“Even in our darkest hour, life still has meaning.” – Joseph Jobson. *queue slow clap* Yes Joseph, spoken like a true failure of a character. That’s our MC ladies and gentlemen, who, in spite of repeating that statement on multiple occasions, just couldn’t seem to find meaning in anything he did.
Story: 3
The base story of Blassreiter is actually an interesting idea at its core. A mysterious infestation, an organization out to stop it, and a mysterious main character who is using this evil power to reign in justice; yes, it’s no Shakespearean work, but I think your common anime viewer would raise a brow of
...
interest. However, that number I’ve put in the top right corner of my review says something went wrong somewhere and I’m here to tell you all about it.
The most immediate complaint is that this anime is a directionless fiend; ever feeding off of your desire for the story to start making sense. You’ll wait, and wait, and wait, and by god, you’ll keep on waiting till the show displays “The End” to you. For those who waited like me, I’m sorry for your loss. I’ll petition for a statue to be created in memorial to our time wasted. ~R.I.P. Gone but not forgotten~
The next big issue is undoubtedly the overwhelming amount of self-pity that every character has, which is nothing these other reviews haven’t complained about, but it is important I repeat what an issue it can be. The self-loathing not only seems to be in every character, but I believe it is the sole reason the story takes forever to progress. They could have probably crammed all twenty-four episodes into twelve if most characters would stop hating themselves long enough to do something.
The last obvious issue would be the heavy religious relationship the show tries to have. While there is absolutely nothing inherently wrong with that, the show does a terrible job at executing it. I couldn’t help but feel it was there “just cuz”, and it failed to make any reasonable connection to the plot in the end.
Thankfully, I can say that the show does have some redeeming qualities; even if they are squandered away later. Specifically, the series shines brightest when the show was at its darkest. The deaths of some characters were quite emotional, even if you never cared much for them, and a couple (key-word) of character backstories felt well written and were probably the best parts of the show.
Before I move forward, I have one last important complaint about the story. Blassreiter has the single worst ending to an anime I have ever seen. A powerful claim, I know, but after careful consideration it was the conclusion I came to. For the vast majority of the series, I would have rated my enjoyment somewhere between a high 7 to a low 8 at its best. The last 3-4 episodes were maybe a 3 on the enjoyment scale with the last episode being a 1. I wish I were exaggerating. Never in my life have I watched something execute itself so poorly. It was almost like the creators gave their series finale to their worst enemies. I won’t go into details, but it was awful.
Art: 8
The bulk of the show was done in what I believe is CGI. I will have to give Blassreiter this: They have the best computer animations I’ve seen on anime. Seriously, after seeing this, I don’t understand how the CGI for the Berserk Movies and Knights of Sidonia are so bad. I don’t understand how it works, nor will I pretend to, but I think it would be nice for them to learn something from this series.
Music: 8
I thoroughly enjoyed most of the soundtrack to Blassreiter. My favorites being, “I still Have Hope to Live” and “Xargin”. Even if you don’t want to watch the show, give “Xargin” a listen to. As for “I still Have Hope to Live”, it made several scenes emotional all on its own.
Characters: 2
My intro to this review doesn’t speak highly of our precious MC. He gets surprisingly little screen time and is the Self-Pity King amongst a horde of self-pity monsters. Depression tends to be a common trait amongst characters who find themselves in “mature” animes, it just happens that almost all Blassreiter’s characters have it now or get it later. This, for obvious reasons, caused every character to suffer from poor writing. Everything action the MC took seemed aimless. Joseph never really gave the audience any clear reason to his purpose or how he was going to accomplish it. For that alone he was worthless to the story. However, he was not the only character seemed to serve no purpose, but even the main antagonist seemed to be absolutely pointless. He just seemed to show up spontaneously, say a couple of lines, and then be on his way. His goals were dreadfully unoriginal and so was his personality. I doubt I would need to connect the dots here, but if our protagonist and our antagonist suffer from poor writing, the show sucks.
Overall: 4
Unfortunately for this anime, Music and Art won’t make up for an awful plot and even worse characters. Characters drive a story and a good story is why you watch. Blassreiter is not worth suffering through terrible character decisions and slow story progression. I stamp a 4/10 on this mess and don’t plan on seeing it again.
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Apr 2, 2016
Blassreiter
(Anime)
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“Even in our darkest hour, life still has meaning.” – Joseph Jobson. *queue slow clap* Yes Joseph, spoken like a true failure of a character. That’s our MC ladies and gentlemen, who, in spite of repeating that statement on multiple occasions, just couldn’t seem to find meaning in anything he did.
Story: 3 The base story of Blassreiter is actually an interesting idea at its core. A mysterious infestation, an organization out to stop it, and a mysterious main character who is using this evil power to reign in justice; yes, it’s no Shakespearean work, but I think your common anime viewer would raise a brow of ... 
Mar 20, 2014
Freezing Vibration
(Anime)
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First off, I will start by saying that I have not read any of the manga nor do I plan to.
Freezing Vibrations, simply put, was very bad. More so, Freezing Vibrations was even worse compared to it's first season which was quite a good show. My main focus in this review will mostly be directed to anyone who has watched the first season.(which I don't know why you wouldn't watch that before watching this...) Let's begin. Story: 4 The story never really was this shows strong spot. That said, the first season at least did a fair job at keeping it from being weak. This season,... they ... |
