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Jan 10, 2016
Seraph of the End: Half Way Point Review
Watched until episode eleven then wanted to shoot myself.
From Wit Studio, the creative force behind Attack on Titan, comes a brand-new action series—Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign! After a mysterious virus wipes out ninety percent of humanity, vampires emerge from the recesses of the earth to enslave mankind, treating them like livestock. After growing tired of donating blood in exchange for protection, 12-year-old Yuichiro Hyakuya and his best friend Mikaela Hyakuya plot an escape along with the other orphans. After being the only successful runaway, Yuichiro joins the Moon Demon Company, an extermination unit of the Japanese
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Imperial Demon Army dedicated to killing off vampires.
The first episode didn't make much sense but did grab my attention enough to watch the next episode. I really liked the opening scenes of this anime with everyone dying, planes crashing, car accidents and so on. It was chaos as adults seemed to be dying from a terrible outbreak which occurred in a manner of seconds. We then see the Vampires emerging, from where? I don't know but they are obviously unaffected. We then see the children being harvested for blood and ushered to live in this underground city. Watching their harsh lives play out while living below was very interesting. The power dynamic was excellent and well shown. Everything was good....up until the main character escapes and the entire anime seems to take a massive nose dive into poo.
A military group called the Moon demon company somehow knew of the of main character's escape and simply shows up at the right place and time to fetch him. We then learn, from the leader of this company, that a prophecy is what lead him there. Sounds more like a cheap half assed excuse to rush the story along. So now as the story progresses we learn that 90% of the human population is gone, the world looks like crap, there are monsters roaming the streets, and Vampires lurking underground but I'm supposed to believe that in four years or so they got a full scale working Military with clean uniforms, plenty of food; including packaged food and working vending machines, oh yeah, and a large school in perfect condition...cause what would anime be like if it didn't have a school setting?
So now we have this Main character named Youchiro who is the typical shonen main character. Full of false bravado and is generally an annoying little asshat. He's now in school, surprise, surprise, and the purpose for him being in school is to make friends. Like that couldn't have been done anywhere else. But Youchiro is a little angsty bitch who doesn't want any friends due to losing the last group of friends he was an angsty little bitch to. But for some reason, everyone is a masochist so he ends up making friends anyway.
So now he gets to join the Moon Demon Company and get himself cursed demon weapons that can kill the vampires that came out of nowhere. So far I have no idea where the demons come from, how the military realized this power existed much less how to use it, but it looks cool...so I guess that's it.
So he gets his weapon, makes his new friends, and they all are on the same team. Their job is to go out...in formation....and kill Vampires. Problem, when were they ever taught this formation? This little annoying blonde haired girl keeps yelling about this formation they are supposed to keep, yet never really go over what the formation is. It just seems like all she wants is for them to stick together. Someone ought to inform her that's not a formation. So the main character acts like an equally annoying asshat and leaves the team to rescue a little girl, do whatever he wants blah blah, fight vampires blah blah and no matter how crappy their situation gets he's told in the end that he did the right thing.
Anyhow, he is eventually reunited with Mika, his best friend and family who he thought died during the escape. If you wanna get mad over that spoiler, don't. The anime's opening credits pretty much spoils Mika's fate so his death isn't as heart wrenching as it should have been. Mika, is now a Vampire who wishes to save his friend from the people who are just using him. But instead of just freaking telling him this and explaining the situation he tries to whisk him away...ya know, for tension reasons. So combined with Youchiro watching his friends get 'playfully' bitten by the Vampires...who for some odd reason don't just kill them outright when they had the chance; and his friend being turned into a Vampire. He loses his shit and turns into a fugly half ghoul angel demon thing who of course wants to kill sinners....oh yeah I forgot that this has something to do with the Bible....I think.
And don't worry folks, he can be brought back to his human self through the power of hugs.
So far this story has Vampires, biblical apocalypse monsters, a prophecy, a random plague, a full underground vampire city, a human army with demon weapons, and some sort of possible scientific experimentation, and a main character half demon ghoul thing who can be cured by hugs. It's like the creators just decided to toss anything into this anime that sounded cool and/or moved the "plot" along.
I'm on episode eleven so far and I have no questions than answers.
When did this experimentation take place? How did the Moon Demon Company know the kid existed? Where he was? And when and where to search for him? What is this prophecy? Where did the Vampires come from, the demon weapons, the apocalypse monsters, a school, vending machines, and prepackaged foods.
I don't know if I want to continue to find out...
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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May 24, 2014
I decided to watch this anime because the screenshots reminded me a bit of a toned down Count of Monte Cristo and I am still on my quest to find animes with adult leading characters. I figured, why not? It's about a college student with a major in Economics who gets wrapped up a battle to prevent the economic collapse of his country...sounds pretty interesting. Well this is no Wall Street.
It's basically about a guy named Yoga Kimimaro who looks like a highschool boy but is supposed to be in college...I suppose I can overlook that as not everyone looks like an adult in
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college. He majors in economics yet knows next to nothing about money, investing, and so on. He basically just works at a convenience store and save up. He's in love with his friend who has a boyfriend and the story begins when he gets a random deposit of a large sum of money and a visit by a weird being from some other realm they call the financial district. Now I'm going to stop it here and go over what we have so far.
Yoga is by far the most milk toast, boring, passive b*tch character I've seen in quite a while. I wonder if anyone has to come into his bathroom and wipe his a** for him case he's too passive to do it himself. We get a glimpse into how passive he is when he never speaks up to confess his feelings for his friend. you would think that this would be a flaw he would have to resolve in the end, and he sort of does...sort of but we'll get to that later. During most of this anime this guy just walks around as everyone explains the plot and he's so freaking ignorant when it comes to the economy to the point where you wonder why he's even an economics major. By the way he looks and his ignorance, you might as well say he's a highschool kid. but I guess even the creators realized how stupid it would be for a high school kid to participate in a financial game and save Japan from economic collapse. So they instead created this “might as well be a highschool kid” character with the title of college student and economics major.
So let’s continue. He gets taken to another realm…because it would be boring this was a slice of life about people dealing with Japan’s tough economy and there he has to pay a money battle royale type of game that is never fully explained because the creators know nothing about economics except a bunch of keywords. While there Yoga draws the attention of the main bad guy with a sister complex and daddy issues, Souichirou who is the boss controlling everything there. They do a good job of setting up this character and his personal goals. So much so to the point where I wonder if they should have just made him the main character. He’s an adult, more involved with economics, more knowledgeable about the financial district and its effects on the real world economy (although not smart enough to realize that pumping the economy full of money is not good), not perfect, not passive, has a more defined past, and the list goes on. But I guess that would make too much sense. Instead he’s the exposition guy. He stands around informing the main character of everything for some odd reason because the main character attracted his attention…still trying to figure out how considering the fact that the main character is about as interesting as watching paint dry.
Then we have another exposition character…because the plot is so far gone to the point where they needed multiple characters to explain what is going on. I forgot her name but she just walks around talking about her investigations and eating burgers cause that’s her quirk. These characters basically have to explain the economy and so on to this so called economics major as he battles people with money powers and supernatural creatures. Smh.
Overall, I liked the art style. It was sort of monte cristo like which is cool and well, at least the characters were all adults even if one is questionable. The ending was what I expected it to be. Rushed, convoluted, and “explained” by a third party. Oh and if your wondering if the main character stops being such a passive b*tch. Well, he acknowledges that it’s one of his issues and he tries to resolve it by standing up for his beliefs…after he’s told what they should be. The plot with the girl he had a crush on was dropped so there is no resolution there. Then he’s told that his choice at the end was for nothing so, so much for making decisions for yourself that other people say you should make. Lol!
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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May 24, 2014
Positive: Good looking male lead and a beautiful ending song by Gackt
Negative: Coma inducing
I just put this anime in my to watch list and decided to take a look at the first episode because I can't sleep. I thought I'll watch maybe two episodes and hopefully go to sleep but after watching one episode i have to say that the only thing really keeping me awake is that I want to write this review with this anime fresh on the brain.
The anime started out okay, just showing the male lead looking at himself in the mirror, no big deal, wiping blood off the mirror, okay,
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woman comes in, whispers something to him, whatever, other random scenes of food cooking on a burner, okay, man putting food in mouth, alrighty, woman is looking up, then down, then up, then shots of hands and hanging hair, then she is straddling him, okay they are doing it, she digs finger in his eye, okay thats odd, he knocks her off, good move, more random shots of stuff, then male lead lays in the sewers and looks at money, more shots of stuff, girls shows up in a mask, looks at guy.....
17 minutes later, we get some dialogue.
Seriously, was this anime made by freaking turtles? Was it written by those slow a$$ trees on Lord of the Rings? Everything in this anime is soooooooo sllllllloooooowwwww. Turning a head in slow motion, an eye moving slowly, woman getting knocked off in slow motion, male emo lead looking at cash slowly, girl stares at man for a looooonnnnngggggg time.
About 10 minutes in I kept looking at the timer on the screen because it felt like I was watching a full length film. I found my eyes closing, which was the only reason I didn't switch it off. Then out of nowhere they try to add some action scenes but it consisted of gunshot sound effects and crumbling pipes here and there and loads of heavy breathing, as if the character's heavy breathing alone is supposed to tell you how dire the situation is. I knew right away that I wasn't going to watch another episode of this garbage. Then when I come here I see a recommendation to watch LAIN if you like this anime, then it all made sense! This is just pretentious, uninteresting emo trash like lain.
I gave it a 2, one for having some eye candy and one for the ending song, I've heard this song a long time ago and was never able to find it and because of this anime I was able to find it again. :D
Reviewer’s Rating: 2
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Feb 21, 2014
What can I say about this anime that no one else can say? Nothing much really. The story about a boy named (whatever) who randomly comes across a girl, who randomly faints, then he takes to the nurses station at his school...cause for some reason everything is randomly happening at his school. Then she randomly attacks and just so happens to give him magical powers. Then some guys come in claiming they need to take the girl which causes generic anime boy archtype to fight for her and although he just got powers he's totally on par in skill and abilities with a guy
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who is taller, more muscular, and dare I say it...better looking than him. So he wins. like we all never saw it coming and he escapes with the random anime girl archtype. Cause saving the life of someone who just tried to you should be number one on your list.
While running they pass anime archtype bestfriend and one of the bad guys attack him. Then anime archtype wannabe girlfriend of main character shows up and gets attacked. Then the bad guys fight the MC and he totally outsmarts them and win the day. Then they are taken to a portal that opens up to another world that is for some reason still Tokyo but an even more messed up version than the one that already exists. They go to a school for magicians because...you guessed it, all the friends suddenly have magic powers. Apparently, if a magician attacks someone in the non screwed up world that person will just get powers. But if you attack another magician in the same world, you'll lose all your powers.
Now let us stop here and put our thinking caps on. These magicians traveled to a world where if they attack each other they will lose their magical powers, to attack each other with magical powers. Of course the archtype damsel doesn't lose her powers, even though she's attacking magic users with magic powers. As well as the MC. Of course the writers then realized this and put in a throwaway explanation as to how none of their attacks are really magic or how it's not ancestral magic and therefore don't count. Nevermind that about a good seven episodes in never mentions this again.
So they head off to a magic school in sh*tty Tokyo that just so happens to be protected and totally safe while the rest of the world looks like Satan threw a Kegger. They are told that they have a choice, either stay in that world and keep their magic or go back home and lose them...because they cannot be allowed to return home because it is dangerous.
They all choose to stay. Let's all ignore that in the same episode they are allowed to go home, inform their parents they are switching schools, and pack up, and then in a later episode go home for winter break. yeah let us just forget all about that.
The anime does what these animes usually do which is set up a love triangle that is never really a freaking triangle. Iso(side piece) likes Taka(MC) and Taka likes Miu (damsel) who likes him back. Apparently he was only pretending to be Iso's boyfriend to help her out cause all the dudes like to hit on her, naturally she began to like him and he enjoys playing dumb about it while keeping her on cause he pities her. Miu looks like she's 12 years old and has a brother complex that is outright incest based on a scene of her telling her "brother" to pet her *there* as she takes off her bra. yes the anime has some fan service. a lolicon with tits who is in highschool so she isn't a lolicon. But the creators of this anime has made sure that no one walks away pleased and therefore you won't get much out of watching this show.
There is really nothing to see here. Just terrible pacing, an awful MC, typical side characters complete with desperate chicks, wannabe lolicons, lazy Bleach wannabe storylines, and villains who are just evols for the lulz. Naturally the MC is a threat and for no real reason other than he is the main character and he is supposed to be. The guy is as dense as a box of freaking rocks and not in a comedic sense.
Examples:
Doesn't know Iso likes him, even though it's plain for everyone to see.
He's told not to sleep with his sword by his bed or it will drain his power and he will die. So the next night he sleeps with his sword by his bed and almost dies then act shocked that he was going to die.
Is obsessed with helping Miu with her brother problems and emo out over his own problems with his brother yet doesn't bother to go home and fix his own issues with his brother.
For some odd reason I watched until episode 7. As bad as it is I had to see what would happen next, only to have random time skips, jump cuts, fast wrapping up of "plots" or vanishing "plots" to greet me. Most likely won't continue.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Jan 29, 2014
This is just one of those animes I have to split up into separate reviews in one because it is the only way I can address what I liked and disliked about it.
The first half of SAO Episodes 1 - 14
Although a friend recommended this anime to me I still kept putting it off for a bit because I didn't know if I would like the concept of the whole "virtual world made real" but after watching some episodes of Log Horizon and liking it i decided to give SAO a chance. Afterall, SAO is said to be the more "hardcore" anime compared to Log
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Horizon. The first episode really got me hooked. I liked how every reacted to the news that they would be trapped inside the game with a real death penalty. The main villain was set up quite nicely and I loved how the main character, Kirito, wasn't the cookie cutter "save everybody!" type. Of course this changed as the story progressed after Kirito watches his entire guild die on him. But even so I still think the characters stood on their own. I love that a weak player like Klein didn't just up and die simply because he wasn't under the uber umbrella of protection from Kirito.
I like how strong Asuna was, how she stood on equal ground with Kirito and even saved him, a far cry from most anime girls who are just there to show boobs, cry for the main character, fawn over him, and sit around needing to be saved. I also liked the development of the romance between her and Kirito and I'm glad they didn't pull the whole asexual romance thing. Like the characters like each other but never breathe a word of it ....EVER! In this anime they actually love each other and they both know it.
My only major issue with the first half is that they wrapped it up too fast. I suppose you can say that the story was always on a time limit because they were people trapped in a virtual world with their real bodies wasting away. But I sort of felt like the main fight with Kayaba was over too soon.
Second half Episodes 15- 25
Now this is where things get convoluted and stupid for this anime. First Kirito and Asuna do not die despite getting killed yet everyone else dies and stays dead. I felt that it was a leap of "anime logic" that keeps them alive. Then they try to explain it away with villain #2 who wins the creep awards but he isn't half as interesting as Kayaba. The story tries to come up with a reason for what he's doing (keeping Asuna prisoner along with 300 other players) but the explanations males no sense at all. Like he says he's changing human emotions and this will somehow make him the God of the real world and...basically, I can't even explain it cause it was just too stupid to understand and it makes no sense how downloading these 300 brains and making them go through emotions were going to somehow make him a God.
So anyway, Kirito must now plug himself back into a new virtual game to save Asuna from the clutches of the boring evil pervert villain. And this is where you now get to sit back and watch the creators unzip their pants and proceed to urinate a hot stinking stream all over their own project. :D
Now Kirito is in the world of fairies! Now he can fly! And instead of having any real problems or handicaps he gets to keep all of his old SAO levels for no reason! And although all his items have been removed he still has his virtual daughter's heart and she just so happens to have access to the systems that now recognizes her programming although the game is being tampered with in the same manner Kayaba did. Kirito basically becomes the uber "save everybody!" character as he is super OP compared to every freaking player in the game. I know he was good in the first half but after a while you get sick of just watching the main character win everything. Which is why I liked the surprise of him losing to the Blood Oath leader (I will not spoil more for you). This second half was just ridiculous with the Kirito destroys everyone and is the God player of the world.
Asuna, what can I say about her expect express my total disappointment that everything that made her awesome in the first half was stripped from her...literally and she became nothing more than a damsel in a tower that needed to be rescued. All she does is sit around getting felt up by the perv with a fairy fetish crying for Kirito to save her. Sure they give us a token escape plan from her that ends with her in a lab getting felt up by tentacle slug monsters...which btw, why on earth were the scientists inside the VR inspecting the brains as tentacle slugs??? Naturally they want do some raping but unfortunately they have to put her back in her gilded cage.
Then we see more of Kirito's sister-cousin who...just so happens to be in love with Kirito. *eye roll* btw, what is up with all these animes and sister-cousins falling in love with their brother-cousins? Geez! Anyway, she just so happens to be playing the Elf game and runs into Kirito but doesn't know it's him even though he looks very similar to his IRL self. Anyway, all she's good for is giving us random cleavage shots and crying over Kirito. I wanted to just shout "Get the heck over it already!" And don't expect her to grow as a character. Even at the end she's sitting around pining over him and trying to interfere in his relationship with Asuna.
This half of the story receives the same wrap it up box treatment as OP Kirito defies all odds with the help of like two clans just to get him up to the impossible to get to castle and save Asuna from getting raped. Just when the chips are down and we're treated to a Berserk like ending Deus ex Machina aka Kayaba enters and gives Kirito super OP administer privileges to take down the boring, evil pervert villain.
I do like that some of the conflict spills out into the real world but overall SAO turned out to be pretty disappointing as the creators really took a good premise and railroaded it into the ground. I heard they are having a season 3. Not looking forward to the adventures of OP Kirito, his virtual system access to everything daughter, and his two wives (one of them his sister-cousin).
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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May 23, 2013
THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS
In my effort to find animes that don't star some stupid little high school boy I decided to focus as much as I could on finding animes starring adults. My search didn't take that long surprisingly when I came across of a description "A 22 year old..." that my friend was how I discovered BTOOM!
I decided to give the anime a shot to see if I like it and ended up watching the whole thing in two days. :D Let me first talk about all the things I liked about it.
The story is about a guy who sits at home playing videos
...
games all day, he's one of the top players in a game called BTOOM! Eventually he gets kidnapped and taken to an Island where he has to play the game to survive and win back his freedom. I immediately thought of myself and my Killzone 3 addiction. lol! So I can sort of relate to the main protagonist. I also love stories like "The Hunger Games" where people are forced to fight each other for their lives.
The Characters are a the biggest draw for me as they are all real people...or they feel like real people and not just a bunch of anime archetypes thrown together. The main character, Ryouta is just a regular guy who is very selfish and tends to think only about how things affect him. He's not some goody two shoes but he's not the devil as well. What was interesting to me more than anything was finding out that everyone on the Island was sent there by someone they know and we do get a glimpse into the reasons why some of the characters are there and with the others you can sort of see why, based on their actions, why someone would send them. In other words, some are more deserving of their spot there than others and with Ryouta, it's up to you to decide if he should really be there or not.
The next main character is Himiko/Emilia a highschool girl who also played the game somewhat and even married Ryouta in the game. When I first saw this character I rolled my eyes because I wanted to avoid the high school kid thing but I was wrong. This girl is as real as it can get and someone I found myself rooting for and relating to a great deal. I love how her character was handled in some of the situations she was in. She was almost raped twice and it made her grow mistrusting of men in general, something that I know a lot of women go through. She just did bounce back and become some sex kitten, nor was she a damsel. she fought to maintain her purity in a world where men were eager to take it away from her. Even if it meant sacrificing her own life.
Anyway, the characters, even the ones I didn't root for all had something about them that made me feel a certain way about them whether it was love, hate, disgust, etc.The anime did not pull its punches showing how horrible some of these characters are and for a story premise about how these people were chosen by someone "who wants them to disappear" that's how it should be. The story is filled with betrayals and so on that constantly remind you of why they are there.
I really enjoyed the slow development of the relationship between Ryouta and Himiko. He's not some stupid shy little boy and she's not some super bitch or super sickly sweet chick. They are just two people thrown into a nightmare and they are trying to survive.
Now what I didn't like about it:
First I was happy that Himiko was called a foreigner. she was a character with blond hair and blue eyes, it makes sense. Then later she calls herself Japanese?? I don't know many Japanese girls named Emilia or at least that's not a common Japanese name. Why can't she just be a foreigner living in Japan?
The anime suffers from not being longer than 12 episodes. I would have liked to know more about the other characters and what was going on with the people behind BTOOM and this island version of it. It sort of reminded me of "Cabin in the Woods" the way they were monitoring them all.
The anime did way too many 'That could have been messy" moments. For example: Himiko manages to toss a bomb off of her while the timer was at 1 sec. That is ridiculous considering the fact that we have seen other characters die from the same bomb type from a farther distance and I doubt she was able to throw it that far that fast in 1 sec. This also happens to the Ryouta a lot. Too many close calls takes away from the suspense of having them.
Overall feelings:
I really like this anime. I love the characters in it ad I really want to get to know more about them. When I finished the last episode I looked for a season 2 because there is just no way this anime is over. It pretty much finishes in the middle! However, sadly I read that it was one of the worst selling animes of 2012. *SMH* of course it is. Why am I not the least bit surprised that this anime was a poor seller. It isn't starring some idiotic high school boy who spends all day blushing at chicks and riding mechs. It isn't starring an equally annoying anime girl who is so sweet she might as well p*$$ maple syrup or a girl who is so emotionally devoid of life she might as well be a sockt puppet. Everybody's problems can't be solve by saying "Believe in me/us/him/her".
Oh well, I won't hold my breath for another season and considering where it stops off at you would probably be better off not even watching it. here is a manga though so I'll check it out.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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May 21, 2013
When I saw a preview of this anime I thought 'This seems like it can be good and it'll help me kill some time while I wait for new episodes of recent animes to air'
However, when I began watching I thought 'Let me guess, he's an ordinary HS boy who meets a chick and gets powers.'
Sure enough that's just what happens. Honestly, it's to the point where anime creators don't even bother hiding the fact that their story line are a generic cliche. Mind you, cliches exists in all forms of the media but when your industry is saturated with the same story told over
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and over and over again then perhaps you should try a new story or give the audience a different spin on the story. But then again, what's one more generic story heaped on there, right? They all manage to become successful anyway, right? right? sigh.
So the story is about some poor, innocent Japanese High school boy who for some odd reason has his homework and computer sitting in an abandoned warehouse, we'll just pretend this is normal and not actually an illogical way to get the boy to meet the girl. Anyway, some mystical monotone talking anime chick with powers just so happens to end up while she is being chased by some goons with guns...
See where this is going?
So she is injured and of course we now have to see how innocent and lovely she is by having her sing a song randomly. Never mind the fact that she is injured and dudes with guns are looking for her. Yeah it's totally smart to draw the guys with guns to you by pretending like you're on Glee.
So the sweet, innocent, high school anime boy archetype finds her first and is of course instantly in love with her. Cause you know, watching someone with big shimmering eyes means that you have found your soul mate at seventeen. They have a "misunderstanding" where she or her little robot attacks him, mind you, not lethally...Yeah let's just forget that she should be expecting dudes with guns.
They have a little moment of her watching his video homework and she calls it beautiful to establish their connection.
Dudes with guns finally appear and threaten the boy and take the girl away. Pretty much, the boy gets the location of where to take the robot from the robot (cause the story has to progress) and he meets the leader of a "terrorist" organization. Stuff happens and he gets powers and can fight suddenly while the girl falls helplessly in his arms with her wh*re clothes on.
The anime tries to have moments of depths after the boy joins their terrorist group by putting him in a possible position to betray the group's leader, for some reason can't have the power himself. But that plots falls flat fast and you're basically just watching a simple good guys vs bad guys where the good guy's leader does questionable things but is still good because everyone is happy and loves him. This anime is pretty much a weaker Eureka 7 that fails miserably. None of the characters are worth rooting for, the plot is paper thin and transparent, and over all not very enjoyable.
Look out for the following cliches that other animes have done much better:
Anime boy is in HS
Anime girl is in terrorist group
Anime boy meets and fall in love with Anime girl
Anime girl has obligation towards terrorist leader (He gave her a name *eye roll*)
Anime boy gets random powers
Anime boy now joins terrorist group cause for some reason they NEED him to save them. Never mind the fact that their members are stronger and have more of a cause to fight than him.
Anime boy gets jealous of terrorist leader's relationship with Anime girl.
Anime girl tells Anime boy to simply trust and believe for him to fall in line
Anime girl dresses like a wh*re but can shoot a gun with perfect accuracy and is better than all the other characters.
Anime girl suddenly enters HS and ends up in Anime boy's class
Bad guys are interested in Anime boy
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Oct 9, 2012
Okay, first of all let me just say that when I first saw the original Eureka 7 I actually had a hard time getting into it. so much so to the point where I put it on hiatus for a while. Now usually when I do that I rarely go back to finish watching it but E7 was different. I found myself checking it out once more and loving it! I'll tell you why I was so compelled to watch that anime again despite initially not liking it very much....the characters and character development was great! Even for characters I did not like such as
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Dewy and Holland. I still was able to understand where they were coming from. Talho was a flawed character as well but she had a personality and was likable. Renton, I thought he was the typical mech anime boy until he opened up and revealed his true and honest feelings toward eureka, his family life, and his future. I was glad that none of the characters were up in Renton's buttcrack like most of anime characters tend to be toward the main character, they just liked him. Eureka, once again I thought she was the typical expressionless anime girl but she surprised me and revealed to be a girl who suffered a lot and truly wish to set everything right. Her, Renton, the kids, and the members of the Gekko State were unique and enjoyable to watch.
But don't expect that from E7:AO
Now when I finished watching E7 and heard there was a second part I was so happy I immediately began watching it. We're introduced to Ao who is Renton and Eureka's son and I'm thinking great start! But soon you learn that Eureka and Renton are nowhere in sight and he is in fact in another world on another timeline. Apparently Eureka and Renton get separated and Eureka came to their world and had her kid and went back blah blah.
First of all, don't expect to find decent character development here. The characters are ALL typical mech anime characters. First we have typical mech anime boy Ao who gets recruited to join "Generation Blue" a military like organization that uses children to fly IFOs because for some odd reason only children can fly IFOs *eye roll*
All of the characters are one dimensional including Ao. He's the typical mech anime boy that all the characters instantly love even when they say they don't. He comes complete with a "funny" pet, and a love interest whom he feels he must fight to protect. Of course there is a chief of the child pilots who love them all like they were his own children. And the story does take a five minute break every five episodes so we can see the characters be "quirky". But is this character development? No! These characters are so bland they could really all be just one person and you would never notice. These characters lack everything that made the members of the Gekko State fun and interesting to watch. The members of the Gekko state had lives, the members of Generation Blue needed to get a life. There is really nothing to them but never ending mech battles. Gone are the priceless moments such as the Gekko team tricking Renton into thinking a bowl of Ramen was a deadly mission. Instead with AO you get some banter about whether or not Ao can swim. Gone are deep characters like Charles and Ray and instead you get....nothing! None of these characters are remember-able!
The plot of AO simply sucks! the creators try to be deep with the whole mysteriousness of it but it's really just a ploy to keep people watching cause they really have NO PLOT!
They try to do this whole time travel deal but it's a mess.
Now I don't mind time travel stories being a little messy but this was just a hot mess and it seems as though the creators are just pulling plots out their rear to compensate for the lack of character. For example; When Eureka arrives again in that world on board a ruined Gekko State she is pregnant and just before Ao helps her go back she says she's having a girl not a boy which leads Ao to question the whereabouts of a mysterious older sister. There is never much of a explanation as to how Eureka is constantly traveling to that particular world while pregnant and she never even seems to remember anything. The anime also tries to remain interesting by not explaining anything and coming up with stupid names that are supposed to make you question what is going on. Such as "The Secrets" "The truth" *eye roll*
Yes the main villain's name is Truth and apparently he's Ao's girlfriend's (Haru) Nirvash although he's not in mech form. Anyway he's called a "Secret" which at first are the main bad guys of the show. Sigh. So this regular girl gets her own Nirvash simply because she was accidentally exposed to scub corals? Then she spends her time riding on the real Nirvash for some reason. Blah blah. And of course Ao wants to save her blah blah. The creators for some reason thought it made sense to take away everything that made Eureka and Renton and subsequently Ao, so special and just pass them to the other bland characters like hot cakes. Anyway, the story sucks, the characters suck, and the music sucks. I tried to watch as much as I could just to see Renton and Eureka and so far all I saw was Eureka and the show picked up somewhat but she left and it was back downhill again.
Reviewer’s Rating: 1
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Oct 1, 2012
Don't expect me to go into artwork and sound reviews cause I'm no artist but all I can say is that it looked good and I could hear everything without that weird off screen sound change thing some animes like to do.
Anyway on to the real review.
I decided to watch Paradise Kiss after putting it off for a while....actually I put it off once then forgot about it for months. Now if you've read my other reviews then you know that I love slice of life animes. Not slice of life in space or supernatural, or fantasy. But true slice of life animes that show
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real people in real situations. I haven't read the manga nor watched the live action version(I never watch the live action of any anime). So I went into Paradise Kiss knowing nothing of the characters and the story.
What I loved about Paradise Kiss was the fact that this was a true slice of life that could happen to anyone, the story tackled mature relationships, sex, love, falling in love with the wrong people, jealously, fighting with parents, and all of the things I'm sure any teenager nowadays can relate to. I know I have fallen for the wrong guy, argued with my mother, struggled to live up to her expectations and failing, and thought of running away from it all. So I can relate totally and I will always remember this anime as one of the VERY VERY VERY few that tackled real life in its purest form. I don't know about anyone else but we need more slice of life anime types out there as I'm sick to death of yet another "boy gets mysterious powers that enable him to fly a mech but he's a regular high school boy" animes. The horse has been beaten to a bloody mangled mess with that plot.
I'm sure by now that you are wondering why I did not give this anime a perfect 10. Well it is simple. It's too short and the character develop is shotty as all h*ll.
First we have Yukari aka Caroline: She's the heroine of the story. When we meet her she is an arrogant, snotty, haughty little b*tch. But things change when she meets "George" and she sees that unlike her they are all actually working toward their dreams. It softens her up a bit and she even apologizes for talking crap before. It seems that from here on out Yukari was going to be an okay character, flawed still yes, but a girl who starts to make some real changes and turn out a better person for it. However, we get no such luck and in some cases her development is all over the place.
For example; She was "in love" with a boy named Hiroyuki from school. She never confessed her feelings, thought he would never like her, and was taking secret pictures of him from some bushes. yet almost to the middle of the 12 episode series she's all but telling George she wants to bang him. Now wanting to have sex with George isn't the problem here. It's how she went from shyly taking pictures of one guy to out right telling another guy she wants to "get closer" without showing the audience how she reached that point. Sure we start to know that she is becoming attracted to George but it seems so out of the blue.
Anyway, it's hard for me to take Yukari seriously. All she does is say she will do something then sit around all day thinking about George. Then I had about enough of her character after having the gall to lecture George's mother about her life. Okay miss runaway, high school dropout, living at your rich boyfriend's house, and getting modelling jobs handed to you on a silver platter by your friends. I guess you know all about struggling in life to talk to someone's mother that way. Seriously, I don't like this girl, sure she has her moments but that is all she has, moments. and typically those good moments are followed by her being a crybaby, suffer able b*tch.
Like for example; finally walking down the runway and making everyone proud at the school fashion show was great! Then after she doesn't get what SHE wanted out of doing it she pouts, cries, wonders why everyone else is happy, and is generally a pain in the a$$.
George is the typical playboy bisexual. A rich kid living off daddy's money and I'm sure some see him as the antagonist of the show, if there was to be one. He is the bad boy your mother told you not to fall for. he won't treat you like a princess, but he will whisper sweet nothings in your ear until you can't stand it. He'll have multiple partners but tell you that you are number one, deep down inside you know its a lie, but he's an awesome kisser, looks like an Adonis, and can screw like an Incubus so you allow yourself to wallow in the dream he seems to magically weave for you. I have to say. I love George. I really do. I tried to hate him cause in some ways I'm supposed to but I liked him. Why? cause he never told Yukari a lie and seems to stay true to himself and demands that others stop BSing and do the same. For example, he flat out tells Yukari that he can get over her if she wants to end it, he got angry with her clingy behavior after she started to put being with him over her own modelling career, he straight up call her out for blaming everyone else for her own d*mn life decisions. I loved him for it. Sadly we don't get to see more of what makes George tick as a person. We just know that his mother is weak, his father is rich, he's the illegitimate son (his mother was the mistress), he loves designing clothes that are beautiful and whimsical, and he was very accepting of Isabella when he came out as transgendered. I wish I could have known more about the bisexual aspects of him. It's hinted that his boyfriend was the makeup guy (don't know his name) but the story doesn't show us more about his feelings in that area. We do know that he was seeing the guy while he was also seeing Yukari though.
The other characters are Miwako, Arashi, Isabella, and Hiroyuki. They are all very interesting characters but sadly we get no true development from them. I would have liked to know more about the triangle between Arashi, Miwako, and Hiroyuki but alas we get a bunch of small snippets of info and contrived moments thrown together to explain it all. They never go into what Hiroyuki saw in Yukari when honestly he has more chemistry and history with Miwako.
I will try not to spoil here!
The ending is another factor that dropped the ratings for me. I loved George's and Isabella's part in the end as I feel that they are better suited to do what they want to do and I love their friendship even though it wasn't developed much. Yukari's end just shows why I just don't really like her and probably never will, I feel bad for Hiroyuki(and I'm saying this from reading their character bios that give away what happens int he manga).
Personally let me just say that the ending was so freaking vague and such a non ending to the point where I had to read the character bios in hopes of finding out what the heck they were talking about at the end with Yukari and her brother. if you read the manga then I'm sure you would know but to people who haven't it was such a WTF moment. Sure I got the jest of what was happening....
Okay screw it, spoiler!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yukari is engaged to Hiroyuki yet still wears George's clothes that he left for her when he left for Paris with Isabella. and they are going to see a play that George was the costume designer for. *whew!*
Now they never mention that it was Hiroyuki she was engaged to. I had to read the bio to get that. They just say fiancee. So basically she is marrying/settling for a man who loves her while she is still in love with George. So glad George opted for Paris.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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May 2, 2012
Ok, I just finished watching this anime, first let me go over what I liked about it.
The guys are all hot! Oh yeah, if you want some great eye candy then this one is a good one to try. Its also a Shounen-ai which makes it even better and an action one at that. So if you love bishie boy action type of animes then it is worth checking out.
However, although an anime has these elements does not mean I can give it a high score. Heck I have watched plenty of bishie type animes that I couldn't get past the fifth episode of and
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had no choice but to drop *looking at you Mien Liebe* so I have no other choice but to go over everything that ticked me off about this anime.
The story is about a boy named Yuki who was reincarnated from a woman, he gets saved by a man named Zess from a Duras (evil creature thingy) and he gets caught up in a war between the Giou Clan and the Duras. At least this is the best way i can explain the story because when it first comes on you will honestly not understand anything about anything concerning this story. You feel as if you were dropped in the very center of the story and you have to struggle to catch up. When i really think about it, the show doesn't do a good job of explaining what the heck these Duras even are or where they came from or why one character can control them even though he is only half Duras. Anyway, Yuki and Zess become close and we discover that they were once lovers when yuki was a woman. Zess is still very devoted to Yuki but sadly it doesn't seem to progress from there. The relationship between them is never fully touched upon. Yuki and Zess stare at one another, profess that they long to see each other when the other isn't around, they touch each other faces but that is all you get out of them. No kisses, no passion, not even an acknowledgment from yuki that he even remembers the relationship even after he remembers everything else.
The story has its moments of drawing you in, such as the potential subplots with the other Zweilts(sp). You have two guys who seem like they could be lovers and one is struggling with his feelings of guilt because he hurt his partner.
The Zweilt(sp) partners who both seek revenge on the Duras general who killed their trainer
The story of the Giou Clan leader and his butler and past with Reiga, the villian of the show.
However, these are all swing and misses as the writers don't bother to truly flesh out any of these characters and they sort of make it hard to root for them. Instead, the characters seems to have no life of their own besides worrying about Yuki, caring for Yuki, protecting Yuki, loving Yuki, and needing Yuki. They call Him their master yet you NEVER find out why. Yuki is by far the most useless character on the show. He does nothing but stand around while everyone fights and risks their lives for him, they all gather around him to protect and save him yet you never find out why the bad guy even needs him. So far all you get is that he "changes people's hearts" The other characters have so much potential but when they are around yuki it is all about Yuki and when they are not around Yuki they talk about nothing but Yuki.
It really ticked me off when the first pairing I mentioned were talking about their relationship, it was touching, sad, tender, and almost romantic until one says "You love Yuki" (or something similar) then the other replies "You love him too" WTF?!? Yuki was barely around them and had almost no contact with them but suddenly they both love him?
I swear this anime should have been called "Yuki, the c**k teaser" Everyone on the show falls in love with him men and women but all he does is stand around like a woman gasping and telling everyone to stop fighting. Then the bad guy finally captures him but instead of killing him he just wants him to watch his friends get killed. Mind you, i can understand that the bad guy was his friend and there was some conflict with killing him, i can understand this, but it was never explained why Yuki was so important he needed to be captured and taken. And it was done so stupidly. Yuki just stands there juicing up his powers and suddenly his in classic damsel bridal style pose near the bad guy who is taking him away. Of course, this means that the other Zweilts get to talk about Yuki for the one billionth time and go save him for the one billionth time.
Anyway, as much as I complain I have seen worst and it did keep me hanging around for all 24 episodes and I would probably watch a season 2 if one comes out. It did have a decent main plot once you get over the first two or three episodes, I liked the IDEA behind Zess and Yuki, loving someone no matter if they are a man or a woman. But I wish the writers would have at least let the character TALK about that.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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