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Bloody Monday tried to be a suspense-thriller anime which involves a lot of "black hat hacking". Although they try very hard to use accurate terms, anything involving computer crimes tends to be misunderstood by traditional storytellers, and that is still the case here.

Lots of things are almost accurate, and for that reason, I got sort of annoyed with the series.

Another annoying thing was that the "experts" often make the same novice mistakes, over and over again. This might be accurate if they were run of the mill government workers, but, they're supposed to be elite, highly trained specialists.

On the other hand, they are lots of twists in the plot, and it kept me wanting to know what would happen next.

This story would do well as a anime, especially if it was stretched out more to fill in the minor characters (and even major characters) more, e.g. like how True Blood was adapted from book to tv show form, and minor characters were "fleshed out" more, in the same way, the limits of the manga format mean that a lot of characters don't get much attention here.

It might sound like I hate the series, but, comparing it to others, like, say, Liar Game, Death Note, and Hunter X Hunter, I have to say that it feels a bit rushed and lopsided.

So overall, I give it 7/10... but, due to the suspense aspects, whilst reading it, esp. if you read it one volume or a few chapters at a time, the story is told well enough to keep you interested, which is why I rate it 9/10 for enjoyment.

The Art, I don't know what to say... it seems good, but it's manga, and for black and white drawings, they're all mostly the same to me, I don't pay attention much to the art quality.

The Story, because of the suspense and trying to be accurate, I'd rate it 8/10... but after reading Owning the Box and such, I really think you can't half-do accuracy like how everyone else does, but I realize that only the geekiest of geeks will care or even see the problems.

And so, overall, I'd recommend it, but, as a parallel to a "thriller" movie. If you like plot twists, suspense, and exaggerated heroes, then you'll like this.... but it isn't the great work that it could have been, if more care towards realism had been taken.
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It has been a while since I watched this two-part series, but I have to say that it surprised me, in a good way!

The story is devoid of many of the usual cliches. Instead, the characters are given depth, especially the protagonist who tries to be considerate, unsure at first of how his actions are affecting others' feelings. This is a good contrast from the strict roles which most characters are given in anime (or fiction in general), and thus gives a more human face to the drama.

However, I can't say that the story is deep or complicated. This is actually a good thing... just as they name suggest, this is a duo (two-part series) which is about sex first, friendship second, and not much else.

Rather than having some twisted, artificial plot involving magic, monsters, or general mayhem, the story simply involves your typical high-school setup with kids having an excuse to act like adults. This makes the characters much more believable.

Finally, the are is surprisingly good at times... it's not "super duper special awesome", but they are some details and variety in the animation which took a lot more effort that I usually see in a genre known for its use of repeated, limited animations.

So, in summary, I really enjoyed this series, and I think in general it is overlooked... yes, it is only two episodes, and no one feature stands out as great, but, it is enjoyable and a pleasure to watch. It allows me to suspend disbelief easily and just have a good time, and isn't that what entertainment is all about?

So overall, I'd give this a 9/10... the only thing that might make it better is more episodes, or a greater expansion of the franchise... but that's unlikely since what makes it easy to enjoy also makes it somewhat generic and unmemorable. Don't let that be a turn-off, though! This is worthwhile!
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Overall, this anime would fit the bill as "mediocre". False hope, plus the excellent experiences with the Tales of xxx franchise (e.g. Tales of Phantasia fan-translations on SNES and PlayStation) kept me interested... but the operative word was "false".

I won't summarize the story, or explain why it was "dreadful" for me. Rather, I'll tell you why I hate this: there was potential for greatness, but from the very beginning, major details ruined it.

Annoying characters, huge plot holes, directing which seemed to not take itself seriously, personalities which are easily interchangeable, and no sense of "suspended disbelief".

Nothing in this anime was worth the time it took to make it. Somewhere, early in the design process, a competent director and editor were misplaced with writers who previously only wrote fanfics and a commitee who designed the storyboards.

As as result, even with competent animation and enthusiastic efforts by the music and character design staff, the end result is much less than the sum of its parts.

Please give me back the nearly 13 hours of my life that I wasted on this!
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Being a big fan of Bible Black, I approached Discipline with both anticipation (it might be good) and caution (it might be grossly inferior, being done by a different team at the same studio or something like that). After watching it through once, I have to say I still have mixed feelings, but of a different nature.

To simplify it, Discipline is inconsistent. At some points, the animation is stellar and the characters are deep... but in others, those same characters aren't draw as well, the dialogue and story descends into absurdities, and I wonder if those parts were really from another anime but spliced in.

Although some similarity can been seen between this and Bible Black, I don't think it is an appropriate comparison. They may have a few details in common sometimes, but BB was self-consistent and high quality... this, was all over the place in terms of pacing of story, details of plot, and mood (serious/comedy).

Moreover, there is too much random sex in this anime.

Not that they are too much sex scenes, but rather, they are too random and arbitrary. There's not much opportunity to gain any appreciation or knowledge of the characters, and the tension that was build in the graphic novel is lacking here.

For that matter, the art in the graphic novel (a slightly interactive PC game) was better presented. Given that the characters there had much more depth, it seems key members from the graphic novel team were missing from the anime planning and production team.

I can only guess, but, overall, I still have to say that it has mostly good points (I did rate it 7/10 overall), so I'll describe them briefly:

Excessive Ero Content:

I never thought I'd say that an ero/hentai anime has "too much" sex, but because the sex rudely interrupts the story and feels forced much of the time, and in addition, the characters have beyond-human sexual endurance (sometimes due to "special medicine", apparently, without spoiling what little plot there is), and that means for tons of long sex scenes, orgies, and a string of encounters that seems never-ending.

Excessive Unique Plot:

I won't spoil the details, but, the plot goes from a fairly typical school setting quickly into odd, and by the end, is totally unbelievable. I'm not sure if they meant it to be funny, or believable if you stretch your imagination, but I just laughed at it... I get the impression that the writing team just went crazy and put in whatever they felt would be potentially entertaining, forcing the various parts of the plot to link together, even if they didn't fit.

Excessive Sex Scenes:

Oh, wait, I mentioned this already. But, I should mention this again, because it seems that the only thing these characters do in this anime is have sex, dream about having sex, set up organizations in order to ensure they can have much more sex, and scheme and plot to force people to have more sex.

Summary:

This is a lot of mindless sex, with an over-the-top plot which is impossible, even for an imaginary world, and can be treated as entertaining if you don't worry too much.

However, the overall quality is inconsistent, and the story was better presented in the graphic novel. So, comparisons to said novel, or other anime (esp. Bible Black, by the same studio apparently) will show this as coming up short.
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I liked this anime, but had difficulty in rating it. In some ways, it is either more or less than the sum of its parts, depending on the point of whoever is watching it.

The story is presented in a manner which involves a lot of flashbacks, dream sequences which are not clearly distinguished from reality, surreal imagery, explicated metaphor... in short, it is overwhelmingly confusing.

Even after watching the entire series, all I can say about the plot is that it is designed to mess with my head... anything else is questionable, so even if I wasn't wary of spoilers, I can't really give you any details (I mean, I could, but, not really).

If you've watched Serial Experiments Lain, or Memento, then this probably belongs in a similar category in terms of the way the story is presented as a plot.

Sound, Art:both Great! (9/10)

The sound and art have very high production values... but I would put the Art one step below perfect because, although somewhat intentional, they are so many time-jumps that not only the story, but even the action is at times difficult to follow.

The characters... (8/10)

well, they are somewhat well developed but I really had to think about that for a bit. For certain, it is an interesting way of presenting common themes by changing various details... so I will just say that the characters are very well thought out, but are overshadowed a bit by the non-linear presentation and even the "flashiness" of the art style.

They are few "slice of life" moments in this series, so it is hard to connect to even the main characters... even when background history is being given, it is usually in the midst of a battle or tense situation.

Enjoyment... (7/10)

Ouch, my head hurts!

I appreciate that the production values were high, and the plot was well thought out and spans a vary long time... but at the same time, I had to just stop the series and go to watch something else, whilst my brain adjusted to "normal time flow", least I start walking backwards or something.

In that sense, I enjoyed it less than the more linear (in terms of time presentation, but perhaps, more incomplete in terms of story details) Serial Experiments Lain... and there was so much going on, involving several major "players", that I actually found Memento easier to follow.

Overall... (8/10)

I would say this series is very good, but its presentation pace will overwhelm even people who like non-linear story presentation (anyone who claims different, just shut off their brain or something and is lying to themselves), and the ambiguous ending sparks more questions... unlike Serial Experiments Lain, which I have re-watched several times, I am deeply hesitant to even glance at Kurozuka again... it does something to stretch the mind, but perhaps in ways that it would be best not to attempt too often.

If "Ringu" and Serial Experiments Lain are mindfucks, then this is a hardcore mind-gang-rape... but by a very beautiful flock of fangirls.

Or something.
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