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The idea here is to create a panel of around 5 or so people with strong writing skills who will supervise and help with the creation of club reviews. We will still have review teams created for each show like before, but now each team will be assigned a person from the Review Panel to help with the writing process by providing tips for structure, proof-reading, and adding general polish to the completed reviews. If a review team happens to stall or become inactive, the Review Panel member would then be able to step in and finish the review based on the material produced up to that point.

The role of the Review Panel member is simply to assist with the writing, not to come up with content. This will allow Review Panel members to work on any review regardless of whether they have actually seen or read the material being reviewed.

What I would like in this thread is for volunteers to post their interest and include a sample of writing with their post. This sample of writing can be whatever you want, a review or a short story or whatever you want. It should be long enough to show your talents, but try keep it under 2,000 words.

After 1 week, I will create a new thread with all the volunteers and their writing submissions and have the club vote for their 5 favorite people. These people will become the Review Panel.

tl;dr
We are looking to create a team of editors to fine-tune the drafts of club reviews before final submission. Volunteer here and provide an example of your writing.


Something to keep in mind:
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The amount of anime you have seen or manga you have read is irrelevant. The number of reviews you have written is also irrelevant. What we are interested in here are your basic writing skills.

So for anyone who hasn't seen that much anime or written many reviews, don't let that deter you from volunteering.

Example submission:

Hey I want to be on the panel!

(submission 500-1,000 words.... no more than 2,000 words)


**Just for reference, the average CriticsClub review is roughly 1,000 words so feel free to check them out here to see the length I'm talking about.

Sample of writing:


Edit: The Fuhrer said this wasn't long enough. :( Will post a new submission later.

Alright, I'll submit this one;

The second season of Black Lagoon is really a story of two different anime; the underwhelming, uninspired first six episodes, and the spectacular, engaging last half of the show. The former is a 5, while the latter is very close to a 10.

The returning characters and excellent opening are largely the same as the first season (mentioned more in my review of that season), which is a good thing. The art is as stylish, vivid, and colorful as ever, and adds a definite flavor to all the gun battles.

Now, there are three different story arcs, each completely independent of one another; the murderous twins, Greenback Jane, and the Yakuza fighting back in Japan.

The series starts off with the Romanian siblings, two eight year olds with white hair carrying a mini-gun and an ax larger than they are themselves. These two little children love to kill, and are so dangerous that they wreak havoc upon Roanapur, killing dozens of high-level, powerful gangsters, including those from Hotel Moscow.

Now, I understand suspension of disbelief, and I realize that the gun-wielding heavies in the Black Lagoon universe are supposed to be bizarre, unorthodox characters, from chain-smoking nuns to chambermaids wearing glasses, but this is absurd.

Even in the Black Lagoon universe, it doesn't make sense for two FRAIL CHILDREN to single-handedly cut through droves of gangsters and expert gunmen like so much confetti. The only way to pull this off is to inject humor, but there is none of that in the first three episodes.

The emotional melisma surrounding the end of this arc is both unnecessary and poorly executed.

Next up is Greenback Jane, a straightforward action arc about a counterfeiter on the run, with all of Roanapur's deadliest criminals after her, and only Eda and the Black Lagoon company around to protect her.

It's mostly action, with several funny scenes, and little character development, an Eda flashback aside. It's decent fare, but I found a few key moments disappointing. Without revealing any spoilers, there are several notorious gangsters fighting against Eda and Revy.

A few of the less important ones die, but the main ones, with significant backstory, curiously survive, only one with serious injuries of any kind. Now, I understand they wanted to save them for Season 3, but it's anti-climactic, a cheap device from the creators.

In the ruthless Black Lagoon universe, when two heavies battle it out, one should die.

Finally, we come to the last six episodes, which cover Hotel Moscow's quest to destroy several Yakuza families in Japan, quality time spent between Revy (fully-clothed even!) and Rock near the latter's home, as we are also introduced to a cute schoolgirl named Yukio and honorable swordsman Ginji, who can slice bullets in half.

This might very well be the best story arc in the entire series, Seasons 1 and 2, and corrects many of the things I disliked about the earlier episodes.

If you read my review for the first season, one of my biggest complaints was the character of Revy, that she was a character with no depth or reality, and was boring and stupid to boot.

Well, by the end of Season 2, she has been transformed into a much more understandable and most importantly, FUN individual.

No longer is she hysterical, crazy, nor does she talk as much ridiculous shit. She's far more competent, rational, and even her character is developed, as we see her interacting with children, and she shows genuine compassion and love for Rock.

The overall character development in these last six episodes is excellent. A lot of attention is paid to Miss Balalaika, as she cements her status as the coolest, most competent criminal in the series. Her blend of stoicism with charm, humor, and the ability to do whatever is necessary to crush her enemies is entertaining to watch.

Even the minor characters, like the violent, insane Chaka, with facial piercings, blonde hair, and a purple suit, are well done.

He is a neat reference to Kakihara from "Ichi the Killer", minus the love of sadomasochism.

The story itself drags a little with overly abstract, emotional dialogue, but it's not terrible, and is at least relevant to the central theme, which concerns the transition and choice between criminal or peaceful life.

The last six episodes make up for the beginning of the Second Season, but not enough to propel it into "great" status.

Highly recommended for anyone that enjoys action and a fast pace to one's anime, as well as unusual personalities.

Guess I won't mind volunteering for a spot neither since I enjoy writing reviews. ^^

Fate/Stay Night is a shounen-based action fantasy romance drama series that centers among seven teams (one master and one servant) trying to fight each other in order to win the Holy Grail. For this series to follow the shounen genre, the results were nothing short of impressive compare to other shounen-based series.

Story
The story begins when the male protaganist (Shirou Emiya) ends up in a dangerous situation from one of the servants participating in the Holy Grail War. He then summons a female servant (Saber) in order to defend himself. Along with a good balance of action, romance, drama, and brief comedy moments the story also brought along a few plot surprises which can certainly stun the audience. While the story contains the usual settings most shounen fans are familiar with, Fate/Stay Night brought along a good flow in these different areas which never brings any down moments in its story. One part I really enjoy about Fate/Stay Night is how the battles exist for purpose and meaning, which can be refreshing for shounen fans willing to see something worthwhile.

Characters
The characters are also an interesting cast where several provide their own ideals that make them diverse in Fate/Stay Night. Shirou Emiya is a strong-will individual that hopes to put an end to the Holy Grail War by any means necessary. Although not very talented in magic, Shirou gradually improves in that area which serves as a great benefit to several of the battles. As for Shirou's servant, Saber is usually seen as the no-nonsense fighter that often surpasses her emotions but that is not always the case. The relationship between Shirou and Saber is often worthwhile to witness, especially when it comes to the moments of being concern for one another. Other characters (especially Rin Tohsaka and Archer) also bring out good moments in the story whether it involves interactions or combat sequences in the story.

Animation
As for the animation of Fate/Stay Night, the visuals stand alone as stunning in their results. While the battle scenes are mostly easy to follow, the lightning effects (especially coming from combat techniques) really made the visuals worthwhile in its scenes. The character designs are also drawn well with no corners cut throughtout the series.

Sound
The soundtrack also does well in most of its areas. The bgms often bring out mystical or calm themes that fit well in most scenes of Fate/Stay Night. The opening and ending theme songs are generally good, even though the second opening theme may be a bit blandish at times. The sound effects certainly fit their scenes and the seiyu cast is mainly good with their character roles.

Enjoyment
With the many good results coming from Fate/Stay Night, it also brings along a satisfying ending that concludes an enjoyable storyline. In the end, Fate/Stay Night stands out for several positive results such as the great battle scenes and interesting cast of characters. However the one part that sets this shounen-based anime to be well-achieved is how meaningful the relationship is between Shirou and Saber in both action and romantic aspects. Any shounen fan that is willing to see worthwhile results will certainly enjoy this fascinating series.

For the people that don't have the time, are too lazy, or lack writing skills (I fall in with the last two), I would like to offer this.

An added section at the end of /insightful/ (definition up to debate) comments that don't really justify an entire review. Whether or not these are added may be based on a vote similar to the 'you decide'. "FSN's animated series did the game proud", etc. More complications for the win?

It took an entire week to write this one but editing another person's work usually takes up only a few hours.

Does this have to be completely new writing?

It can be any writing you want and in any format. Whatever you think does the best job of displaying your basic writing talents.

Legend of the Galactic Heroes is an epic tale of the rise to power of two men born at the right time on opposite sides, leading to a clash of brilliant spectacle that could only be executed with care in as an animated original.

Animation- 9/10
Though Legend of Galactic Heroes is 20 years old the visual quality and care is quite priceless. As a viewer who is reluctant to watch series over 40 episodes or over 10 years old, I was taken aback by the engaging art ranging from Ancient Rome, to Victorian England, to Blade Runner-esque futuristic set-pieces and costuming. Both factions, The Free Planets' Alliance and the Galactic Empire, had its own distinctive look, engaging the eye in nearly every direction. Add to these looks, the numerous space battles waging between the two factions and you have a piece of art that is timeless.

Sound - 10/10
Legend of Galactic Heroes boasts over 100 individual voice actors with, I believe only one person, doubling up. This show is a veritable "who's who" of the time's voice talent, and many of these talents are still working today. The quality of performance from this cast is overwhelmingly great. The actors take to both comedy and drama with a meticulous sense of intelligence, and there are few, if any times I found an actor to have either over or under-played a scene. Musically, this anime uses very well-placed classical music as the aural backdrop for the series, and perhaps the only flaw musically are the opening themes, rife with pitchy, technically abominable singing, but because it is so little of the sound content, then I can personally overlook it.

Characters - 10/10
In this show you would be hard-pressed to find a character that does not serve a definite purpose. There is a large cast of characters ranging from princes and generals to whores and religious fanatics. Each character plays his part in the machine of this show, all believably true to their actions. The only flaw with the characters I suppose is names. While the show is good on giving viewers subtitles to serve as a reminder, because these are German names and those of nobility (which also includes titles) there is a double edged sword that both breeds authenticity and becomes mnemonically troublesome.

Story - 9/10
LoGH is a magnificent space opera that delves into philosophy and politics with an unmatched ease. It is clear where shows like Death Note, Code Geass and creators such as Clamp get their influence from when watching this show. While the writing suffers a bit in the final 15-20 episodes, the slack is picked up by the extraordinary momentum the writers and voice cast from the previous 90 episodes created. Even with those flaws, there are no instances of stagnation in the narrative. The show is always distinctively going somewhere, elegantly leading the viewer with excellently written narration to help with suspense. LoGH also manages to integrate fictional technology into the story with out it overwhelming the viewer, or being an excuse for trite deus ex machina.

Enjoyment - 10/10
For someone who is very picky about show length and characters, I was truly stunned by the way this show was tightly managed as a narrative. The pace is a very consistent and mild to help go back and forth between raising questions and finding resolution. LoGH was a highly satisfying experience, and its a shame it was never brought to English so that it could find a bigger audience. I think it's the type of show that Adult Swim, or G4 (when it was TechTV with Anime Unleashed) would have eagerly consumed at the beginning of their respective launches.

Overall- 10/10

I respect Nagaru Tanigawa. I really do. That's because he is a very smart person. One day, I imagine, (and I also imagine that what I imagine is not far from reality) he looked around a bunch of anime magazines, and- this is crucial- he got a perfectly clear vision of the very trend that was going to shape japanese mass media for the coming decade: moe. And it would seem that Nagaru Tanigawa was perfectly aware that even he could do moe. The truth is, anybody can do moe, most people are simply not as much dedicated to achieve success via moe, or simply have more decency. Now this sounds like I wouldn't actually be giving Tanigawa credit. The thing is, Tanigawa not only can do moe, he also knows that he can do all of moe. So he decided to make money via moe. I'm saying this because this way of thinking gets reflected all troughout "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya". And this is the reason that at the same time, while I respect Nagaru Tanigawa, I fucking hate Nagaru Tanigawa. TMoHS was designed to get money out of retards who are into moe, atheits and anarchists.

Really, the thing about this show that gives the aforementioned line of thought away are the characters. Now, shows like Kiddy Grade would have us think that it's easy to make all the characters in a given story unrelatable and unlikable. Or, more exactly, Kiddy Grade would have us think that it's easy to make unlikable characters. Well that's not true. The Haruhi Suzumiya franchise proves that Kiddy Grade is nothing more than a terrible accident getting even worse due to it's upcoming sequel. It proves this with it's main character, Haruhi Suzumiya. Her character shows us that there is no way there was any intelligent design at work when Kiddy Grade's characters were concieved. And that is because the characters in Kiddy Grade are merely annoying, and as I've said previously, impossible to relate to(for more reasons than one). This makes the entire chast of Kiddy Grade bad, in terms of character quality. However, Haruhi Suzumiya is at the same time worse and better than the entire cast of Kiddy Grade combined.

To say that Haruhi Suzumiya is unlikable would not be an adequate description of what a well- brought up, moral, just, kind, caring person(the kind of person that, like me, finds no joy in torturing his/her Sims) would think of her. Besides, the term "unlikable" is geeting worn- out these days by people like Yahtzee. To put it bluntly, Haruhi Suzumiya makes Lina Inverse look like Tokiha Mai. That's Lina-fucking-Inverse and Tokiha-fucking-Mai. It's not that she is a tsundere. If she was just a tsundere, shed just be a crappy character, and would not rise above every single character in any Gonzo show ever. But, she is much worse. She blackmails people with sexual abuse for their computers. She puts peoples lives in danger for web- traffic. She frequently sexually molests others. She expects those around her to think of these things as simple, innocent "fun". Simply put, there was never a more hateable, detestable, spiteful, vomit- inducingly repulsive character than her.

Which is the very reason she is such a great character. And if we here at My Anime List would have to name a single thing that encompasses the genii of Nagaru Tanigawa, we would name her. See, characters in Kiddy Grade are simply boring because there was no care put into them (well, that and the fact that most of them are so god damn overpowered it turns any attempt at creating tension a waste). Anybody can see that the reason any normal person would get so immensly repulsed from Haruhi is because there was so much effort and care put into making her so repulsive. "But Dozer", you ask, "Haruhi Suzumiya is the forth most favorited character on My Anime List! She can't possibly be like what you just described her!" Well, this is the real reason why she is the very thing that show just how smart Nagaru Tanigawa really is. He knows that lot's of people nowadays have no moral values whatsoever. He noticed how society was declinig, and he simply decided to cater to the valueless masses that make up a large portion of the population today. In fact, I will get back to the relationship between Tanigawas audience and Tanigawas work, but I'll just save that for a later paragraph. If you are so immensely interested, I have marked that paragraph with the numpad star(*) at the beggining.

Now that I've written about Haruhi, I could end this review right here and now, because after so many paragraphs it might really feel pointless to write about a show like this even more. Alas, I have mentioned that Tanigawa decided that he can do all of moe. Now, both times I wrote that, I lied a bit. That would imply that every single minor aspect of moe fandom is contained within the show. Or maybe it does, I don't know. The day that I realise that I have put effort into attaining encyclopedic knowledge about the nuances of moe fandom with no urging reason to do so will be the very day my existence on this Earth will end, and no, people will have no idea why I'm suddenly dead. But back to the show, tanigawa carefully incorporated other moe aspects into his "masterpiece", though wether it was necessary plotwise.... well, I am not the person who is going to make the decision on that one.

The first minor character encompassing a certian moe archtype is Nagato Yuki, a glasses- wearing bookworm with purple hair, virtually no discernable facial expression, a speaking voice that couldn't be more still if she was whispering. She is practically your typical Rei- clone, except unlike other Rei- clones she has even less lines than her original peer. Yuki is an Alien, sent from some- sort of intergalactic monitoring entity to keep an eye on Haruhi. She is able to phisically manipulate objects, re- write the source codes of video games while playing them and changing the file extensions of rooms. And that's about it, as far as her character goes.

The second minor character is Mikuru Asahina, a time- traveller agent who was sent from the future in order to, you guessed it, watch over Haruhi. The thing is, she is the textbook definition of shy. She get's nervous about everything, she's reluctant about doing anything. At the same time, she has ginormus breats. She is mostly used in scenes of sexual abuse.

The last minor character is a guy. Tanigawa knows that there are at least as many female anime fans as there are male, so he knows that it's a smart thing to cater to them. So we have the ambiguously gay Koizumi Itsuki, a near- useless esper and Mr. Exposition.

Now is the time when we talk about the second main character and the actual story. Our hyphotesys is that we will not like one of the two very much.

Our other main character is Kyon. We never get to know his full name, just this nickname of his. He is the kind of guy that who leads a completely normal life, and the kind of guy who TvTropes editors would call a deadpan snarker or a straight man and some such (the only reason I am not calling him an "Author Stand In" is because I do not want to think that I've just written so much about a guy who would like to be in situations such as the ones depicted here). Haruhi is in the same class with this guy. She is eccentric, and constantly bored. She declares that she wan't to meet (this is a very important, "epic" order of the three) "aliens, time- travellers and espers", so she can play with them. Kyon one day remarks that it's a sad truth that such things don't exist, and besides, people who lived interesting lives did not wait for interesting things to come by, they made their own lives interesting. This gives Haruhi an idea, so she forces Kyon to form the S.O.S. brigade with her. (The meaning of the acronym will not be revealed in this review, as I am already violating good taste by discribing this story.) The brigade is basically her private club, to see interesting, "extraterrestrial" , "supernatural" and some such things. She finds Yuki in the room she decides to use for the club. Being the emotionless doll she is, she just goes along. Mikuru get's dragged in with force by Haruhi because she has moe appeal and it will make more people want to join the club. No, I'm not making this up. That's Tanigawa. Itsuki just appears in one scene and stays. Pretty soon, wird shit starts happening, and the main "crux" of the "plot" comes into play. Haruhi is practically god. Whatever she desieres to happen, it happens. However, she is not concious of this power of hers, in fact, she, and anybody not in the S.O.S. brigade, is completely oblivious to it. Thing is, when she get's bored, she decides to make the world interesting for herself. By adding big, blue, world destroying giants. So the brigade has to constantly keep her interested with something, so as the world doesn't get destroyed.

Not like this get's put in front of you in an obvious way. The very thing that poked so much interest in the show in the first place was Tanigawa's decision to show us events in an anachronistic order. The first episode comes second, the tenth or so comes first, the ninth comes fifth and so on. In retrospect though, it only serves to have the climax at the end of the season. What in theory may sound artsy, is in execution merely irritating.

Now, did you notice something? While you were reading the paragraphs about the secondary characters and the plot? Remember when I said Haruhi is such a well made character (no matter how detestable) because so much work had gone into her? It is apparent that there was no such amount of work put into any other literal aspect of the show. The secondary characters are either boring or irritating, and the story is either just well written enough not to be dismissed as sci- fi hogwash, or outright insulting. Let me elaborate a bit further:

*Here we are! This is the point from which onward, I will explain why I detest Nagaru Tanigawa. The thing is, he wants to not only make money, but while he is at it. Tanigawa want's to be considered a respectable auteur. And this is where things start going haywire.

Let's look at this from an outer perspective now. The manga/anime series Ikkitousen is about japanese high- schoolers (mostly teen girls) fighting amongst eachoter to gain control over the area where there schools are. Supposedly, this is because every single character that fights in that show is supposed to be the reincarnation of an ancient chinese war hero from the "three kingdoms" period. The proof of this is a special shaped earring they wear. Each of them is a martial arts expert. Each of them loses an ungodly amount of clothing during each fight. There is panty shot galore. One character in particular has an eyepatch that houses a dragon, a maid costume as a battle suit, complete with combat boots, and a dress that seems to end at the very top of her thighs. Why she is dressed like this is never addressed. As can be seen, Ikkitousen takes pride in hardly making any sence in everyday terms. It never, ever tries to take itself seriously. Though the characters may act like what they are doing are very serious, gruesome things, you never get the feeling that you should consider what happens on screen a deep, convention- defiyng new chapter in the history of the medium or some such.

So of course it get's laughed at. Because it doesn't ask you to take it seriously, and because it features high- scholl girls blasting ki bombs at each other until only their panties are left on them, it get's treated as mediocre or shitty. But Nagaru Tanigawa know that the audience he caters to takes things as they are told to take(This is very important, more on this later). So he fills his shameless attempt at money- making with promises of "underlying storylines" and "character development". And wouldn't you know, almost instantaineously, the show in which the narrators hardly-ever-mentioned-before-female-classmate becomes a psycho killer who is out to kill Kyon, and who has to be stopped by Yuki in a fight involving dimensional manipulation or some shit, becomes the best thing since sliced bread. Right now, I'll start going into the worst of the worst, so here we go!

But first, something positive! The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya includes perhaps the greatest japanese litmus test ever created! Take a look at this video. Once your done, answer me this: what did you feel rightafter watching that scene? Did you find it a hillarious, or at least genuinely amusing piece of comedy? Did you find Haruhi funny? Or did you rage at that scene, get an impulse to punch Haruhi in the face, find the concept of making fun out of false rape charges terrible, and feel sorrow for the the guy on the floor?

If you answered with a yes to my last question in the last paragraph, congratulations, there is a high possibility that you either are or may still become a productive, respected, beloved member of a moral, sane society.

However, if you have found that scene to be funny, and found Haruhi to be appealing, than I advise you to urgently sell off your belongings(this includes your house and non- vital organs) for money, and give all but one set of your clothes to charity. After that, take all the money you have made from selling off your posessions, and by as much as you can of the strongest, finest quality heroin you can find. Gradually overdose on said heroin and die. Believe me, in the long run, both of us will be thanked by your peers.

(And if you chose neither you are just as selfish as Haruhi, in which case I advise to you the same thing I advised to those who like her.)

The scene which you can find in that video is downright awful. It's unfunny, it's painful to watch, and if you laughed at it, you should be ashamed of yourself.

And now we are finally back on track, the point to where that little numpad star was leading to: Despite that scene, and despite the fact that Haruhi's character never changes during the cours of the show(remember this line), people still like her. Why is that? Why would anybody want to like a despicable, mean selfish bitch like Haruhi Suzumiya? We could simply argue that whoever likes her is evil and bring up the aformentioned scene as proof, but would be too easy and I wouldn't get to write any more about them. Besides, you can tell by my favorite characters list that I always have the best of hopes toward everyone, and people first need to proove that they are evil before I consider them evil. So, why on earth do people find the scene in which Haruhi extorts the president of the computer club to hand over to her their most valuable computer, unless the club president wants Haruhi to tell everyone theat he and the whole club tried to rape poor Mikuru- chan? When it's all just a setup she made?

Because it's made to look funny!

The colors are all warm and strong, cheery synthetised horns play in the background, camera work is reminescent of high- school comedy. So naturally, it doesn't matter what actually occurs in the scene, it must be comedy, and therefore funny.
THIS IS WHAT HARUHI- FANS ACTUALLY BELIEVE!**(These stars do not lead to a paragraph directly relevant to the review.)

Tanigawa knew that that are loads of people, if not (to his knowledge) all around the world, but at least in Japan, that are so stupid they actually think by the above paragraph, that he exploits their retardation with ease. We can safely speculate that Tanigawa knows that what he is writing is terrible, and that anyone who likes it is an antisocial idiot, or as stated at the beggining, a retard, an atheist or an anarchist (maybe even some sort of combination of the above). (It's still possible that they are just evil.) Which is why I hate him: by exploiting the retarded masses of the world, he simultaniously causes intelligent, well- behaived people in tuch with the anime scene (the ones who still have morals) constant irritation not only because of how their beloved medium is praising a mediocre cash- in on the most base instincts of people who, among other things, if they had the chance, would tear of all their wallpapers and fill the walls with wallscrolls of female characters from Code Geass and Type-Moon visual novels, but because of how those people make the outside world think that this is supposed to be good anime. It's not. And it is highly possible that the world may never realise this. Not with the way people are turning out to be these days...

Now, Tanigawa probably knew this, but by this point his sence of pride, stemming from the fact that he could devise a way to irritate every single well- meaning person who comes into contact with his work AND make money off of it, grew so big, that he actually started believing that his story could be good. Here's a rundown of how this way of thinking of his affected the story:

In episode twelve, Haruhi stands in as a replacement singer in a school band, and after a concert they hold, Haruhi has a talk with Kyon. She is spacing out, as if she had a life changing experience or something. The following will be an edited version of an earlier post of mine discuss(t)ing this scene:(Warning: spoilers(even though you're better off)!)




Now for some positives. I figured that they are so few and far between that they deserve a block quote:


I don't have anything left to tell. Perhaps in the dimly lit theater. (If you understood this reference then I automatically believe you have good taste.) Maybe I could comment on the "parody" thing people think the show is. This is where the world has gotten to. A few quick references to Detective Conan and Phoenix Wright can turn almost anything into a parody. The people who think like this are probably the ones who, before 2012, will surely elect Ultimate Showdown the greatest parody ever! Which in turn, will make Ultimate orgy the greatest parody of a parody ever.
And this is the way the world will end: Not with a bang, but with a whimper.





**It is worth noting that the makers of Death Note used this same knowledge to generate drama within the audience. Notice how Light get's filmed from angles and with effects normally reserved for Big Bads. Now notice how many people think he's evil. Now look at how many people think Light's copy- paste, Lelouch (no offense to the character) is evil. Now look how he never get's a latin chorus, or a palette swap.
Now think about what both of those characters do. Do you see a difference? No? But how? Light is clearly evil! He get's that omnus music and latin chanting, and Lelouch never get's glowing red eyes, so they must be different kind of characters... Oh wait.
Oh, so that's the trick!

(The worst thing is, it will probably never fail.)

Kuroshitsuji is the story of a boy named Ciel Phantomhive, and his butler, Sebastian Michaelis. Ciel is the head of a toy company, and is also in the employment of the Queen, who enlists him to deal with various mysteries. Why this is the case isn't really explained, but nonetheless, most of the episodes play out as a Sherlock Holmes style detective series with him solving various supernatural mysteries.

Of course, Ciel is no ordinary boy... he has a contract with his butler for his soul. As you probably already knew, Sebastian is a demon of sorts. He is nigh invulnerable to everything, has amazing skill in pretty much every field, and is basically perfect in every way.

This, however, is the first problem with the series... Sebastian is a massive Gary Stu. He's simply too perfect. Not once do you feel for him as a character. He is completely overpowered, and is essentially an end all, fix all solution to more or less every single problem the series can throw at any of its characters.

Sadly, the rest of the cast isn't much better. Ciel Phantomhive is probably the most likeable character in the show, being something of a snarky, deadpan character with a chip on his shoulder the size of Big Ben. But he has his idiosyncrasies as well... most of which simply come down to him being a complete jerk to everyone. Ciel is generally single-minded, only caring about whatever mission the Queen has given him, or getting revenge on those who ruined his life. The reaper, Grell Sutcliffe, had potential to be a loveable psychopath in the vein of Ladd Russo or any given Hellsing villain, but they eschew the chainsaw wielding, slasher smile route laid out in front of them in favour of making him incredibly, incredibly gay, as though they were trying to make a psychotic badass Leeron. But unlike the aforementioned Gurren Lagann character, they don't manage to make him nearly entertaining or tongue-in-cheek enough... to be perfectly honest, Grell is just plain offensive.

Another problem with Kuroshitsuji is that it can't seem to decide what it wants to be. For half the series, it goes down the aforementioned Sherlock Holmes route, painting a great depiction of 1888 London, rolling through themes like Jack The Ripper and Scotland Yard, but for the other half it tries to blend a Tim Burton-esque supernatural demon theme to the mix, and the tone of the series becomes very inconsistent as a result. Both styles are well-executed, but they conflict with each other. If they had been more consistent, Kuroshitsuji would have been better as a result. The character designs also mirror this quite heavily; While we often get a good, 1800s design like Sebastian, we also get overblown, colourful and vibrant designs like those of Grell or the Undertaker that creates a very poor contrast.

Also, there's something that can occasionally be very jarring, and that would be the anachronisms. Despite the show being set in 1888, you will frequently see things that are very out of place in this time period, like advanced modern handguns, sophisticated chainsaws, and film. While all of these things did exist in some form at this point, none of them do in the form they are shown in. And even more jarring is that most of these are applied to the Reapers, ancient beings that would not realistically incorporate these sorts of things into their supernatural array of weapons.

And on that note, one of the things that annoys me most about Kuroshitsuji is that the demon lore is left completely unexplained, as though they were some sort of afterthought. The reapers hate demons, but why? It's never given any real mention. There are also Angels, only one of which we ever see, whose purpose and role in the demon lore is never even touched upon, let alone their motives. I think Kuroshitsuji would have actually been better if they had completely left out the angel/demon/reaper aspects of the show and solely focused on the detective angle instead.

The only aspect wherein Kuroshitsuji really shines is the production job. The animation is fluid, and the art style is thoroughly polished, using a blend of dark, rich tones. The 1800s environment is one of the strong points of the series, which makes it all the more of a shame that they so often opt for the Burton-shtick instead. The soundtrack is also very strong, featuring a variety of music fitted to the period, most notably the smooth jazz.

Now, before this reads like an invitation for all the yaoi fangirls to break down my door, let me just clarify this by saying that Kuroshitsuji is not bad. What it is is average. Ordinary. Run of the mill. The only exceptional thing about it being the insane level of fan-pandering it stoops to.

However, there is still one serious problem with Kuroshitsuji not accounted for... the ending. The last few episodes are an evermounting pile of contrived nonsense. Things happen, but no explanation as for why or how is ever really given. No character's motivations ever make sense. Plot twists come from absolutely nowhere with no foreshadowing or real explanation. It rivals Soul Eater in terms of ridiculously nonsensical endings, but at least Soul Eater didn't leave us on an incredibly dodgy cliffhanger that leads to a second season of pure filler.

Final Words: It had potential, but it ignored it so it could pander to fans.

Animation/Graphics: 9/10
Story/Plot: 3/10
Music/Background: 9/10

Overall: 4/10

For Fans Of: Hellsing, Pandora Hearts.

Who wants to do editing on kaiba