I hate post-Maruyama MAPPA. I can't help but hate this studio that treats its animation and production staff as if they are lower than human. Masao Maruyama founded this studio with a passion. He put his everything and created a studio where directors could bring their visions to life. And what was the purpose of all of that? Did he do all this only to see his beloved studio turn into a factory-like environment that doesn't give a damn about its staff? Also, what will happen by keeping this business vision? Will they produce as much anime as possible before most of their talented staff
...
escapes to other big studios and turn this studio into whatever goblingon MADHOUSE is nowadays? Is watching his beloved studios turning into garbage Maruyama's curse, or does MAPPA's higher-ups only care about stuffing their pockets as much as possible before the inevitable end? You might say, "Why are you talking about this in a Chainsaw Man review? Even though MAPPA's higher-ups are evil, Chainsaw Man's production has no problems!" but this will be just sweeping the problem under the rug. Although Chainsaw Man's production is still better than most other TV anime, its shortcomings are as plain as day. But let's talk about the story and characters first because I don't want to sound like an obnoxious swine that complains about everything, as if I already didn't for some people.
The story follows Denji, who made a contract with Chainsaw Devil Pochita. Their days are going with poverty because he is trying to pay the debt his father left behind. He constantly dreams of an ordinary teenage life—where he will have a warm bed, three meals a day, and a girlfriend. The golden opportunity finally knocks on his door when he dies and returns from the death by Pochita sacrificing himself, replacing Denji's heart. After this point, Denji is no more human. He is a special case who can turn into a devil, the Chainsaw Man. He joins the Public Safety's one of the devil hunter divisions with the help of a woman named Makima from the Public Safety. Here, he finally obtains a warm bed and three meals a day, and the only goal left for him is to get a girlfriend, he decides to be lovers with Makima after she was the first person who treated him like a human.
Chainsaw Man (2022) is the first 12 episodes of a series that will probably consist of 24-25 TV episodes and one cinema film in its first "saga". So, if you still haven't watched the show, mind this while setting your expectations. The first seven episodes of this season pass with character introductions and plot setting, and the real deal starts with the eighth episode. Spending more than half of the season with set-ups might sound boring for some people, but I assure you it is one of the best set-ups in this genre. It gives every needed information to the audience without spoon-feeding them. It presents its world and characters to us without relying on over-exposition. The scene where Aki warns Denji about the dangers of empathizing with devils and fiends is a prime example of this. We, as the audience, don't have a clear idea about how Chainsaw Man's world works. We know there are devils and devil hunters, but we don't know if the public has information about them. Then, instead of a character looking at the camera and explaining everything as if the audience are morons, we get a tense scene where Aki reminds Denji almost every people in this world has someone close to them killed by devils or fiends, and some of them are working for getting revenge or not letting the same thing happen to the others. Even if Chainsaw Man falls into laziness sometimes, it hugs the principle of "show, don't tell" more than all the other works in the same genre.
We see a similar fashion in the characters too. Characters in Chainsaw Man are introduced in situations where they can shine by showing their personalities. We first briefly learn how they act in certain circumstances and their personality traits, and only then dive into their inner worlds or backstories. It might seem like a feature that is easy to achieve since it's a simple aspect of writing, but you can't believe how many works try to throw tear-jerker backstories at their audience before introducing the characters properly; therefore fail at this. Chainsaw Man constantly achieves this with its supporting characters like; Power, Aki, and Himeno. Denji's case is a bit strange because we start the show by watching a sequence that can be called his backstory, but it still is a fair way to introduce Denji's character without being too much of a tear-jerker. However, we don't get character developments this season since the main focus here is serving as an introduction to a story that will be almost three times longer than the first season. There is story progression in the second half—which makes things very interesting and puts one of the characters in a very mysterious place—but that's all. Don't expect a storyline with an ultimate conclusion in this season. But you can expect highly unstable production values.
I don't know how much truth there is in it, but I believe MAPPA planned the anime adaptation of Public Safety Saga as a 2-cour TV series and a cinema film in the first place, but for some reason, the higher-ups insisted they needed to release the TV anime in 2022, even if it's during the Fall season. Once they realized there was no way they could finish a 2-cour TV series in the given time, so they divided it into two parts. I will repeat myself, I don't know how much truth there is in it, but I can't come up with another explanation for this unstable mess. On the one hand, we have scenes with beautiful backgrounds, stunning directing, creative camera work, staggering voice actings, fire soundtracks, and fluid character animations. On the other hand, we have scenes with backgrounds filled with 3D objects and crowds that look like student projects made on the weekend with a hurry, bland directing that conveys no emotions, tedious camera work, bland voice actings, unimpressive soundtracks, and janky animations. One side of this project flourishes with passion and creativity, and the other side crumbles on MAPPA's stubbornness. It's despairing to see because if MAPPA higher-ups didn't hold back the talented staff of Chainsaw Man, we could witness a production that comes twice or thrice in a decade. We still would be stuck with these dull colors, but at least everything around them would be stably good.
Also, I wonder what would Ryuu Nakayama's directing look like under ideal conditions. Because he said this in an interview:
"When I was in junior high school, "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya" was broadcast late at night, and anime boomed. However, there is a certain "type" of TV anime. The so-called Akiba-kei, moe, and other fixed concepts in subcultures, such as girls having green or pink hair, are examples of this. However, animation is not an expressive technique that can only be achieved by relying on such things. I always wanted to make something that could be seen by adults, something that would be powerful enough to withstand the viewpoint of appreciation of the work. When it came time to make an animated version of "Chainsaw Man," I looked for links to what I wanted to do, and since I love movies and Mr. Fujimoto also loves movies, I thought it would be interesting to incorporate the essence of the realistic and cinematic. Rather than personal selfishness, I'm convinced that this would benefit the work."
Even though I disagree with his "something that could be seen by adults" statement since, in recent years, we got shows that have some of the aspects Ryuu Nakayama points out and still can be seen by adults too, I still admire his passion for trying to find different ways to approach animation. So, seeing he couldn't convey his vision perfectly in this project made me sorrowful. Like the other aspects of the show I talked about, the directing is also unstable. There are scenes with a cinematic approach Ryuu Nakayama talked about, and they are a treat to get in a TV anime, but there are also scenes that are held back by this approach and end up being tedious. Also, I'm not sure what he meant by "cinematic" essence because the number of scenes that use techniques you would see in other anime is more than the number of scenes that feel cinematic. The former still has the usual directing we see in other anime with high-production values, but it doesn't have the aspects that can only be achieved through animation, which makes it automatically bland compared to the shows in the same genre, like Jujutsu Kaisen and Mob Psycho 100. As a result, all episodes except the eighth—which had Shouta Goshozono as the episode director—feel messy in the directing.
Chainsaw Man has a very talented staff that needs to be applauded since they still were able to bring an excellent show to us even though they faced MAPPA's shenanigans. It's an incredible set-up season despite being shaky in some areas. I wonder how long MAPPA can go like this before almost all of their irreplaceable staff members leave the studio, similar to what happened in MADHOUSE and Shaft. Because spending tons of money on twelve different endings while underpaying their staff members is an iniquitous thing to do.
I loved Chainsaw Man's first season and recommend it to everyone who likes to watch action shows, but I despise MAPPA's work ethic even stronger than before.
Dec 27, 2022
Chainsaw Man
(Anime)
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Recommended
I hate post-Maruyama MAPPA. I can't help but hate this studio that treats its animation and production staff as if they are lower than human. Masao Maruyama founded this studio with a passion. He put his everything and created a studio where directors could bring their visions to life. And what was the purpose of all of that? Did he do all this only to see his beloved studio turn into a factory-like environment that doesn't give a damn about its staff? Also, what will happen by keeping this business vision? Will they produce as much anime as possible before most of their talented staff
...
Reviewer’s Rating: 1
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Dec 21, 2022
Mob Psycho 100 III
(Anime)
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Mixed Feelings
After the events of the second season's last arc, Mob Psycho 100 seemed to reach its conclusion. Mob almost completed his character development, the great evil was beaten, and everyone went back to their daily lives, right? Not so much. Although the first two are correct in one way or another, there are still jobs to do with Mob's daily life. We still need to deal with the Psycho Helmet Cult, the telepathy club, Ekubo himself, and Mob's feelings for Tsubomi. But how will we handle all of these in the final season? There are only 12 episodes, and we need developments and conclusions for
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all! Concluding Ekubo's character arc is the easiest one to deal with because his character already received enough care in the first two seasons through his interactions with Mob. However, the others didn't receive any development. Psycho Helmet Cult had its moments here and there, but it never got any new elements other than being a joke cult. The telepathy club was just a comic relief aspect, and none of its characters got enough time to shine. Mob's feelings for Tsubomi always have been a driving force for Mob, but he and Tsubomi never had a meaningful interaction. We naturally need developments to conclude these, but there isn't enough time. So, how does Mob Psycho 100 III solve this problem? It doesn't. There are no developments for these three subjects in Mob Psycho III. The only thing we have here is conclusions. And a conclusion without development is nothing but an empty shell.
17%: Ekubo's Selfish Panic The whole first half of the season was reserved for bringing a conclusion to the Psycho Helmet Cult sub-plot and Ekubo's goals that were revealed way back in the first season. This arc starts with showing us Mob's daily life and his goals for the future and evolves into a more serious event with Ekubo finally putting his plan into action. Psycho Helmet Cult is used only as a tool that helps Ekubo to try to make Mob join the dark side, and I can't decide whether this is a good thing or not. On the one side, not giving this cult a greater role in the arc after teasing it for almost twenty episodes feels like wasting a nice potential. But on the other side, it would look weird if they suddenly became a major driving force of a big arc since the idea behind this cult never got developed properly. Nonetheless, I still would like to see them more because of the eerie atmosphere during eps. 4-5 that was established through this cult was startling. On the other hand, Ekubo doesn't have any of these problems. We saw the interactions between him and Mob in almost every episode since the first season and watched how his character shifted from "just a bad spirit who wants to control Mob to fulfill his own dreams" to "a familiar-like spirit who protects Mob and acts like a secondary mentor for him" So, the events in the later parts of this arc was very touching. His dialogues with Mob in eps. 5-6 and the events that happened afterward were some of the best moments in the whole series thanks to the emotional pay-off. The second season also had its high moments, but I think this one is the peak of Mob Psycho 100 in terms of character writing. It encapsulates the characters of Mob and Ekubo which are carefully developed through three seasons in a near-perfect fashion and gives us an excellent climax. I even would nominate this arc as the best of the series if it wasn't for the utterly boring second episode. 40%: Telepathy:Aliens:Memories This mini-arc with two episodes contains a grim mistake, unfortunately. This season tries to bring conclusions without developments, and the telepathy club is one of the victims of this attempt. This arc revolves around the telepathy club's president Tome's final shot at meeting with aliens together with her club. She is in her final year, and the entrance exams are getting closer, so there isn't much time left for her in this school. The story of the arc keeps moving forward with the addition of a new character who was an old member of the telepathy club and getting concluded by club members encountering aliens and spending time with them. This encounter is a bit weird, though. The whole sequence feels like a dream, so we are not sure whether these events happened or not, and the production staff accomplished this feature by creating a bizarre atmosphere through the different usage of animations and sounds. However, when you look behind the production values you see this whole arc has no weight since we didn't get a chance to know the characters in the club. They were always a shadow of the Body Improvement Club's members and served as comic relief aspects. There should've been an arc for us to know these characters better, and we should've seen them more in the slice-of-life parts of the show to get used to them even more. Without these, this arc is nothing but an example of style over substance. 56%: Mob's Feelings for Tsubomi, Or Perhaps It Is And here we are, the last story arc of Mob Psycho 100 which consists of four episodes. In the first episode of this arc, Mob learns Tsubomi will move away at the end of this school year, so he finally makes his mind up and decides to confess his feelings for her. However, he gets hit by a car while trying to save a random stranger when he is on his way to meet up with Tsubomi, and as a result, his "???%" form gets fully unleashed. This is the true nature of the final arc of Mob Psycho 100 III. Despite being the main premise of the arc, Mob's love confession to Tsubomi isn't the focus here. This is Mob's confrontation with his other self, and Mob being the final boss of himself is probably the best idea for the final arc of a series about self-improvement. However, I hate this is the only real confrontation Mob has with his monster-like side throughout the whole series. All the other times where he went 100% or ???% were used just for the audience can say, "Omg! He is so powerful and cool/scary!" those were nothing but scenes that people can use in "Badass Anime Scenes" compilations. That was also the reason why I loved the Mob vs. Ekubo fight this much. Because instead of getting another "Mob goes 100% or ???% and annihilates his opponent!" we got carefully written character drama. A similar thing happens here too. Instead of him entering the beast mode and destroying everything, we see he finally is facing his other face that he doesn't want to confront. Seeing this made me wish it had happened in the previous seasons too. It would add an extra magnificent moment to those seasons and also make the whole thing even more impressive—because this scene lacks development too. Yes, Mob's friends and old opponents try to stop him, and this gives us incredible moments since all of them had significant interactions with Mob in the previous seasons that helped Mob to grow as a person. However, we never saw Mob interacting with his monster side before. If these two had shared a couple of discussions before this arc, their conversation here would have been even more meaningful. In short, the final arc of Mob Psycho 100 is a good arc on its own, but it could've been better—also would be more befitting as the final—if more development had been provided in the previous seasons. 84%: Back to The Better Artwork One of the things I hated so much about season two was the downgrade in the visuals. The passion was lost, the unique techniques used in the first season were either absent or used rarely, and the artwork was so cheap. Sadly, the passion being lost continues in this season too. The unique techniques from the first season are still rarely seen. However, thankfully, the animations during the SoL scenes and artwork are back to their original quality. Shadings and highlights are as good as the first season, the character animations are better, the characters' faces have details, and the backgrounds don't look like they have been made on MS Paint in five minutes. Other than the improvements from the second season, the animations in the action scenes are still as excellent as ever. And I have nothing new to add to the auditory part of the show because the comments I made in my reviews for the previous seasons remain valid. 94%: The End of A 6.5-Year-Long Journey And with this, the anime adaptation of Mob Psycho 100 comes to an end. It was a production that started as a passion project to aim for visual ideas that hadn't yet been seen in anime but turned into just another Bones show after the first season. But still, despite having ups & downs and even losing its "anti-thesis of battle shounens" identity by becoming a battle shounen itself for a brief moment, it ended its run as a good series thanks to this season. 101%
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Dec 18, 2022
Mob Psycho 100 II
(Anime)
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Mixed Feelings
Mob Psycho 100 II is a mixed bag. While it keeps the ball rolling around the character writing coming from the first season and even elevating it in some points, it's utterly disappointing in the production qualities compared to the first season—because all the passion that went into the first season is lost here—and chooses the easiest and laziest way in its last arc.
Mob Psycho continues with the usual stuff in the second season; exorcism requests, dealing with spirits, and Mob's daily life. As in the first season, the first half focuses on Mob's everyday life & character development, and the second half revolves around ... the quarrel with Claw. However, we have heavier story arcs this time. They still have the wholeheartedness of the first season from time to time, but most of the first half deals with the more serious stuff. Mob faces conflicts that make him grow as a person even more. And his character development that carries over from the first season is written as good. All the various events and the people he encounters affect his character in one way or another—be it him meeting with the most powerful esper of the 20th century or a dilemma on whether to exorcise a spirit family. However, despite there being no major problem with Mob's character writing, Mob Psycho 100 II has a grim mistake that season one didn't have. In the first season, whenever Mob grew as a character and a person, the show didn't bring any extra effort to shove it into our eyes because it wasn't necessary. Any viewer who watched the show carefully would easily see Mob was growing. But the second season comes with one of the most unnecessary additions. In this season, there are some scenes where a side character will comment on some of Mob's actions with something like, "Wow, Mob, you really grew so much!" despite it being as clear as day, and they are trying to make his growth more extraordinary than it actually is. Yes, Mob really grew, but the amount of this growth and the reactions from the other characters don't match. It's like the author wanted to conclude Mob's character arc in these arcs but wasn't able to write a development that is enough to achieve this and tried to cover it with reactions from the other characters. And this causes a massive contrast between the themes and the narrative. This series is about Mob gaining self-confidence, yet the author's pen is full of insecurity. Other than Mob's character arc, we finally get a deeper look into Reigen's character in the first half of this season. We learn how his life was before opening an office for exorcism jobs and meeting with Mob, what was his ambitions, and the people he met; we also get a chance to see how he holds himself up without the help of Mob. He gets a solid character arc for two episodes and makes us remember why he is such a lovable and charismatic character. However, this character arc ends on such a weak note. Although we watch his struggles for two straight episodes, the spotlight during the climax of this mini-arc is dedicated to Reigen praising Mob for how much he grew. Yes, as I said in my review of the first season, most of the characters serving as catalysts to Mob's character development is a good technique to use in a series like Mob Psycho. But Reigen is the second most important character in this series, and I'd like to see him shine in his character arc instead of ending up as a tool for Mob's character development. All of the things I talked about in the last two paragraphs were about the first seven episodes. In the last five episodes, we get the continuation of the quarrel with Claw that's left from the first season, and, unfortunately, the Claw arc isn't good this time. Firstly, the shift between the previous episodes and the Claw arc isn't as smooth as the first season. In the previous season, the transition that had been done with Ritsu's character arc and Mob raiding the Claw's base was done naturally with the addition of different plot points through the episodes in the middle of the season. But this season, we got only one plot point used to establish the transition, and it's a very cheap shock value event. This is the first blunder of the "World Domination Arc" and it is also the less infuriating one. There are various blunders in this arc, and we can summarize most of them with one statement: Generic Battleshounen Tropes. All the characters, except for Serizawa and Mob, are one-dimensional space wastes. Especially the main antagonist is such a disappointment. After all the characters I saw in the first season, I expected the boss of the organization to have strong ideals and compelling personality traits. But what we got is an "I seek world domination because I'm the most powerful person in the world!" type of villain that doesn't bring any intriguing element to the table. The author tried to give him some personality in the last episode, but a 50-second flashback isn't a way to do this. Other than the characters, the dialogues in the action scenes are also bland and generic. The action itself is still very creative and animated very well, but most of the dialogue is full of typical, "I'm stronger than you!" "No, I'm stronger than you!" type of guff and the unnecessary explanations of the things we already can see on the screen. It's very sorrowful to see a show that should've been the parody of battle shounens comes up with the most generic battle shounen tropes in its biggest arc. Well, even though the writing has some ups and downs this season, it's still Mob Psycho 100 at the end of the day, so the production qualities should be impressive, right? Yes, it still looks and sounds way better than most of the TV anime, but it also is definitely worse than the first season and kind of a disappointment. First and foremost, the passion is lost. The animation style in this season is way too bland compared to the first season. The unique techniques used in the previous season (fluid character actings, different types of shadings like cross-hatching and smudging, etc.) are either absent or used rarely, the character actings aren't as expressive, the shadings & highlights are worse, and the artwork is less detailed. As I said before, the action itself is still very creative and animated very well, but other than that, only episode five stands out. The animation in this season is still exceptional, but it doesn't feel like the same people who made the first season made it. Here, see some screenshots from the second season; if you think I cherry-picked these ones, you can open two random scenes that belong to two random episodes from both seasons and compare them, and you will see the difference very clearly unless they are action scenes or from episode 5 of the second season. At least the auditory quality of the show is still somewhat the same. The voice-acting performances are still good, despite not having any striking moments. Kenji Kawai brought us new fantastic soundtracks. And since the comedy has reduced so much, the mismatch between the soundtracks and the sound effects happens way less than in the first season. I'm aware this review was shaped negatively overall, although the season is somewhat okay. But I can't get over how big a disappointment this season was. It has very high moments like the climax scenes of episodes 5 and 7, but the downsides I talked about are overshadowing the good parts.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Sep 29, 2022
Summertime Render
(Anime)
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Not Recommended
After getting heavily disappointed with the latest Higurashi titles—Gou and Sotsu—I was very excited about Summer Time Render. It ticked all the boxes I sought—a murder mystery in a rural town with time travel, scary monsters, two-cour without any prequel and sequel, and good production values. With the first minutes of Shinpei's journey, I quickly sold out for the series. The summer atmosphere was on point. The art style was great for the most part. The main plot was like a knock-off mix of Higurashi and Steins;Gate but still gripping, and most importantly, you could feel the thriller. So, what happened? How this propitious thriller
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show turned into a mindless action where you can't get the intensity.
The first major problem: Breaking the "Don't Show the Monster" rule In horror/thriller works, if a horrifying monster is way more powerful than the main characters is present, there's a crucial rule about not showing the monster. Why? It's simple, due to the nature of the mind, we fear the unknown. If we can't see the scary monster that tries to catch the main characters, we start to feel uneasy and almost feel like we are in the same story as those characters. Summer Time Render breaks this rule very early by showing its two main antagonists and revealing some of the most important secrets of shadows. Although nothing says this rule is absolute, if you throw it into the dumpster after the first couple of episodes, you need to use another method to make for its absence. And, once again, Summer Time Render has a perfect contender for this. One of its antagonists is a very tall shadow with four arms. His strength is ridiculous, and he has so many tricks under his sleeves. This guy was a perfect contender for being an "Implacable Man" where he will chase the main characters while they are hopelessly trying to find a solution to this calamity. However, this four-armed idiot doesn't chase the main characters. Instead, he backs down, relaxes, and gives enough time to the main characters to come up with multiple plans. If there was a threat who constantly chased the main characters and they tried to come up with a strategy during this cat-and-mouse game, it would be way more exciting. Also, it would be a match made in heaven with the shadow concept. Instead, the author used him as a simple action boss. And this is not something unique to this four-armed beast. The whole show starts to become an action story after the episode the main antagonists had introduced, and it almost totally transforms into a generic battle shounen with the start of the second half. The second major problem: ACTION!... Action? I was strongly sorrowful after realizing I got deceived into watching a battle shounen instead of a mystery-thriller. Still, I didn't fall into despair quickly. There were some battle shounens I liked a lot, and Summer Time Render could turn into one of them at the end of this journey. However, despite having some great sakuga sequences, most action scenes felt underwhelming due to the dialogues. If we trained an AI to read every battle shounen created in human history and requested it to write a new one, the story it would come up with would have the Summer Time Render's dialogues. These dialogues are the corniest, the most cheesy, and the banalest dialogues you can ever write. The plot already has enough problems—like how the time loop concept becomes a useless gimmick in the second half—and because of these AI-generated dialogues, even the good parts of the plot had left in the shadows. So, we only have a battle shounen with horrendous dialogues at the end of the day. But we still have a broad character cast. They can save this abomination, right? The third major problem: Characters, all of them I'll get straight to the point, all of the supporting characters in Summer Time Render are either generic stereotypes or failed attempts at writing characters with multiple layers. There isn't even a single exception for this. Mio is there only to create an unnecessary love triangle, Hizuru and Ushio are just fanservice materials, and Ryuunosuke is just a plot device. All three members of the Hishigata family could've been compelling characters, but they didn't get explored enough. Nezu was so close to being a well-written character, but his character arc got only 5 minutes of screen time which is very disappointing. She is just a cliché villain who wants to destroy the world. Haine is a complicated villain, but her character gets tossed out from the main focus for no reason, and Shinpei is... The fourth major problem: A failed time traveler protagonist The last and most crucial major problem I will touch on in this review is how worthless Shinpei is as a mystery story protagonist and time traveler. Although the show heavily shifted into action in the second half, it still holds onto mystery and thriller elements, so what I will complain about in the next segment will include the whole show. For time travel shows, where the protagonist needs to repeat certain events over and over to find a solution to the dire situation they are in, the main traits of the protagonist should be set very early by the author. Otherwise, the audience can see most of the protagonist's actions in the later parts of the story as unnatural or plot convenience. Two of the most popular time travel anime are good examples of this—Re:Zero and Steins;Gate. In both shows, the protagonists face much stronger enemies than themselves. And the most important thing these two shows manage to do is make the viewer as desperate as the protagonist. You know the protagonist has the wits to defeat this enemy, and you try to think about what will be the protagonist's next move and how they can beat the enemy, and this thought process makes you as nervous as the protagonist. In Re:Zero, this has been done by setting Subaru's character as a masterful tactician right in the first arc, so you know he will come up with an astonishing plan no matter how things become worse and worse. In Steins;Gate, this has been done by making Okabe a clever problem solver in the trigger messages stories—so he can be seen as a reliable protagonist when the real action starts despite him being a kind of goofball from time to time. However, in Summertime Render, just like Shinpei, you also have no idea how he will defeat the enemy because you have no idea what Shinpei can do in this situation since you don't know Shinpei enough. And the reason for this is the show didn't care about his characterization—he is just a cardboard protagonist filled with generic tropes without any riveting character traits. So, unlike in Re:Zero and Steins;Gate, the feeling conveyed to the audience is cluelessness, not despair or anything else powerful. The writing in Summer Time Render sucks, but the production values are still solid. Character animations aren't the best, and there are so many still shots in some episodes. However, it can get overlooked since the show keeps its impressive photography and composition throughout the whole series for 25 episodes. Voice actings have their ups and downs—Anna Nagase's Ushio performance was one of the downs, for example. And I'm still salty about how Natsuki Hanae's voice doesn't fit Shinpei even a bit, and they probably cast him just because of his immense popularity in recent years. But Katsuyuki Konishi and Youko Hikasa's performances were enough to say the overall voice acting quality was good. There are still some topics I didn't touch on in this review. Such as how the show comes with a complicated question about clones, but instead of focusing on this question, it throws it out of the window after "solving" it with a couple of subpar dialogues and keeps its focus on action with AI-generated dialogues. So, unless you watched all 2-cour action anime with good production values that don't have any prequel or sequel and strive for more without caring about the writing quality, nothing but disappointment awaits you in Summer Time Render.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Jun 28, 2022
Mob Psycho 100
(Anime)
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Recommended
"The show’s meant to be pure entertainment, something that you can laugh at without thinking very hard. But at the same time, we’re aiming for visual ideas that haven’t yet been seen in anime; Mob Psycho will ideally be like opening a box of very fun surprises."
—Yuzuru Tachikawa, the director of Mob Psycho 100 Under the hands of the director Yuzuru Tachikawa and Yoshimichi Kameda—an animator with a strong background—Mob Psycho 100 crushed the anime world like a wild storm in 2016 with its experimental animation. With the techniques and style we rarely see in anime; paint-on-glass animation, excessive hatched shadings, and sketchy-looking yet detailed artwork, ... Mob Psycho 100 is like a box full of surprises—just as its director pointed out. Mob Psycho 100 is a mix of action, comedy, and slice of life. The first half has served for setting up the world and the characters. The episodic stories from the start of the shown shape as different occurrences from the protagonist Shigeo "Mob" Kageyama's daily life—who is an overpowered esper. Most of these stories, politely to say, are tedious. The author used these stories for Mob's characterization, and that side of the writing is impressive. Instead of introducing us to Mob's character solely in the first episode and forgetting to develop him for multitudinous episodes, the show takes the slow route. We get to know a new thing about him in every new episode and understand his character unhurried—and this is an effective way to write a protagonist. However, the other side of these stories—the episodic plotlines—are uninspired and dull, and the reason lies in the core. Mob Psycho 100 is a show that doesn't take itself seriously most of the time and even can be considered a parody of supernatural stories by some. Therefore, these episodic plotlines usually rely on comedy for the plot progression—which isn't a problem. But Mob Psycho can't decide what type of comedy it wants to use. It sometimes tries to be a slapstick comedy and sometimes goes fully light-hearted. Of course, a show can use these two types together, but Mob Psycho is short at slapstick. The jokes used for the slapstick comedy in Mob Psycho is dry and poor. They could've solved this problem with good joke deliveries, but the show also fails with that because it chose the cheap ways again. Hence, what we see as the result is show can't decide on the focus of comedy and falls on its face. Thankfully we have an exception here, so the slapstick comedy doesn't feel unnecessary—Arataka Reigen. Reigen is the mentor and the boss of Mob. He has an office where he helps the people who come claiming they have problems with ghosts. Little do these people know that Reigen is a charlatan. He's a self-proclaimed psychic with no powers and uses ordinary methods such as aromatherapy, photoshop, and shoulder massage to solve his clients' problems. And when he runs into the real ghosts, he sends Mob to exorcise them. They presented most of these sequences with slapstick comedy, and that's the only time when slapstick of Mob Psycho doesn't feel like watching an untalented comedian embarrasses himself. Because the delivery of the jokes is good—thanks to the opportunities that Reigen's witty personality offers, no scene with Reigen is boring; you know there won't be any dry jokes whenever he's on the screen. However, woefully say, these scenes are not as frequent as the other comedy scenes. While the first half of the season focuses on the build-ups and introductions without any overarching plot, the second half takes a different turn with the involvement of Mob's brother, Ritsu Kageyama. Unlike the shy and meek Mob, Ritsu is a boy you would show as an example for the ideal student. He's socially active, good at studies, and good at almost everything he does. However, he also is jealous of his big brother's esper skills. Despite wanting to be like his brother and do cool stuff, he never obtained esper skills, and it left him a big scar he tried to hide. Three episodes in the middle of the season focus on him by turning him into a complex character from a generic sedulous student. We also meet with an organization that tries to help latent espers to awaken their true potential as espers during these episodes. And the set-up for the last episodes & the next season gets completed with a bigger fish in the similar "work field" coming into the play. The second half is where Mob Psycho 100 shines—thanks to many fun action scenes blended with comedy and character developments. Unlike the first half, the jokes during the fight scenes can hit, and the "Reigen humor" in the last episodes is even better than the other jokes done with Reigen in the show. The second half also has some tawdry slapstick comedy that doesn't hit, but thankfully it doesn't overshadow the rest of the jokes like in the first half. When I said character developments, it was about only the Kageyama brothers—because they are the only ones with proper development. Some other characters go under development too—like a strong esper Teruki Hanazawa—but none of them don't have screentime as much as the Kageyama brothers, and most of them serve as catalysts to Mob & Ritsu's developments. It is a good writing technique for a short series like Mob Psycho 100—because it averts the supporting characters steal screentime from the main characters giving them enough personality and development to be still relevant. And it is used well in Mob Psycho 100. From a random background character in a secret organization to important supporting characters like Teruki, most characters have enough personality to not ended as cardboard characters. However, this aspect of Mob Psycho 100 also has a downside—how the author handled Ritsu's character is inadequate in one of the most important sequences. The author handled Ritsu's character very well most of the time—the way his complexes and jealousy toward Mob are delivered was excellent, and he has developed heartfeltly. But, there's a moment in the middle of the series where his character takes a 180-degree turn, and despite his actions having a logical base, the igniter for it feels a bit weird because everything happens so fast. He suddenly starts to act like a different person and makes strange choices. While this should've felt like he is going through an identity crisis, it feels like he made artificial choices for plot progressions—and the main reason for this is the eerie pacing which is way too fast. However, Mob's character doesn't have any major problems like this. He is a benignant and meek boy who tries to help others and improve himself consistently. Also, he represses his emotions too much and, because of this, sometimes gets emotional outbursts. These outbursts are the highlights of their respective episodes because Mob goes insane during the process and lets out his esper abilities at the highest potential. Other than that, just as I stated before, his character is dependent on the other characters in the show. He knows himself more and grows up as he interacts with other people. He isn't just a Gary Stu. He has flaws and tries to overcome them with an unrivaled endeavor and the help of the people around him—and this makes you want to root for him. Beneath the face of an overpowered robot lies a very sympathetic character. If you are enthusiastic about animation and strive to see different animation styles with quality, Mob Psycho 100 offers you a glorious stage for it. The animation in Mob Psycho 100 is experimental, explosive, and delightful. The animators always push the limits and don't care about the rules for reaching the exact image they had in their minds. The motto of going to the unreached highs is the central point of Mob Psycho 100's production. Paint-on-glass animations of Miyo Sato, fluid character actings, different types of shadings like cross-hatching and smudging, sketchy line art, expressive animations, and more—Mob Psycho 100 is the home of experimental and fun animation styles. So, even though the premise of Mob Psycho 100 doesn't suit your preferences, I suggest you give this show a chance if you are looking for a unique and good animation. Unlike the animation quality of Mob Psycho 100—which is near perfect for a TV production—the auditory part of the show has some issues. Bones got Kenji Kawai—one of the most iconic Japanese composers of all time—for Mob Psycho 100. He has a gripping yet tranquil style that glues the listeners to their seats and sends chills down their spines. With his unique usage of instrumentals and choir, he creates a distinctive atmosphere—and Mob Psycho 100 is yet another example of his beautiful style. I can't say this is his best work or even close to his other anime OSTs, but it still has the quality you expect from Kenji Kawai. However, there is one crucial problem that ruins everything: sound effects. The sound effects in Mob Psycho 100 don't blend well with the OST even in the slightest. The soundtracks try to create a mystical atmosphere, while the sound effects are something you would hear in Tom & Jerry. They are too cartoonish for their good which is the opposite of the vibes that come from the soundtracks. I don't know if they tried to create a unique feeling by mixing up these two contrasting elements, but I have to say they failed so hard. Sometimes it feels like someone took the original show and threw a bunch of random sound effects to destroy its atmosphere. Also, there are some scenes where the sound effects fit the scene well, but the soundtrack feels out of place. The vase scene in episode 7 is a fine example of it. It's supposed to be a satire scene with a twist at the end, so the cartoonish sound effects make sense—despite the fact the sound director used these effects unnecessarily too much—but the soundtrack feels like it doesn't belong to this scene. As the Yuzuru Tachikawa said in an interview, Mob Psycho 100 was like opening a box of very fun surprises. It's filled with fun and experimental animation techniques on top of a nice story. However, this box also has some unwanted contents that would be better if they didn't exist. Nevertheless, it's a solid first season—and everyone who wants to watch a unique and good animation should give it a chance.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jun 27, 2022
Zankyou no Terror
(Anime)
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Mixed Feelings
*This review originally posted at AniList on 2022/05/08*
Coming from two big names in the industry, Shinichiro Watanabe and Yoko Kanno, and produced by MAPPA—a newly founded studio by one of the industry legends, Masao Maruyama—Zankyou no Terror was an intriguing title. At least, it probably was an intriguing title for the people who had background knowledge about these names back in 2014. I was a newcomer in the anime medium with no background information when I first watched Zankyou no Terror, and I didn't have any big expectations. But it still was quite an experience. It quickly grabbed me with its realistic approach to the ... medium, beautiful OST, striking directing, appealing characters, and compelling story. What would you ask more from a show, right? With this mentality and believing it's a total masterpiece, I spent years after years, and despite rewatching it a couple of times, I've never realized its big mistakes. However, my preferences for a story and anime changed over the years. And also, I started to understand the fundamentals of writing better—and as I thought about it more, I began to comprehend its narration mistakes roughly. Yet I didn't watch it one more time to confirm my doubts. At least until now. I recently rewatched it again, and now I can see where it did go wrong for Zankyou no Terror more clearly. Zankyou no Terror starts with two youngsters who call themselves Sphinx do planned bombings in Tokyo and announce it beforehand through videos on social media. In these videos, they are giving riddles about the place of the bombing to the police. It catches the attention of Shibasaki, a former detective now working in the archives for disobeying orders given in a case fifteen years ago. And he solves their second riddle, which leads to him returning to the first unit. Then he eventually realizes something bigger is happening behind the scenes and tries to unravel what they are trying to accomplish. The story goes very straightforwardly from start to end without taking a detour. It might sound appealing at first, but believe me, it's not—at least not for a show like this. Zankyou no Terror is a show that tries to be a plot-driven and character-driven story with a low episode count. It's a very challenging task only a few can accomplish, and, saying this in sorrow, Zankyou no Terror is not one of them. I'm sorrowful, and the reason for that this show is not just a random one that fails on this task because it can't cut it. This show had the potential of being successful and making a name for itself as an undoubtful masterpiece. After all, it has spectacular production values and a magnificent first five and final six episodes of a two-cour show. However, the middle episodes of that two-cour show are absent here. It only has eleven episodes, and this causes it to conclude with its plot and characters remaining undercooked. If it took some detours instead of trying to reach the final at lightning speed, it could add more layers to its story and characters, which were necessary to make this a better show. Shinichirou Watanabe commenced this project with a clear goal in his mind—showing the effects of war on children & innocent people and how tomorrow always bears hope with a unique story concept. It's easy to make people emotionally invested in the story and cast with a theme like this. So, it's a good choice. However, the execution of this is another story. Go and ask this theme to the people who watched Zankyou no Terror. I bet most of them will say it's an overreading. Is it because they are not smart enough to understand what Shinichirou Watanabe tried to do, or the story itself? They certainly are not. That's the fault of the show, not otherwise. The main idea and the messages are still there. You can dig it up and get them. Regardless, it doesn't change the fact narration is weak and couldn't portray the message proficiently. There is almost no trace of this message until the last three episodes, and it heavily relies on exposition in those final episodes. Also, there's a possibility some people still couldn't understand the show's message even after that exposition because it's a bit vague. That's where the symbolism steps in. There's one thing in the show almost every scene contains: The colors of the flag of Iceland. Items in blue, red, or white appear on the screen too often, usually at the same time—I know there are too many countries with the same flag colors, but the word "VON" is also used many times in the show, which means hope in Icelandic, so it's Iceland without a doubt. So, why did Watanabe choose Iceland specifically? Because Iceland got invaded during World War 2 despite staying neutral. It's similar to the Japanese government in the show using innocent children as test subjects to improve the situation of their country. However, this symbolism is even vaguer than the narration through it tries to convey its message. Therefore, it doesn't hold any value in the end. The same thing also goes for almost every other symbolism in the show. Most of them are cool and all—but they fail when working in context due to the lack of a strong narration. "If it doesn't have a striking narrative to be a good plot-driven show, how does it spend time until the last three episodes? Is it a character-driven story that contains character arcs?" Unfortunately, no. It does not have character development or exploration until the last three episodes. This show offers a magnificent first five and final six episodes of a two-cour show. It starts outstanding and quickly hooks the audience with well-paced first five episodes. Then it starts to take a weird turn in the middle of episode six. The story after that point feels as if we skipped ten-episode worth of content. It gives all five main characters clear goals and enough personality traits to not make them feel like cardboard characters. However, their characterizations and character arcs are a mess. Sphinx members, Nine and Twelve, start the story as simple terrorists and get more and more characterization as the story progresses. However, these characterizations don't add up after a point. We can summarize their characters as Nine is the cold-headed and Twelve is the happy-go-lucky one of the group. They balance each other nicely, but the show fails to deepen their characters. The saddest thing about this is the show gets too close to success at deepening Twelve's character but fails because of the pacing choices. He gets involved with Lisa too much—she is a random girl who becomes their accomplice after their first bombing—and starts to develop some bond with her because there was no one he could befriend until now except his lifelong companion, Nine. However, this attempt fails because the show decides to move to the final stage without proper story development. If the show had more episodes, it could utilize his potential. For example, they could've written his character arc as he learns how to get loved and love someone for the first time in his life and live like a regular teenager. Don't get me wrong—I don't try to say this is precisely how Twelve's character arc should've done. It's just a random story concept that came into my mind after seeing the failed romance attempt of the show between Twelve and Lisa. The situation is even worse for Nine and Shibasaki because they don't even have character arcs. They are there only to make the story move and don't have any crucial impact that can come only from them. You can replace them with similar characters from a random crime drama—and the story would stay the same. However, they are still fun to watch. And this is what makes me sad the most. With the addition of good character arcs, they could be unique and riveting characters. I have no idea what could've been done with Nine since the show gives almost no room for creativity to think about a possible character arc for him, but there's a lot to do with Shibazaki. The simplest yet effective one that came to my mind is a buddy cop story. When Shibasaki was assigned back to the first unit, a newbie officer named Hamura—who didn't know Shibasaki was a talented detective back in the day—was there. He already got some characterization, so they could've written interesting character developments by turning him and Shibasaki into a team. It also would help the story since they could've done more things with the journey of Shibasaki to solve the mystery behind the Sphinx's actions. What they did in the show with Shibasaki and his journey is giving it a couple of scenes where Shibasaki realizes all of the bombings Sphinx did were somehow connected and wrapping it up in the last three episodes with a rushed plot. With the addition of more than ten episodes and a buddy cop subplot, Shibasaki and Hamura could've solved the mystery with a pacing that feels more natural. Now it's time to talk about the female main characters of the show—Lisa and Five. They are the ones who often get the most criticism for being unnecessary among the main characters. Do I agree? My answer depends on what we are talking about here. If we are talking only about the existing content, my answer is—yes, they are unnecessary and steal screen time from the other main characters. Also, their existence causes both the plot and character developments to end as rushed. But if we are talking about this show's true potential, my answer is—no, they are not unnecessary. Both Lisa and Five are characters with tons of potential. Lisa has a mother who mentally abuses her, and she is a lonely girl who gets bullied in school—also, at the start of the story, she wants everyone in the world to disappear. With a characterization like this, she has a lot of room to develop. And what I said for Twelve goes for Lisa too. Lisa and Twelve are a perfect match because how both need someone to love them in their lives. However, this idea doesn't get explored much, and Lisa becomes just a Damsel in distress not only once but three times. She gets into trouble three times only to get rescued by Twelve. Also, her character arc ends without any significant development. We don't know if her life got any better after all the things she went through. The only thing we got is an implication that she started to have hope in life. Her character is another misused element of the show, and I understand why people see her as a nuisance. Although Lisa is a misused character, I can see what Watanabe tried to do with her and the theme of hope. However, I have no idea why Five does exist. What is the purpose of Five for the story? I'm asking you because I have no idea. I can't see anything she does good for the story. However, if this was a two-cour show and she got a character exploration, we could justify her existence by saying she spices things up and provides a dramatic character arc. And this isn't a wild dream because it's clear they wanted to make Five a character with clear motivations and goals. During her last meeting with Nine, she tells him how she always wanted to surpass him, and he is the only thing that made her be able to come this far. This whole speech of hers should've been a complete character arc. We should've seen how she struggled only to meet with Nine for one more time before her time was up. It was the only way she would've been relevant to the story. I know I was too harsh against Zankyou no Terror, but the reason for that isn't that I think it's a bad show. It's the opposite—I see Zankyou no Terror as a good show. However, I also think it had the potential to be much better, yet it couldn't utilize this potential. It's a good show, but it could've been an undoubtful masterpiece. With this said, I think it still can provide a good watch thanks to its spectacular directing, high production values, and fast yet smooth pacing for the people who want to watch a short and completed TV anime. But, of course, this is only viable if you think a show that feels like more than ten episodes in the middle of it removed is a completed show. I know I was too harsh against Zankyou no Terror, but the reason for that isn't that I think it's a bad show. It's the opposite—I see Zankyou no Terror as a good show. However, I also think it had the potential to be much better, yet it couldn't utilize this potential. It's a good show, but it could've been an undoubtful masterpiece. With this said, I think it still can provide a good watch thanks to its spectacular directing, high production values, and fast yet smooth pacing for the people who want to watch a short and completed TV anime. But, of course, this is only viable if you think a show that feels like more than ten episodes in the middle of it removed is a completed show.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jun 27, 2022 Not Recommended
*This review originally posted at AniList on 2022/03/12*
So, what are the essences of Higurashi? - Mystery - Friendship - Suspense - Thriller - Horror - Lots of gore ... - Psychology What did producers say while deciding to make Outbreak? "Hey, guys! Let's make a Higurashi story that is filled with action!!!!" probably. Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kaku: Outbreak is an apocalypse movie. Somehow an experiment goes wrong, then the Hinamizawa Syndrome happens globally, and, of course, it starts in Hinamizawa first. And we watch how Keichii, Mion, and Rena try to escape from Hinamizawa while saving Satoko from the infected villagers who blame outsiders (Rena and Keichii's families) and Satoko for this virus. Villagers kidnap Satoko for sacrificing her to Oyashiro-sama and try to kill Rena and Keichii's families to stop the virus. How do they do this? Of course, with action! Rena takes her hatchet, Keichii grabs Satoshii's bat, and they beat the shit out of 20+ villagers for saving Satoko with banger action music in the background! Just kidding, this OVA doesn't have any banger music. And I couldn't know if it had one because you can't hear the music as its volume is too low. Action scenes are boring, and the subpar animations make things even worse. It's just your Higurashi characters in boring action. There's no mystery, no suspense, no horror, no lots of gore, no lots of gore, no psychological themes, and also no Shion. The only thing this OVA executed right was the friendship between the main cast, and even it's not anything above mediocre. Mion almost sacrifices herself to save Rena, and Keichii & Rena throw themselves into the middle of danger to rescue Satoko. Oh, how can I forget! Also, Rika makes a pseudo-deep speech in front of her friends through the end because Higurashi isn't Higurashi if Rika starts to talk like an adult and her friends don't suspect anything! I watched every Higurashi title in the anime medium except for Ura☆Higu, and this Outbreak OVA was the worst one out of all, without leaving room to doubt. Yes, it's even worse than Gou and Sotsu. Although having a terrible script, even those two captured the essence of Higurashi until a point. So, if you watched all TV seasons of Higurashi and want more of it, don't watch this OVA—it isn't worth it. I recommend you to watch Nekogoroshi-hen. It's not anything stellar, but at least I can look at it and say, "Yes! This story is Higurashi." But this OVA is just a pile of garbage filled with terrible action. I have no idea why they did something like this back in the 2010s. It could be an understandable project if they were making something like a gacha game about this OVA, but that's not the case, as far as I know. The only thing that comes to my mind is that they wanted to milk Higurashi even more, so someone said, "Let's make a spin-off story!" and Outbreak came to life. However, I can't understand how someone thought a Higurashi story that has nothing to do about Higurashi except for Hinamizawa and the characters would sell. Maybe I'm the stupid one here, and OVA made them a good profit by selling well. The only thing I know is it's awful.
Reviewer’s Rating: 2
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Jun 27, 2022
Aria the Animation
(Anime)
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Recommended
*This review is originally posted at AniList on 2022/01/03*
Iyashikei is a genre I didn't get used to without any difficulty. For a long time, I preferred shows with plots when it comes to SoL, like 3-gatsu no Lion, and found the iyashikei shows boring. However, this changed when I watched ARIA 2 years ago. It hooked me with its breathtaking atmosphere and compelling world-building. It also encouraged me to watch more iyashikei shows. And after a while, this sub-genre full of beautiful things became one of my favorites. The story takes place in the 24th century. The world is almost unlivable because of the toxic gasses, ... and humans finally found a way to terraform Mars. However, some mistakes happened during the process, and most of the planet was submerged. After this incident, people saw this as a chance to rebuild Venezia, which sank because of many floodings. Although it sounds futuristic, Neo-Venezia is a city that is still teeming with rustic beauty; gondolas on wide canals and waterways are the main transportation. Akari Mizunashi is an Undine (gondolier) trainee in one of the gondola transportation companies—the Aria Company. The main story of ARIA follows Akari and her two friends' journey to becoming Prima Undines (master gondoliers). Although this is the main story of ARIA, the show generally follows Akari's daily life, so it's an episodic show. However, it's not something you can skip any episodes because it has a cohesive story that plays in chronological order, and almost every episode affects the next ones. Characters get developed carefully with either side stories that affect their characters or worldbuilding plots that teach them important life lessons. ARIA has six main characters (three Undine trainees and three Prima Undines) and nine supporting characters (three of them are cats) you will keep seeing through all seasons. However, since this is the introduction season, the only character who gets fleshed out is the protagonist, Akari. The other main characters still get characterizations but remain one-dimensional stereotypes (like kuudere, tsundere, etc.) until the sequel seasons, when they get fleshed out in their character arcs. And the same situation goes for the world too. ARIA The ANIMATION can sometimes make you feel stuck in a box, but that's because this is the introduction season, and its purpose is to make you teach how this world works. It doesn't want you to release to its beautiful world without knowing anything about it. So first, you need to learn where you are and who these people are. That's the purpose of The ANIMATION—making you ready for the exploration and side stories in the second season. It can sound boring, but it's not. It still provides some interesting side stories—which are mostly anime original. As you can see, this season is just an introduction to the sequel seasons. It doesn't have remarkable character developments (except for the protagonist) or striking episodic stories. So what makes this season beautiful? The answer is the atmosphere. ARIA has one of the most unique atmospheres you can come across in an anime. Choro music, 16th-18th century European architecture, magical soundtracks, and Junichi Satou's magical directing create a beautiful and relaxing atmosphere. It wraps you up with a lukewarm breeze and gives you spine-chilling comfort. So take a cup of tea or coffee, lean back in your seat, and let the show makes you feel like you are also in that world with these characters. That's the charm of ARIA—it's escapism at its finest. Think of this season as a free trial. Even if you don't like iyashikei, give it a chance. If you don't like it, you don't have to watch the sequel seasons—you can drop it. But if you enjoy it and decide to watch the rest of the series (and even more iyashikei), what awaits you is a beautiful world.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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