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Nov 23, 2020
Talentless Nana (Munou no Nana), had a promising start and an interesting premise, but squandered it all within the 8 episodes I watched. Before we get into the spoilers, on the strength of premise and opening alone, I don't totally hate the show, but the more I watch, the worse it becomes. Spoilers Ahead.
The unexpected plot twist in episode 1 also functions as the main draw to keep watching. At first, I expected Nana to cleverly dispatch a few of the kids with ease, but then struggle and falter as the degree of difficulty of each subsequent kill surely increases as the class starts noticing
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people are dropping like flies.
In some ways, it actually does pan out like this, but written in what feels like the worst possible route to get there. Rather than multiple kids getting suspicious, there's literally just 10 brain cells spread out across all the students, and "Kyoya" the resident Sherlock has all of them. He apparently is the only one that gives any amount of shit about their literal classmates dying and disappearing. Every other character is written like an absolute moron who either acts against their own self interest and/or the overall group.
Without getting into all the mindnumbing details, every person Nana kills after the initial kill has some reason to be suspicious, yet does nothing about it. A person who can literally see the future, and sees their apparent death, rather than notifying literally anybody, just "accepts his fate". He then proceeds to shounen rape Nana for some inane reason.
It's essentially the shounen *wink wink nod nod* for sexual assault, where the guy asks "Nana" to be his girlfriend and stay in his room. They're not quite brave enough to come out and say he's trying to rape his murderer, so instead Nana becomes his totally not sex slave and cleans his room. It feels like a lazy half baked reason for why Nana gets off scot free for all her murders up far.
Basically, Clairvoyant Camera Guy is a Scumbag DumDum (TM) and so obviously won't tell his classmates about the cute girl murderer going around whacking kids, just in case he gets that sweet sweet killer poon sometime in the future.
None of the characters act with any sense of logic or reasoning behind their actions. Having some off-kilter characters isn't a problem, but the entire cast shouldn't be full of numbskulls, otherwise the idea of going to all this effort to kill them seems laughable. Overall, the show leaves a bad taste in the viewer. It feels disrespectful to our intelligence, as if the average viewer wouldn't be able to tell how absolutely ridiculous the circumstances around Nana are to let her keep getting away with murder, literally.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Feb 6, 2020
So far, ID:Invaded has been supremely engrossing to watch. The iconic opening sequence of the show, where the Brilliant Detective splits apart as the camera slowly zooms out has already been seared into my memory.
While the show still hasn't revealed many of its mysteries, the central conceit involves remotely exploring the minds of serial killers, via some fancy technology (the Wakamusubi) named after Japanese mythology. What's more interesting however, is the backstory of our "Brilliant Detective", Sakaido.
He seems to have committed some unspeakable crimes resulting in his current predicament as a prisoner in a prison for serial killers. The story beats are timed just right,
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with gradual reveals showing us what our "hero" has lost, as well as what he has currently become.
And he has lost much indeed, attempting to fill the holes in his heart with a certain dead artifact found in every serial killer's mindscape that he encounters.
Ultimately, what has me wanting more, however, is the very nature and insanity of this world our protagonist dwells in. A Japan plagued by an epidemic of serial killers, and that epidemic's root cause.
The initial episode features some brilliantly stylized animation and character designs, especially for the serial killer featured in that episode. While that upfront quality does dip slightly by the third episode, it's still very watchable and better than a lot of the generic isekai out there. As with most mystery shows, the show's quality hinges on the unraveling and resolution of the central mysteries surrounding the plot. I am firmly not in the camp that a mediocre ending completely undermines an otherwise good show...in most cases. But for a mystery show, there is a large element of delayed payoff, essentially an IOU issued by the show's creators that all the smoke and mirrors are worth it.
So far, it's looking like it will be.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Oct 4, 2016
The studio and creators handled D.Gray-man Hallow poorly. Most of the people watching the sequel are doing it out of nostalgia for the original. So when the creators fundamentally change the art style and character designs that were so endearing to so many fans, it's obviously going to come off as abrasive.
For example, Lenalee, especially in the initial episodes, was turned into a carbon copy of every other cute anime girl. Essentially without substance, she just felt too sweet and artificial. The Lenalee from the original anime, while still excessively sweet, felt real. Her story wasn't all lollipops and rainbows and it SHOWED. It
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showed through her actions and her dialogue and even simply her character design.
Besides that, D.Gray-man has always had a problem with power scaling and consistency, relying more on guts and nakama power. This is partly what made the show so endearing, but it also makes it extreeeeeeeemly irritating. Akumas that wipe the floor with Point Breakers last season, now seem to be a walk in the park. On the other hand, the Noahs are even more overpowered than they ever were before.
However, even with all its flaws, D.Gray-man can still intrigue the viewer and pull them into the web of mysteries once in a while. It still functions as good entertainment, and while I get irritated watching it at times, I never had to force myself to finish. So for that I give it a 7/10.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Aug 12, 2016
GATE has a MAJOR problem with subtlety. And by problem I mean subtlety to GATE means mowing your enemies down with machineguns instead of bazookas.
From the outside, this show looks like it hits all the right points. Big action scenes, large fantasy world adventure, political intrigue, moral issues like slavery, and so on. Oh also elf girls.
The thing it lacks though, is subtlety. This manifests itself in several ways. The action scenes, even though they're filled with raining bullets and mortars, generally have no sense of tension or suspense involved. Mostly because only one side has the bullets. While it makes sense that a modern
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army would easily beat a medieval one, are we supposed to believe that these pseudo-medieval armies have never heard of strategy or using the terrain to their advantage? Once you see that fighting people in the open is a bad idea, draw them into woodlands or forests where close-quarters combat becomes more important.
But we all know the JSDF is going to win because they're perfect and can do no wrong. Which leads into to the problem of blind nationalism espoused by the anime. The Self Defense Force is blameless and everything is the media's fault, the politicians' fault, the civilian population's fault, etc etc.
Now I can understand that an anime can contain some nationalism, in fact it's probably so abrasive and noticeable because I'm not used to the propaganda of other countries. However, I can still be critical of it because it adds next to nothing to the show and detracts from it greatly. If the show creators had been able to adopt a more nuanced position, showcasing the moral ambiguities in all parties involved, GATE could've easily become one of the best animes of the year.
Instead, almost all the major moral themes in the anime are treated with heavy-handedness and are painted over in either black or white, never shades of grey.
GATE becomes a little boring and tedious to get through after a while. I applaud the attempt at political intrigue they introduced but ultimately it was half-baked, it wasn't very gripping or suspenseful, something that political drama needs to do well to be successful. The consequences of the actions of major characters are often glossed over. Additionally while corruption is portrayed as rampant in the political sphere, somehow the military is squeaky clean? There were great opportunities to introduce some ulterior motives within the upper levels of the military hierarchy, but ultimately those chances were squandered.
GATE was a wasted opportunity. With a tiny bit of subtlety in the writing and directing of the show, a masterpiece would've been within reach. The scope of the anime was perfect to showcase major themes and invoke raw emotion but it was all wasted for what turned out to be an utterly mediocre anime. I give it a 5 or 6 out of 10 because even after all that, it's still not a totally horrible watch. There are entertaining moments, though the anime failed to produce any significant impact for me.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Aug 7, 2016
Nisekoi is extremely clichéd, and the idea of a dense harem protagonist trying to pick a girl is certainly overwrought. Even so, it's an extremely lovable ball of fun. I give it a triple EEE rating, Extremely Enjoyable Entertainment.
Essentially Nisekoi is the type of manga that is easily loved, you just have to allow it.
Now that the manga is finally over and the protagonist has finally chosen a girl (though she wasn't my pick 😞), the conclusion of the manga leaves behind a wholesome and heartwarming feeling. I have no illusions about the critical aspect of the manga. It's definitely not high-brow art, but just
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about anyone can enjoy it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jun 30, 2016
I've always been a sucker for the generic action shounens. Boku no Hero Academia is no different but there are certainly some critical flaws and successes in the anime. Also as a sidenote- I love and keep up with the manga, and I believe that the story in the manga gets better after the part that the anime adapted.
To start off, one of the gripes i have with this anime is the somewhat slow pacing. The anime only went through 8 chapters of the manga with the first 6 episodes of the anime. I'm pretty sure even One Piece right now goes through
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more chapters in 6 episodes. I understand why the pacing is so slow though because the anime wanted to conclude right after Deku faces his first villains(trying not to spoil too much), mostly because that arc functioned as a good conclusion for an anime getting another season. However the slow pacing in the beginning still decreased enjoyability for me.
Secondly, Deku's character (the protagonist) is really annoying at times. In the manga this can be overlooked because his character is constantly played off as being purposefully very generic for comedic effect, though Deku is still quite irritating in the manga as well. In the anime, however, Deku's sniveling and cry baby attitude can be extremely irritating at times. I understand this is all part of Deku's characterization but I feel like it could have been pulled off better than it has been in the anime.
Moving on to the good stuff about the anime, the animation is quite beautiful to look at and I like the way they animate Izuku's punches in superpower mode. Also even with the pacing issue, the anime is still very enjoyable and doesn't require too much mental stimulation which makes for a great anime to watch when you want to relax.
If you like a nice superhero story with interesting abilities and an underdog protagonist, this anime is definitely for you. Boku no Hero Academia isn't particularly deep or introspective or anything like that, but it is a fun watch as long as you don't mind the pacing. It isn't a must watch, nor is it a definitely avoid, Boku no Hero Academia falls comfortably in above average territory.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Mar 13, 2016
I watched this anime at a point where I was starting to become a bit more cynical about anime. I had this nagging feeling haunting me that I had watched most of the good anime, the ones that I would enjoy, and even if I did watch better anime later, I would become too jaded to properly enjoy them.
Now, I'm definitely going to sound pompous here, but I've always thought that I had a pretty good taste in anime, but at the same time, never so elitist that I fail to just enjoy an anime without trying to criticize it to death. Well I
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was starting to become a bit more elitist, and then this anime came along. It really resonated with me.
You see, one of my friends had just committed suicide. Suicide. Effing SUICIDE. You always hear the stories of people whose lives were taken by their own hands, and you think, that's so sad but oh well its just some stranger in the end. And then it happens to someone you know. Someone you PERSONALLY KNEW. Someone you had talked to often, though eventually you drifted apart.
Then, as if by some divine intervention, the day after I got the news, I watched the episode where they almost committed suicide(the first time). I won't lie, it hit me. I bawled like a baby. I even felt guilty for crying, because I thought, I never really reached out to this guy, I never really tried to understand him, so I don't have the right to cry. He'd probably even laugh at me up in heaven if he saw me.
And precisely THAT is why I rated this anime so highly. Maybe it was just my own personal experience, but if that's the case, you can just treat this review as a extremely subjective opinion. This anime is amazing because it made me feel emotion that I hadn't felt in the last hundred anime I watched. It's amazing because it gave meaning to a life I didn't pay enough attention to.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Jan 10, 2016
Firstly, let me start by saying that this anime is fantastic and if you haven't watched it, please do immediately. As you can clearly tell, I love Steins;Gate. Now minor SPOILER ALERT!
A lot of people say this anime is original and it certainly is, though not 100% so. In my case, at least at the beginning of the series, I felt distinct Terminator vibes from the show. That sort of turned me off so my opinion of the show dipped a little, not because I don't like Terminator, but just because it seemed like Steins;Gate was
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ripping it off. Well in basically an episode after that I was back in love.
The story executes fantastic twists and turns and foreshadows them so well that you can never say they pulled something out of their ass. The show's handling of time travel is so adept and skillful that I'm constantly comparing other works involving time travel to Steins;Gate. Usually when any kind of story involves time travel, I immediately, perhaps even subconsciously, lower my expectations for the story because as we all know, time travel is a very hard thing to get right. But Steins;Gate always raises the bar with each episode and then proceeds to break through that bar.
The only part of Steins;Gate that I rated less than an 8 was the art simply because I use shows like Unlimited Budget Works as the benchmark. This isn't to say that the art in Steins;Gate is bad, on the contrary, it's very good but it's just not the absolute best. Personally though, I'm not a stickler for amazing art and animation. After an anime meets an arbitrary baseline for quality of art, I mostly judge it for story. Exceptional art is just icing on the cake.
P.S. I really love the OP and ED. I'm always humming the theme songs without realizing it.
Edit: This review was extremely embarrassing to read after a few months had passed since I wrote it. Pretty much just blatantly fanboying all over this review. Anyway I revisited this anime recently and while I still can see why I liked this series so much, it isn't a perfect 10 for me anymore though it might be on the border. Anyway I bumped it down to a 9. Might go down or up in the future.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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