in many areas, and in the end, the anime is very much like reading a book in which there are pages upon pages of dull material… yet the final paragraphs are always excellent and worth reading.
I call this a "pathetic" anime. Pathetic in the sense that the characters you grow accustomed to are at their lowest, pathetic if you will. Perhaps they were designed so that you would feel sorry for them. That makes sense right? I mean, I guess that's why it's a feel-good anime, because of the fact that you know you're better than them? Heys, it worked for Welcome to the NHK! in a way~
Or perhaps it is just the demographics. Maybe it was made for the female viewers to feel sorry for the male characters. This sums up the value of the anime, right there. Instead of somehow making it more accessible to everyone, they closed this anime off to the girls and pansies.
Story -
The beginning was okay like over-the-top comedy which is actually funny, and pretty good introductions for all the characters. The start definitely gives the impression that they've actually done something new with this anime. But once the series gets going, old jokes get recycled, and the comedy just vanishes. But as the story goes I kept seeing the same kind of things, and it became dead boring. Needlessly to say, the best parts were the comedy since the drama-romance parts did nothing for me. The humor of the series is silly and tries to force the viewer to laugh but is at the same time it comes out from the warmth and interaction of the characters.
If I were to judge Honey to Clover solely by its outrageous opening theme, I would have ignored the show completely. I delved into the anime further, however, to find that the story is nearly non-existent. Each episode begins nearly the same way:
Every episode, we just get to see a snapshot of a daily life of the characters. With each new episode the story will most likely change a little, but the characters will through their relationships and as well as introspectively. But you know, that's not a story, especially when the characters spend half the screen time talking in their heads. Indeed, each of them are unique in a realistic scenario, but all together, it is just so BLAND. For example, during the beginning every episode consists of the same repeat of stuff
It might be argued that the story is meant to be realistic as possible with true down-to-earth dilemmas. True, it does do that, but because of that I really found each episode to be a bore.
More importantly, it's all about the ferris wheels and bicycles!
Honey and Clover features some recurring motifs which are just too superficial and/or subtle for the average viewer to address. There's the recurring image of a Ferris Wheel, and SOMEHOW, the story centers around this confusing theme. Ferris wheels, man. What the crap. But if you think that's ridiculous, you'll love the question Takemoto asks himself every two episodes, the "How far can I go until I stop?" speech which gives a flashback to a scene where a young Takemoto is shown riding his bike until the flashback ends. This happens way too regularly and it's just exhausted...
The timeline that assigns each episode leaps literally by months in between, yet does not stay consistent in length, marginalizing the framework of the plot development and confuses viewers. As one episode features a winter festival in a shopping arcade, the next unfolds with a cruise trip in the spring. It becomes tempting to attribute any semblance of realism to the proceedings that whatever the issues that consternated characters would have been resolved during the substantial amount of time allotted between episodes. Sadly or reassuringly, they remain relatively the same, dragging down the plot overall in spite of the passage of time. Despite the transitory nature of the setting, events and characters are rather ham-handedly manipulated to keep the relationships static and stagnant.
I can't believe this story spanned several years. Nothing happens! Wait, Takemoto gets a hair cut.
There's some depressing romance stuff that doesn't go anywhere. Some lovey dovey stuff, nothing hot or steamy though. This series is going for the realistic approach or something, or the literary kind of approach anyway. Yeah yeah...it just sucked, didn't draw me in at all. I never cared what happened to anyone or what the next ep was about. I think each ep did at least contribute something though. So the romantic aspects fell short for me.
Although full of thoughts that most anyone can relate to- unrequited love, disillusionment, and individuality- it is dryly executed. For example, Hagu should have been the most dynamic character (for all the other characters seem drawn to her), but she is never fully explored, and ends up as only the typically underdeveloped kid used for the occasional comic relief. You don't feel the depth of the emotions that they portray on screen. I personally couldn't feel any emotion when watching them. After all, how can you take those weird expressions seriously.
The anime's only strong point is the style of execution.
CHARACTERS - I guess a little spoilery, but the anime just goes on and on about whatever triangle so in a way... don't really think it's that
Every every characters in this anime have their own personalities, but not all of them are interesting! I was not impressed by the characters. None of them really memorable, except maybe one, well this is "realistic" so they're expected to be ordinary and all that.... Characters change slightly in appearance over the course of the series. Big deal. They're all ugly no matter what. They're annoying with flaws or weaknesses that will piss you off. Pissed me off anyway. The characters in this anime show no driving force or motivation.
Although it boasted romance, I found the characters annoying and thus the plot had very little impact on me. Personally for me, I cannot relate to the chracters, not in the slightest. Now, here's where the turd hits the fan. A love triangle
AND, everything with Takemoto was awful. His life was uninteresting and his love triangle was a joke. Despite his excellent monologues, he is a bland narrator and an even blander protagonist; his journey of self-discovery didn’t reach me, and this character is so dry. He would fit right in in a harem show. He is your typical shy, introverted nice guy. Without the handful of beautiful girls throwing themselves at him, he gets lost and doesn't know what to do. He spends most of the show confused. Pretty boring guy.
Perhaps you have to be a 19 year old adolescent with a bike to understand his feelings. I wouldn't know, I don't have a bike.
The anime centers around the previously mentioned "pathetic" 19 year old, the King of Adolescence. Unable to express himself to his friends, he decides to take a journey and we follow him (unwillingly) and watch him grow as he travels. But he doesn't, and he's still the same once he returns, and we, the viewer, feel that we've just wasted our time (which we did for watching this wretched anime).
Unfortunately we get to hear him whine the most about everything from jobs to romance. Pansy boy who can't
There were parts of interest when the story depicted something other than the main character, Takemoto. Almost every time the story depicted Takemoto, the flow of the events became annoying because of his whiny, depressive personality combined with the notion "I just need to sit, whine and everyone will come to support me". I'd rather not want to see the Takemoto character ever again. Therefore, this whole anime as well.
Continuing on, you've got a ladies-man/player who got caught up in another
good at understanding the feelings of others but is unable to express himself (how the hell...?). He often
Hagu looks like a little hamster who really doesn't know how to do anything and who has no clue as to what is going on. She's painful to look at, and she's immature, selfish, naive. She pissed me off when she had screen time. She's an autistic girl (now, no-one's said that she's autistic before, but it all comes together when you see her talk. I mean, all artists have some mental inhibitation which gives them the ability to make trippy paintings which sell for tens of thousands of dollars, right?). Well, she's a loli and apparently, the center of a love triangle. I mean, what's so attractive about an autistic loli? I could not stand how these people kept saying how cute she was or whatever when she clearly was not. I don't get why everyone is going crazy over this tiny girl since she's annoying. She's a brat, period. Hagu's character is questionable at best.
When she was introduced, I was like "little girl". Then it was revealed
She acts like a child, looks like a child, and sounds like a child. tell me again why 2 or 3 grown men are in love with her? lolita complex? if hagumi never existed these 3 fellows could be convicted sex offenders in 10-20 years (of course, in their world).
Next, we have the other triangle. Mayama is a really nice guy so I understand why Ayu loves him but hey didn't explain WHY she loves him so much. mayama is a pretty boring character. he has one thing on his mind: rika. It gets pretty repetitive...him thinking about her. And they didn't explain why Mayama continues to pursue Rika even though she's not interested. yamada actually likes this boring mayama. she doesn't even know why. exactly. again, through out the anime we get to see her talk about why she wants him and how important... blah blah blah. So I just couldn't get myself to care... Romance isn't even in the question, it's more like just figuring out the basic kinks like why the hell does _ like _ in the first place.
Only character I really liked was Morita just because he was funny. I can't take this eccentric character seriously. He's easily the best character in the series who's used as a zany way to make you laugh. It is obvious that there is more to him than meets the eye, but the anime never gave me an idea of what the hell is going on inside his head. Morita's nonstop wackiness is utterly unbelievable, ruining any serious moments involving him and casting doubt on Hagu due to her infatuation with him. Ultimately, he's only there for comic relief...
The other characters aren’t worth mentioning; they’re either too zany, too dry, or too cute. Bunch of annoying fools. And if they are none of the above, they disappear in the middle of the show.
Yes the characters are in love and supposedly that means I would want to see what happens but I didn't care because I didn't care for the characters. Because Honey and Clover relies on the charisma of its characters, if the characters fail to draw in the audience (in this case, me) then the entire anime will fall on its face.
Ultimately, they want you to empathize with at least once character so that you can compare yourself to them and then evaluate your life, right? With such unique and inaccessible characters, they won't let you.
ANIMATION
This is probably the reason why everything else was lacking.
Instead of improving the plot/character designs and whatnot, you've got overdone and over-polished animation. Not that it's a bad thing, but with such a lackluster plot, do you really need to put so much effort into the animation?
OPs and EDs had lots of live action shots, never a good sign IMO. But anyways, I thought the opening was rather innovative - featuring an assortment of hilariously twisted/grotesque food-related items.
The animation is great, different with a sort of washed out effect with all the blending and such. The animation is unique being excessively bright andhazyfor some reason- giving it a soft, gentle, dream-like atmosphere. It wasn't pale, nor it look like a amateur's work. The animation's actually pretty good and rather detailed.
The scenery in Honey and Clover is crisp and polished. The water textures and the skies in every scene have been rendered by the animators, so you can see for yourself that they have put in a lot of effort in that department.
However, the art is absolutely horrid! The drawing style was incredibly annoying but perhaps realistic. But the character designs. Um....yeah. The characters... it is almost as if they are undeserving of the beautifully done scenery they run around in. Maybe it's just the style of the designs of the characters, but the way the characters were drawn just irks me. Man I've never seen such ugly anime girls. Unfortunately, lots of the characters look like bugs, they are just disgusting. Many of the guys looked really similar except for maybe a slightly different hair color. I'll flat out say that the characters look ugly. their eyes bother me most of the time. and their mouths look like they belong on a fish, big and wide. that's on their serious expressions. the "pretty" female characters aren't so pretty. The series tried to "over-beautify" one of the characters at the begining of the series, but all that shininess made her look, well, plastic.
D:
Seen that smiley before? That's what the main character pulls off every episode. I'm not even joking, that's his most used facial expression. They have such silly looking comedical faces on half the time.
SOUND
I thought the OP was a joke at first. like Mikuru singing in the first episode of Haruhi... surely? But no , it's for reals and the OP is so lousy I couldn't listen to more than 5 seconds of it without going nuts.They picked some girl with the worst voice you can imagine. I could sing a better OP, I swear.
Music doesn't really fall into any genre, maybe emo, just like this series is emo. Since all the insert songs are done by two artists, you'll find them a bit repetitive, and they happen too frequently. About every second episode has an insert song. But still, I liked the inserts of songs during the middle of episodes.
The opening and ending match the anime though. I like the song Waltz (ending song) and sometimes they timed it very well with the story for a good, effective ending.
Takemoto had an annoying, whiny voice which matched his personality. His voice enhanced the pathetic portrayal of that 19 year old, low self-esteemed, effeminate emo.
Morita's VA was good and the rest is okay.
LAST
Well, if you don't like life animes, you might want to try provided: you have high "boring" tolerance. If you do like life animes or j-dramas or k-dramas this is a MUST WATCH. Or if you're the artsy fartsy type maybe you'll like it for it's creative value. I DID NOT LIKE IT. Lots of other people seem to enjoy it so you might be a part of that happy majority. I cannot however and thus, cannot recommend it to anyone.
I just couldn't bring myself to enjoy it. I'll never watch this again. Of course, some will undoubtedly find it charming and unique. Others, like myself, will find it frustratingly dull, filled with pointless melodic interludes and get fed up with the repetitive angsting. This anime is far from groundbreaking.
I'd just recommend NANA over this, which is similar in that it's realistic, romance, comedy, drama except I loved it instead of being bored by it. I don't think I was ever bored when I was watching NANA. Plus it's steamier and longer~
oh and a little excerpt (is that the correct word??) from a review I read online
原作は読んでいないのですが、家族が見ていたため眺めるように視聴していたアニメ。そう、「眺めるように見るアニメ」です。
近眼の私がメガネ無しでみていても、メガネをかけまで見たいと思えない作品でした。登場人物には詳しくありませんが、「どいつもこいつも男女関係なく、ウジウジしたコッパずかしいポエムの朗読(?)ばっかしてんなぁ…」と言うのが、率直な感想です。
やや個人的な見方ですが、当時デザイン学校で課題地獄に溺れ、睡眠障害に苦渋していた私には、「あ゛り゛え゛ね゛ぇ゛よ゛…」と断末魔のような感想しか持てませんでした。
この浮世ばなれした世界観が好みの方には良いかも知れませんが、登場人物に近い立場だった者には本当に絵空事にしかみえない作品でした。
作品自体はピンポイントな層には良い作品かも知れませんが、なぜこんなに世間一般に広くウケたのかが不思議です。
視聴したタイミングが悪かったのかも知れません。「とても悪い」と評価致します。
one point he made was that design school is not as easy/full of fun fun fun as the anime makes it seem out to be... he said he goes to/went to design school and he had to go without sleep from all the assginments from the design schoool. he hates hhow unrealistic the anime is in that sense.
AZUMANGA DAIOH
This anime is EXTREMELY overrated. Like it's so ridiculously popular and everywhere I read people go "Oh this is funny but it's NOWHERE near as funny as azumanga daioh. Since comedy is subjective – what one person finds funny, another won’t. This anime isn't for everyone so [PLEASE] give up after a few episodes if you find it boring-dull-etc, there's no point watching every episode of whatever anime that's ridiculously popular unless you yourself actually like it (especially this one because there's no plot).
There is no story, period. But that's not important because this is a comedy anime and all that's important is that it's actually funny and fun. I must first mention the pacing of this anime, it's VERY slow, as in really EXTREMELY boring. Well it is slice of life but still, but if you LOVE slice of life perhaps that's fine. The formula they abuse and pound into the ground is: they do a joke, it's lame probably and not that funny, and then they do a long long long silence with the characters staring out to the side or something. The thing is the joke or the awkward thing usually isn't even that interesting or shocking as they make it out to be with these long silences which I would guess they put in since they're deluded that someone will actually laugh uncontrobally for 2 minutes straight at that joke... The anime has lots of moments like this where it's so dragged out you feel like ripping your hair out, or you already fell asleep so the mentioned doesn't apply. The dragging out "moments" of silence are just excruciating and really pointless, cheap maybe... I actually read somewhere of someone who thought this show was "fast-paced" (笑 LOL 笑) because every episode is consisted 4 parts, each being 5 minutes but honestly I was so bored I didn't even notice? In fact I didn't even realize this show takes place over a span of time of their high school years, well they look the same... jeez.
I can watch a crazy anime with no plot but this anime isn't even funny. I understand the jokes, randomness, and humor it's just that the jokes fall short of anything funny. Most of the jokes left me with a faint smile at most. The jokes are not laugh out funny and honestly they're just childish, simple, and sometimes dumb (there's nothing clever or brilliant). To me laugh out of funny means funny so therefore I do not think this anime is funny. The jokes are clean, the whole anime is clean, you know those new ones with the fan-service and ehhh-ughh but I've seen clean anime that are funnier/actually funny/even hilarious so it's not too significant or much of a merit.
What's more is that you eventually start predicting the jokes just from the set-up or from the sheer repetition or from the boredom with the long silences. Maybe some of the jokes worked the first time or second time to the point of mildly amusing but they repeat it and it whatever joke soon becomes even less amusing and possibly annoying.
I do appreciate the randomness of this anime but it works sometimes and I do enjoy those parts. Sometimes it's lame and/or dragged out and/or trying too hard, repeated, and if it works it makes the anime amusing/nice slice of life and keeps it at bay for that moment from sleep-inducing boring.
Overall, there is literally one or two episodes and maybe a couple of moments from other eps that are possibly amusing enough to be enjoyed.
The anime relies solely on it characters but even so the characters seem a little cliche and flat, like the dumb one, smart one, athletic one, etc. But nontheless they're all right overall because they are likable and distinct, even Tomo for me. Tomo, I see why people hate her but I think she keeps it real. Osaka at times is good and the jokes work with her sometimes and that kimura-sensei is awesome compared to anything in this anime - probably the most interesting thing out of this whole anime, he really made this anime more enjoyable (by that I mean, he keeps me awake). Those two characters are the ones that are genuine sometimes and close to actually funny at times.Yukari-sensei was just trying way too hard and I don't know what that other teacher's name was... Honestly, the characters sometimes seemed boring and annoying because of the slow-pacing and that they weren't doing much to make it move forward if they were trying too hard to be funny which is a really big turn-off for me.
Of course there's not much character development if any or depth since there is no plot but like I said it's about the anime actually being funny. But it is sorta annoying and pointless that the same things happen to the characters and they react to it the same way however many times they repeat it.
The animation is below average. It's clean, simple and sort of dull but it fits really well with the anime.
The BGM was okay, but some of the BGM got annoying eventually. But more significantly was the lack of BGM, like I mentioned about those moments of silence, I really think there's more silence then actual BGM. To me moments of silence = silent treatment so I in a way I felt insulted, in all sarcasm... creepy....
It's not enjoyable overall. It was a waste of time for me. From all the raving, buzz, popularity etc you'd think it would be the most fun/enjoyable/hilarious/etc anime ever in the whole wide world and it's just not. So don't wait for it to get amazingly hilarous, it doesn't... Or if you find it hilarious and whatnot then go for it, watch all them episodes.
However, I liked Ichigo Mashimaro & Minami-ke which is similar with the slice of life, comedy, no plot, bunch of girls, but I wasn't bored to death by them as I was with Azumanga Daioh but was actually genuinely amused and had some laughs so I recommend those instead of Azumanga if you wanna see a slice of life/comedy.
Or if you want to watch a hilarious anime that will actually make you laugh out loud but has less than 5% of the popularity of azumanga daioh: akazukin cha cha. also jungle wa itsumo hale nochi guu which is actually random. I don't consider azumanga daioh random at all actually. I mean compared to Jungle wa itsumo hale nochi guu or cha cha or any other actually funny comedy series, especially the former, it's just not...
Fruits Basket
The premise behind the story isn't original and there really isn't much story to this anime.
It's chock full of uninteresting, repetitive humor and pointless character clashes. Also, a large number of boring, long, pointless dialogue sequences plague it throughout.
Fruits Basket has a nice message and so it WAS nice at times. I'd say 3 or 4 out of the 26 I actually enjoyed/felt something and maybe a couple moments from a couple other episodes.
Here are the problems: no plot really, fillers, boring, slow-paced, formulaic, not that funny
NO PLOT
The story is horrible because there was none to begin with. While I did enjoy this anime during a couple of the episodes, I felt that it was seriously lacking in the story and character department. It felt as if we were going in a circle, the "story" just did not move enough, it was just static and it felt the same all the way through. The further along I got, the more I felt like I was wasting my time and the last episode proved it. The ending which this series has is very irrevelant to the story itself. Out of no where "something" is revealed and almost nothing is solved. The ending was like... that's the end... It leaves the viewer in disgust and in disappointment. It leaves the view wondering in anger. What was the point in watching it in the first place?
FILLERS / BORING / SLOW-PACED
I was incredibly bored every minute I was watching it. It is a struggle for me to finish most of these episodes. I did not really find them interesting or enjoy their interaction. They just talk all day long that it becomes boring and there are also times when what they're talking about is just pointless. There are some awful fillers that have absolutely nothing to do with anything and aren't interesting in any way.
There was no way I could watch to episode 26, especially after hearing that the anime ending has no closure but I did and I regret it. Don't you hate it when animes do nothing for 90% of the episodes, and then, like, 3 episodes to the end, they make up some sort of convoluted plot, and the resolution of THAT story is considered the end of the show. I've seen it done way too much, and it's stupid. The end is badly paced, under-explained, just lame and stupid (I felt stupid for watching it... No seriously, it was like watching Wedding Peach and that says something... You know as much as I hated/loved wedding peach wnen I was 6.)
FORMULAIC
Every character had a tragic past that they needed to overcome, and I just got tired of watching the same sequence of events
While usually the emotional moments are okay, some tend to be dragged out WAY too long, it was sickening.
NOT FUNNY
It "tries" to be funny, and sometimes way too hard. I'd say Furuba is mostly-lighthearted anime with light-hearted comedy. Honestly, there were comedy elements that I didn't like at all. The antics of ~plot spoiler~ is funny to an extent but it's sorta becomes cheap after they repeat you know for the god knows how many times and just that antic itself. But in the latter half of the series, it turns into a drama. But while it's trying to be dramatic all of a sudden, bits of comedy show up and prevent you from taking the drama seriously. Also, the setup itself from the start with Tohru's living circumstance just bothers me because it's plot-holed, unconvicing and seems to have been put there solely for comedic effect (and it wasn't funny...).
CHARACTER
It seems that many of the characters seem to have "special" feelings for another but nothing happens. However most of the characters are likable, if a little annoying during the "comedy" moments. Actually they're annoying because they are the SAME throughout the series. I never felt any of the characters grow. Yuki and Kyou just keep on fighting and it gets old very fast, I wanted them to just kill each other by the end of the anime. SO there's no romance... maybe a little fluff
Only 2 or 3 episodes made me actually feel something for the characters. Furthermore, many of the character reactions were unrealistic and not consistent with their personality. I have this feeling that they forced the characters' behaviors/reactions/thoughts too much and it made it hard to get into it.
But anyway, you hardly get to really know them with the slow- no progression- no plot circumstances. More and more of these characters are introduced later in the series. It's almost as though it is building up to something. But then it doesn't go anywhere. It's almost as if the time spent with these less important characters was wasted and would have been better spent with the characters you're already familiar with. But even so, many of the characters ended up with only a few sentences of development. The characters could have been given appropriate screen time instead wasting time on stale- pointless dialogue.
All the character's have a similar story. they all either act
Tohru
Too bad the main character is so awful, and takes away from the anime so much.
She is one of those main characters that is overused, cliché, and found in any anime.
She is very dumb, dense, unimpressive, crappy, unrealistic, ridiculously too kind and never gets angry, constantly smiles. We are supposed to identify with and empathize with her?
I can't take "let's save the world with a totally depthless, clumsy, naive and dumb girl. Let's inadvertently fix everyone's broken hearts, souls and sad past with this personality of someone inhumanely nice. Tohru is annoying most of the time with her lack of thought pissing me off often. I understand that she is in a mental distress since ~spoiler~, but this anime did not address that very well so I don't feel guilty saying this.
SOUND
Overall, the music was average. The OP was calming and fits with the show. Each character has his or her music theme that represents their personality. The BMG was nice and the ending song is okay and fitting. My only complaint is that they used the opening theme as BGM in a lot of the episodes cause that's cheesy...
Voice acting was good, though sometimes when the characters try to sound emotionally broken etc, they end up sounding ovserly flat and apathetic instead, as if slowly learning to read from a script.
ANIMATION
There are times when I couldn't believe that there are so many freaking scenes with the fuzzy background, and for some reason a slight breeze is going through someone's hair to emphasize how beautiful they are, or a romantic scene, etc. It's just like...
Fruits Basket has huge eyes and that kiddy style animation made the drama even less serious. Character designs are of the typical big-eyed cuteness kind we've all seen so many times before.The style of animation just hurts the show overall. Plus there was horrific overuse of the super deformed style, which I disliked to begin with.
I don't think the "animals" are cute at all, why do people say that, they just look cheap like a simple shape and 2 dots for eyes.
SO
Don't feel the need to go out of the way to watch this one. I will never recommend this series to anyone, especially a male. I only watched this series because people gave it such high ratings, but it turned out to be a REALLY overrated. This show reminds me of Full Moon cause they're both overrated has some really big flaws, awful main character but even so I think Full Moon is better because of its redeeming last arc. At least that anime "ended" and actually has a "plot" no matter how filler-marathon it was.
Posted by
midori-
| Jul 9, 2011 9:24 AM |
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