Well, we're back here again talking Demon Slayer. I first off want to say thank you for all of the interaction I got when the movie came out. Rather it was positive or negative, I want to thank you for just reacting to it and sharing your thoughts. Now judging by the summary, I bet you think I hate this season of Demon Slayer. Well, I can tell you right now I don't hate it. I just find it slightly above average. Let's start with the plot.
Demon Slayer season 2 picks up right after the Mugen Train arc. So, this is good news for anyone
...
who doesn't watch them just reanimate the same arc again. What's going on? Well, not much as it is just Tanjiro and his friends training and getting in shape to the moon like WWE wrestlers. The story for the Entrainment District is a simple one where Tengen, Sound Hashira, recruits Tanjiro, Inosuke, and Zenitsu to take down a demon that has been causing trouble. That's the simple basis of everything as the rest of the spends time with the three poorly pretending to be women to search for the demon. They do a little to establish this new location, but I do feel changing the name of the arc was not very smart as it is clear to anyone that we're in brothels. I am not gonna say the really bad word, but you could play WAP by Cradi B and Nicki Minaj and you'll get my point. I don't like the world-building here as it is just brothels and that's about it. They do explain the class and what can happen to workers if they get in too deep or want to leave but this made me think of them as more expensive hookers. I also just feel things happen. There is no real-time spent on developing our characters outside of maybe three. I think it is the worst for Inosuke and Zenitsu who are still the same characters. This could have been a great chance to develop them as this could have them really take time to reflect or learn from nearly dying on the Spider Mountain arc. How many times do these characters need to experience near-death for them to luck out because the plot says so?
I just don't get it. You give Tanjiro, Inosuke, and Zenitsu all of this screen time and they still feel flat. You know it's a problem when I have more to take away from an arc regarding the main villains of it than the heroes. There should be a balance here because out of Tengen, all of the heroes are either just there or annoying as all hell. Especially Tengen's three wives that are just as annoying as Inosuke and Zenitsu. I feel Tanjiro is only taking advantage of his screen time but that must be because of him being the main character. I just wish they could have done more with this arc. This just felt like having our main characters overcome an action set-piece.
Though, I should take this time to say they did a good job with Tengen. They flush him out and gave you reasons for roto for him. He is an asshole, but he is a likable asshole. It sucks he is retiring. Why does this show go out of its way to remove its good characters from the plot? It's not even his fault he lost an eye and hand due to Tanjiro and his friends being idiots.
We're not done yet as we need to talk about our villains. This is the fun part as I like it for once. I enjoyed the characters Daki and Gyutaro a lot. Their voice acting, goals, and just overall presence made me like them as villains. I thought they were well written and placing the backstory at the end was really smart. I really felt for these characters and thought they were very likable. I would love to get the art of them in the future.
The next part of this I want to discuss is the use of deus ex machina this season. There is a lot of it. For starters, Tanjiro using Flame breathing whenever the plot says so. I felt this can be handled better because you don't say something will hurt his body, but he pulls it out to avoid losing a fight. I feel he could have been mixing his stances from the start. This show has established Tanjiro is not an idiot, so let's not turn him into a character that just wins fights because the plot says so. The next one is Zenitsu fighting while he is asleep.....this is a carryover from the film. They still haven't explained that. The next one is Inosuke moving his organs to avoid getting stabbed in the heart. Since when he can do that? Also, since when can Nezuko heal with her blood Demon powers? This just feels like not doing a good job of explaining things. I don't know why this is becoming common it is like the writers love writing themselves into corners.
Overall, though, I feel the plot and characters for Demon Slayer were a very mixed bag. There is no character development outside of Tanjiro and our demons. It has been two seasons and from what I gather we don't have much left, so I hope we start developing characters now and not later. I am starting to become worried as the writing in this series is just not good. Toss in having a cast of mostly annoying characters you have to wonder what the angle is here. That was also not very well pace as I felt the fight took way too long this arc.
Moving off that let's talk art, animation, and sound. The art in the series is very strong as always. I think most of the designs were good. I even found the Entrainment District outfits for our main guys were fine. I also loved the design of Daki and Gyutaro a lot. It was truthfully fearful looking at them. I also feel the animation was very good but there were a number of errors and directing choices that were odd like Nezuko hitting Daki with her leg instead of her leg and some really bad CGI fire. I do think we got good fights, but they were done in small busts. There was too much talking to fill in those gaps to make the fights truly great. It's good animation but I wish to see more action and less talking.
Lastly, the sound of Demon Slayer season 2 may be my favorite aspect of this show. I love the sound design and hearing the clashing of real swords. I love the music in the show and within the OP and ED. I love the voice acting the most. Watching the English dub, I feel the roles were well cast. I really love the choices for Daki, Gyutaro, and Tengen. I feel they did a good job with how they played their roles.
In conclusion, I feel this season is only a little better due to its villains and Tengen. I feel if you didn't have them the score would be much lower. I really want to like its show, but it is writing is just holding it back from greatness in my opinion. I don't hate the show, but it is extremely overrated, and this is on track to be the most overrated anime created since Dragonball Z.
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May 1, 2022
Kimetsu no Yaiba: Yuukaku-hen
(Anime)
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Well, we're back here again talking Demon Slayer. I first off want to say thank you for all of the interaction I got when the movie came out. Rather it was positive or negative, I want to thank you for just reacting to it and sharing your thoughts. Now judging by the summary, I bet you think I hate this season of Demon Slayer. Well, I can tell you right now I don't hate it. I just find it slightly above average. Let's start with the plot.
Demon Slayer season 2 picks up right after the Mugen Train arc. So, this is good news for anyone ...
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Apr 25, 2021 Mixed Feelings
Now I am not a crazy fan of Demon Slayer like others, so I feel I am able to give a much fairer take on the film compared to a fanbase that is super defensive over any criticism regarding it. Demon Slayer season 1 was a fine season with issues. The main ones being its story, writing and characters.
Sadly, this doesn’t get much better in a film format. I have to question what the thought process for this as this should have either been the first arc of season 2 or an OVA. This film feels like a crash grab. So, what is exactly ... wrong with it? Well, let’s jump into that. First off, let’s talk about the good of this film. The main calling card for Demon Slayer is its art and animation. This film doesn’t drop the ball here. There is no bad shot here at all. Everything is so well done and polish from an animation standpoint. I think the strongest aspect of the animation is moment to moment usage throughout the film. Factor in really good directing and framing of all shots you can really the size, scale, and feel of all shots. You are given enough time to let everything you’re seeing sink in. If you’re a fan of the animation of Demon Slayer season 1, I don’t think you will not be mad here as Ufotable knocks it out of the park. This is easily one of the best aspects of the film. The attention to detail this series takes with everything is a joy to watch. Up next, let’s talk about the English voice acting. I feel everyone has shown great improvement from season 1. I see a lot more comfort from everyone in their roles. They’re really getting the hang of what they want to project. I think the standout performances for this is Bryce Papenbrook as Inosuke and Mark Whitten as Rengoku. I think both men did an excellent of not only being funny but good with the material they were given. They really sold you on their characters the most in my opinion. Since I bought up his English voice actor, I should take time to talk about how Rengoku was my favorite character in the film. He had a good character arc and the film felt more about him at times than others. I also think his fighting style was cool too. Lastly, I think the soundtrack and fights throughout the film were amazing. I think both teams in charge of these just knock it out of the park. Good fights are a requirement of a Shonen anime so not having good fights can really hurt the overall enjoyment of a viewer. The same goes with the soundtrack each piece of music really hits all the notes to get an emotional reaction out of you. The timing and placement of the music is really good too. Nothing feels out of place. Now onto the bad, sadly, there is a lot to talk about here as a common criticism from more critical critics of Demon Slayer is its writing and characters. The writing has been criticized for lacking in depth, detail, and being overall lackluster. Demon Slayer struggles greatly with defining goals and rationales for both its heroes and villains. The most you can get from either side is, “We must kill demons and keep everyone safe!” From the Demon Slayer core and for the villains you get, “We wish to feast on human blood and wipe out the Demon Slayer core!” Some of the lower-level demons just looking to move up to the upper rankings by piling up enough dead bodies to please their master. Well, this carries into the film with Tanjiro, Inosuke, and Zenitsu with the aid of Hashira Rengoku being sent to figure out why humans are disappearing from the Mugen Train. That isn’t a bad start, but it gets bad as our main three characters: Tanjiro, Inosuke, and Zenitsu have zero-character development. While I like one of the characters in our main lead Tanjiro, I have a very low opinion of Inosuke and Zenitsu. To simply put, I think they suck as characters and add nothing to story while disrupting the serious tone Demon Slayer desperately tries to maintain. Both Zenitsu and Inosuke are equally annoying in differing ways. Zenitsu just cries a bunch and can’t shut up. Inosuke is just a worse version of Bakugo with swords. I can say that Inosuke is slowly becoming better but I doubt he will ever go through any meaningful change. Another issue with the writing is the number of plot holes and extreme use of deus ex machnia. A number of things go unexplained as it feels like there was a setup and conflict created but no one thought out how our heroes would overcome the power of the Lower One. Those powers being the ability to use his blood to spend people into a deep sleep giving them dreams of their greatest desires before feasting on them by destroying their spirit cores. Sounds good, right? Well, it’s not as you are only given a reason as to how Tanjiro got out of the dream while Zenitsu is moving and attacking while still being asleep, Rengoku breaks it just because he is a Hashira I guess, and I don’t even know how Inosuke broke the spell. Now the third act gives us a good fight and okay conclusion to the story, but it doesn’t save what is a film that could have been better serve an OVA. There is a number of plot holes here to make the ending and what Tanjiro says at the end worth while as this can be seen as a major lost for the Demon Slayer core. I wish that was handled better. The last thing I want to bring attention to this section of the review is just how bad the villain was. His English voice actor was good, but he doesn’t really talk about anything important. On top of getting a weak motive for his actions, you can only see this villain as just a jobber for our heroes to defeat. He is not a threat at all. He is just, “I am gonna kill these humans to get more blood from the master so I can become an upper-level demon!” There is nothing else to him. He is extremely one dimensional. He is just evil for the sake of being evil. The ending of this story is okay as they are able to save everyone and Rengoku gives his life saving all of them, but it gets ruin with Tanjiro’s speech calling a demon a coward. It doesn’t really make him, or the Demon Slayer core look strong as they lost one of their best fighters. While I’m happy there is no force happy ending, the speech really doesn’t help things for the Demon Slayer core. I also feel killing Rengoku off just as he was getting good as a character felt lazy. In conclusion, Demon Slayer Mugen Train is an extremely poorly film that is carried by its art, animation, soundtrack, sound design, and English voice acting. This film was extremely overrated and overhyped by its fans. I was extremely disappointed by this film. I spent over 21 dollars on this film, so to say I have a little bit of buyer’s remorse is an understatement. This is a good film if you are a crazy fan of Demon Slayer but if you are not this is something you will watch once and forget about it as nothing much happens until the end. Not a bad movie, but not a good one at all either.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Sep 25, 2017
Princess Principal
(Anime)
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Cute girls show that actually takes itself seriously? Well....anything works I guess? Who would have thought this show would work so well? This is easily one of the most surprising anime of the year! This show was a joint project between studios Studio 3Hz and Actas. This series is directed by Masaki Tachibana who is best known as the director of Barakamon. He has also worked on shows such as Flip Flappers and Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex and 2nd Gig. This is his second director gig. The writing for the series is handled by Ichirō Ōkouchi who is best known for his
...
work on the Code Geass series.
Princess Principal is one of the few CGDT shows to get something right that many of the shows of this genre don't do. What is that? Well to put it simply, its the characters and writing. Before I jump into the meat of this review, I just wanted to explain my main complaint with CGDT (Cute Girls Doing Things) shows. My main problem with shows like these is how the characters lack depth, and there is no clear end goal. It just feels like 12 or 24 episodes of them checking off a list of anime tropes and clichés. There is no attempt to make the characters stand out besides being a whatever anime archetype they are. Thankfully, Princess Principal is one of the few shows to get this right. A show like Princess Principal doesn't need to be just cute for their concept to work. What it does do is show you, that giving a character an episode to flush them out can pay off in the long run. We start to like the character for who she is and not because she is cute. Cute can be an aspect of liking a character, but when it is pretty much their whole character. There is nothing. Now, let's get onto the review. I know that is what you have been waiting for. I'm happy to give you what you want. We are going to Black Lizard Planet. Story (8 out of 10): Our story takes place in the fictional world of Albion, England. During the 20th century of the Kingdom of Albion has control and monopolized this mysterious substance. This has led to unrest among the citizens of Albion. So, a couple of years later, the Commonwealth launches an operation known as Changeling in an attempt to replace the current ruling class in power with a small group of girls. A girl that looks like the princess catches wind of their plan and offers to help them with their plans if the Commonwealth promises her that she can become Queen of the Kingdom. The story of Princess Principal isn't an overarching plot but more so episodic plots that end up connecting later. They make sure each character gets their moments in the spotlight to shine. Mr. Ōkouchi really makes sure every character is flushed out to the best of his abilities. But he doesn't do the same for the villains of the show as they are barely around. He does a good job framing them as a threat, but they rarely cross paths with our main heroines making them seem like wasted potential. Besides that, it also can be unfocused sometimes with focusing on things that are not important to the plot. For example, in episode 7, it feels like more of a side mission in an open world game than an actual meaningful episode to advance the plot and characters. The same can be said for some missions they go on. I am always asking myself, "What does this have to do with the plot?" Like there is one mission at the end of the series that felt out of place to me. Overall, the story is good but lacks a good villain to oppose our girls. So, you're left with cute, interesting girls beating up grown men. I really like the beginning of the series as it serves as a good introduction to our cast. I also like the direction they went with the ending leaving it open for a season two since a season two is the only way they are going to fully realize their vision for what they want to do. Art (9 out of 10): As stated before Studio 3Hz and Actas did the animation for this project. They both really come out swinging this time around. Actas doesn't always have the best animation, but they really surprised me here with this show. I can tell Studio 3Hz handle majority of the action scenes as each one is unique and different. I think Actas handled the big booming perspective shots. All of them were exciting and intense. So, they knew what they were doing in that department. The character designs were done by Kouhaku Kuroboshi. Who I know from his illustration work from Kino's Journey. First off, I would like to tip my cap to Mr. Kuroboshi for his unique designs for all the female characters. He really makes every girl in the show look different. You can tell who is the oldest and youngest among our five main girls. He really gives them expressions through their clothes, that can really tell who they are as a character. He also makes sure their eyes are designed. When you look at the girls you can tell how each of them looks different. Ange’s eyes have a sharper and darker look while Beatrice’s eyes are a lighter color. Though, I feel this is lacking when it comes to the male character designs. Every guy in the show looks bland and boring. No one really stands out even the boss of the girl has a mediocre design. The same goes for our villain. I can say overall, he really nails the 20th century Victorian London style. I think my favorite designs of the show are Ange, Dorothy, and Gazelle. So, overall, I think the artwork and animation were really good. Characters (10 out of 10): Now onto my favorite part of this show. This show is really driven by its amazing characters. The characters of this show are nothing less than fantastic. I am talking about the main characters of course. Let's down the line and talk about how effective each of them is. Ange: The queen of Black Lizard Planet. Ange is just a lot of fun. One of her main concepts and calling cards is her ability to lie and tell when someone is lying. She also has the ability to change her personality depending on the situation. You can never tell when she is being honest unless it involves one of the other major characters in the show. She is very laid back and is very aware of her surrounds. Ange never tells you who she is unless she uses the cover of "Black Lizard Planet" to tell someone about herself. Yes, she can use the anti-gravity machine she carries, but I feel her power to outsmart everyone around her is even better. She is the all-around member of the group if you ask me. Beatrice: She joins the team later. She is the younger member of the group but has a very dark backstory that involves her father using her as an experiment. So, she now has a voice box. With this voice box, she is able to change her voice to match any voices she hears. This is very helpful when they’re on missions. It's a really unique ability. She isn't the best fighter of the team, but combat isn't her focus. She plays more of the role of gathering intel. I love her expression and how she really keeps herself calm when on these missions since she is the most likely to die. Great character, and really has her heart in the right place. She only joins because the person serves joins. So, she is very loyal. Chise: Up next is the only Japanese member of the group. Oh, I forgot to mention everyone is British in this show. Anyway, Chise is the samurai of the group. She is the main the hand to hand fighter of the group. So, she takes care of any bad guys that get close. Her character reminds of a rule 63 loli Goemon. That doesn't mean she is bad. Her backstory in her first episode it was okay. The other episode she got was really cool. I do wish they went more into the reckless side of her. Overall, she is just a solid character being the typical samurai. Her costume is really cool. Dorothy: Now time to talk about my favorite character of the show! Dorothy is the femme fatale of the group while also being the leader. She is the most level-headed of the girls and is cool under pressure. Dorothy never really does enough to much of a whore. She knows how to use her body right. She really plays the role of the femme fatale. Dorothy is very sexy and a very strong female character. She always knows what to do. Her backstory is not a bad angle with her being abused by her father either. IT tells you Dorothy never always had it figure out. Her real name is Daisy. She changed it to Dorothy. In her episode, you really got to see how she became the strong and powerful woman she is today. It's very well done. Princess: The last member of this group and one of the most interesting. She is the public figure of the group. Princess is also the only reason Beatrice joined the team. She is the only one that can freely move around without having to hide her image. Princess is the most inexperienced in being a spy (same goes for Beatrice) but she proves to be very clever. She isn't one for combat, so just like Beatrice and a little bit of Ange. Her best ability is to be able to outsmart her foes. Now there is a huge plot twist involving her and Ange that I won't spoil, but I will say it was amazing and really will make you like Princess and Ange even more. Lastly, I want to talk about Gazelle. I really wanted to see more of her because I felt she could have been a good foe for the girls. When she is on the screen she is really making her presence known. She is evil and very brutal. Episode six is one of the best examples of her being outright brutal to someone. She along with the other guy really needed more screen time. I hope they get more in a second season. I do think she has a great design though. Sound (9 out of 10: The opening theme is solid getting that spy theme perfect, but I feel the ED really nails the moe factor with a cute upbeat song with some really good animation. I also felt the voice acting all over was solid. I felt the voice actors really did a good job of being the characters than just being an archetype. I think the strongest performances of the show were Ange and Dorothy if you ask me. Lastly, I felt the sound effects for the guns and explosions were nice and didn't feel stock. So, I feel the show has some good sound design. Overall (9 out of 10): Princess Principal is easily one of the most underrated shows of the year. This show was such a treat to watch. I really like how they made the character the center focus, and we could take what they're doing seriously. This wasn't cute girls playing Kickball. These young girls working deep undercover as spies and acting like spies. I highly recommend shows for anyone who is a huge Lupin the Third fan and those that have wanted more depth when it comes to moe shows.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Jul 2, 2017
Little Witch Academia (TV)
(Anime)
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Sigh....here we go. It has been a long time since I watched a show this good. Studio Trigger does it again with another Little Witch Academia! This time it's different compared to a show like Kill la Kill. Instead of an emotional impactful ending like Kill la Kill. We were given a more heartwarming feel good ending. Now, let's breakdown how this show was able to differ itself from Kill la Kill.
Story: Our story tells the tale of one human Atsuko "Akko" Kagari with the drive and passion to become a great witch like her hero Shiny Chariot. Along the way she makes ... friends with two other young witches in Lotte and Sucy. The story first party takes an episodic approach as a way to introduce to the world of LWA, specifically Luna Nova Academy and the city it is not far from. I felt this was a good idea and not a bad approach. I know some would argue they wanted it to be more story driven from the start, but I would argue it is better to set the scene and give life to your setting first. The first half of LWA avoided two HUGE pitfalls from a narrative perspective because of this approach.(See episode 5 and episode 10for example). The first half does a good job showing off all the goals and passions of Akko making this her story. Everything is about her journey. That's important to remember. Now the second half is more story driven as Akko finds these things known as words. They become very central part of the plot as Akko is collecting them. The show uses this chance to pair her off with other side characters like Amanda and Constanze. This works very well for the narrative because those characters get their moments to shine and you show how they bounce off Akko too. I will say early on I felt Akko was just being used as the punching bag for comedy, but then I realized around episode 8 and 10 where the story was. At the end of the day, Little Witch Academia is about Akko. It is written in the same vein kind of like Kill la Kill, but Kill la Kill flush out more than just Ryuko. This one is more focus on its main character and does a good job building the story around her. The ending of this story shows us that. That is why many were so happy for Akko in the end. Art: Studio Trigger joins the short list of animation studio that give you high quality and top notch artwork and set design. It is a huge treat that we an original production that is 2D hand drawn from start to finish. The character design of each and every character in Little Witch academia pretty realistic for the most part outside of some monsters, but they do a good job with making a mostly female cast look different. All of them have a look and quirk to them. For example, when everyone is dress up in their witch attire has their legs showing. Sucy doesn't show her legs. Another can found in the teachers as they are all varying heights and sizes. Ursula has bigger hips compared to the other teachers. The principal is very short and you don't see her legs. See what I mean? That is just a taste of the amazing art in the show. Having varying designs will makes your cast of characters stand out. The animation, especially the action scenes, are top notch and very exciting and intense. I really like the camera work and perspective shot they used in big magically moments. Little Witch Academia is easily one of the best animated shows of the decade along side Kill la Kill and Panty and Stocking. Sound: I have yet to watch the English dub of this show. So, I won't be able to talk about the dub sadly. Though, I will say it has a cast that I like a lot. I look forward to hear Erica Mendez as Akko.(She was also Ryuko in the last Studio Trigger show that was dubbed.). Now with that said, Little Witch Academia has some of the best Japanese voice acting I have heard in a while. It is usually not as sharp you get in other shows. Megumi Han does a great job making Akko cute and likable. She really shrinks her teeth into this role and makes the most of it. She is a joy to listen to and really bounces well off others. A couple of other performances I'll like to also take note is Noriko Hidaka as Ursula, Junko Takeuchi also plays one of my favorite characters but it's a huge spoiler, and lastly Yoko Hikasa as Diana. Studio Trigger did an amazing job casting for this show. For music and sound design, they are also pretty topnotch and very good with music always fitting the scene and going along with the flow of the story. They really do a good job of placing the right sounds to fit every scene. They really do a good job of placing the right sounds to fit every scene. They really make sure the music doesn't overpower the scenes. Character: A good show is nothing without characters. Little Witch Academia has lots of that. But keep in mind majority of the character development is only happening to a handful of characters. Most of the cast in Little Witch Academia are playing supporting roles that help the main character out. So yes this even goes for fans of Sucy and Lotte. They have roles to play. So this show really is gonna be up to if you like Akko or not. I love her, but I don't know everyone would like her. She is brash, loud, but has such a huge drive and passion that makes me want to root for her. So, I believe she is an affective main character. This is boosted by how good the supporting cast is around her. In closing this show is amazing and desperately needs a season 2. I won't spoil, but I will say it didn't end like Kill la Kill. that isn't to say Kill la kill's ending was bad or anything. I am just telling you this show has more to tell and I know me and others want to see more.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Apr 13, 2017
Kimi no Na wa.
(Anime)
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Okay let's talk Your Name.
This is the fifth movie by director Makoto Shinkai and was animated by CoMix Wave Films. Now going into this movie, I didn't know what to expect. I only saw the first 18 mins in Japanese. I liked it, but was so busy with other anime I just wanted to focus on that and wait for it to be dubbed because I felt the story translated better to an English speaking audience with English voices. So, I was pretty open minded heading into Your Name. I would like to preface this review that I saw this movie dubbed. I'm glad ... I did because the English dub songs have to be some of the best I ever heard in an anime. They were top notch and the singer for them put a lot of heart into it. The overall English Dub cast was also excellent. I really felt Sheh and Post did an amazing job in their roles with pulling you into their characters. Sheh really has taken off since she was Usagi in the Sailor Moon Crystal dub. She really took the bulls by the horns and made it her own. I felt Michael Sinterniklaas also did a solid job as Taki. I think the most shocking performance has to be Hitoha played by Glynis Ellis. This was her first role in an anime production and she fucking nailed it. Very good work for a newcomer. Very risky to give a rookie a part in such a big film. Good casting right there by Funimation. Starting off with the art and animation for this film, it's flat out beautiful. They really nail the realistic areas of Japan and how Japanese people actually look. I felt this was very refreshing, since a lot of anime exaggerates everything. Every character in the movie has very realistic propositions and body types. Your Name tells the tale of two star cross lovers, Mitsuha and Taki, who one day can suddenly switch bodies with each other. They start to experience and grow from the body swap. As they get to experience what is like being the opposite gender. They both have their friends that play the supporting roles in their respective lives. One of the biggest and most interesting for me would be Miki since she shows an important growth with our main man Taki. I think the biggest side character for Mitsuha would be Hitoha. The others do a good job playing the role of friends and have their little moments. The pacing and storytelling is really top notch and gets a lot of detail and world building out of the way very fast. The writing is nearly airtight with an excellent plot twist near the midway point I didn't see coming but plays out a very realistic scenario. They do a good job flushing out their main leads and giving good define roles to the supporting characters. On the downside, it is never really explains how they are able to switch bodies and I feel that keeps the movie from being perfect since that was nearly the first half of the movie. I also felt Taki could have used a little more screen time since they spent 18 mins on Mitsuha. I felt he could have gotten the same treatment. Overall the story is enjoyable from beginning to end and has a very sweet ending that isn't your typical romance ending. They also do a good job using their title of their film.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Jul 14, 2016
Pico x CoCo x Chico
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Not Recommended This won't take long. Let's bury this piece of shit. This one will be a fun one. A show I have always wonder what the hell was it? Everyone I knew that I go to cons to said it was shit. I'm like," Why?" No one ever gave reasons. So I finally decided to check it out after a long wait. Disclaimer: I don't know hate gay people. I am proud of this country for legalizing gay marriage. So people don't think I'm some right wing nutjob while you read this review. I am so proud that people are getting their proper rights. I feel ... this show is an insult to that. So what is Boku No Pico? It is a hentai shotacon anime OVA series. That was made back in Sept 7th, 2006. "Yo, so I get see milfs fucking little boys? That sound decent man." No you don't you get to see a grown adult fuck, abuse, and rape a little boy. Straight up pedophile shit. I'm not kidding by the way. Oh I forgot there is cross dressing of the over complex Japanese saying for it being "Otokonoko". I mean take a look at our main character...if you can even call him that. -> data.whicdn.com/images/6609123…@ Funny how one of the producers of this trash tried to say it's the first shotacon anime when there has been anime like this and many shota characters before. So I find this to be a load of bullshit. Man it's a joke that he even tried to say this. This is too funny man. Anyway getting back on topic folks, this lovely gem was animated by Natural High. You know you suck at animation when wikipedia don't who you are. Directed by Katuyoshi Yatabe(Take a long look at his "awesome" resume: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katsuyos…@), produced by Seiji Kaneko, and written by Katsuhiko Takayama. Also music from Shinobu. There you have it there folks. The main faces of this mess. I felt putting them out by name would be important. Let's get into the story......well the lack there of one. I think you know who will be my first victim to rip for this. First the disclaimer is laughable and hypocritical, the sub group don't support or promote the content of the show but wish for the viewers to look at it is as art. "Artistic expression" was their wording for that. This shit is far from that. This is a prime example of "Just because Japanese made it doesn't mean it's good." Characters(1.5 out of 10): Let's talk about this first since it won't be long. You got our main man Pico. Who is he? He is the main character of this series. From what I could gather he is 12 years old too. After that, I'm straight up confuse since the timeline of the three episodes I watch is just borderline confusing. Personality wise he is fucking cardboard and attempts of character development attempted on him gets spun back around into another sex scene. He is overall really boring, naive as all hell(see episode 1), creepy(see episode 2 and 3), and has nothing to make up for this. His design sucks too. He looks like a small table. Let's move onto our next important character. Our next character in my opinion is the worst in the series, which is pretty impressive since it is only 3 episodes long. This character also only appears in episode. "Wow he really must suck Saru." He does.....A LOT actually. His name is Tamotsu. He starts off as just as your average guy who works a job and is a regular at a bar his grandfather's bar. It is pretty much love at first sight when he sees Pico and easily takes advantage of him. He tries to seduce Pico when he thinks he is a girl. Even though when they go to have sex. He finds out he is a boy. I mean even with this information, it didn't stop him from making Pico dress up like a girl for the second sex scene in the episode. This dude is a fucking pedophile and he gets away with it. I mean shit I found it bizarre when Pico's grandfather told him to look after Pico. Wow...some authority figure you are sir. Anyway Tamotsu is just a creepy pedophile that is super unlikable. By the way, he doesn't appear for the rest of the series. Also he looks like generic anime male dude #3848457548484843. So this makes him worthless. Our next major character of this hot mess is Chico, wow the creative just screams from that name, he meets Chico in the second episode when he is randomly playing in the forest naked. He develops an interest in Pico. He also likes to watch his sister finger herself while he watches in the attic. Yeah there is like barely any details here for this character it seems they are making him bland as possible. He also somehow has an unbreakable bond with Pico that is not even explain. I guess fucking some random dude you met in the forest a bunch of time makes you an unbreakable couple. He is Pico 1.5 basically. I mean in Episode 2 Pico pretty much because the much younger version of Tamotsu. I didn't think that was possible, but yeah Chico just sucks. He is bland, boring, and seems to be a Pico reskin. Our last major character is Coco, and he is pretty much so poorly design it is laughable. Before we get to talking about his personality and such. Let's talk about his design. The man is a straight up girl, but the artists and creators were very serious about keeping this full on Yaoi. I guess you have more morals if you make kiddie porn of the same sex instead of the opposite. His design is just so confusing and I feel a dick was slap onto what should have been a female character. Now, let's talk about this "amazing" character. Two words different set of words can describe Coco if you ask me. The first one is "wish fulfillment" and the second one is "Pointless mystery". Why these two? Well it's simple my friends. I call Coco wish fulfillment(you can replace this with Gary Stu if you want) is because he suddenly knows everything about the city and lives very well for himself in an vacant train station. That he made look fancy. This character has no flaws and majority of the episode has this weird imagery with featuring him. I also can call him a pointless mystery since the way he acts adds nothing to the story besides being a body to hum and suck. So all these fantasies and shit he knows is meaningless. Lastly, he also gets the forced character development treatment that gets spun into a sex scene. Oh and the last two characters that aren't even worth mentoring is Tamotsu's grandfather and Chico's big sister. They are nothing character. That's all you need to know. They add nothing to the plot. I'm serious about that. Story(1 out of 10): I know you guys were waiting for this part. What is the story? THERE ISN'T ONE!!! The story is nonexistence since all the episodes of this series are just standalone and don't really connect with each other. I mean the plot of each story start with Pico doing something really boring and random and then he meets his waifu for the episode and then they fuck. The writing for these episodes are awful and just don't go anywhere. For example in the first episode, after having sex with Tamtosu. Pico gets mad for no reason. He cuts his hair for no reason, and then they have sex on the beach. No time was taken to even try to explain to the audience why Pico was mad at Tamotsu. There are many examples like that. Another thing about the "Story" of each episode there is just a bunch of filler dialogue and scenes just to fill the run time to the next scene of kiddie sex. This show is an insult to writers like me. I feel they just wrote anything. Sound( 2.5 out of 10): Not much to say here. The performances were not very good across the broad. All the young boy characters sound like girls than boys. The "best" voice actor is actually the guy who plays Tamotsu. Too bad none of them credit besides Pico's voice actor. Who hasn't had work since the airing of this show. Music ranges from boring to annoy as all hell. The sex music is so overused and boring. The opening themes for the two episodes are just typical weeaboo shit pump up to 10. The third episode intro is just annoying and really stupid. Overall the music is annoying and boring. Animation(3 out of 10): This won't be a long section either. The animation for this show is really bad. Lots of reuse poses and positions for the sex scenes. There are some serve errors in the animations too. For example there are instances where Pico's hips are not very well detail. The cut between scenes is very weird too. There is this scene with Chico and Pico are playing and Chico is showing his sweet moves with the bicycle. When he falls off it awkwardly cuts to him falling onto Pico who was actually off to the side watching him show off. So that just makes the scene bizarre, that no one seems to catch that in editing. Another flaw to the animation is the colors and use of brightness. The colors are plain and boring and don't really grab your attention. The use of brightness is annoying and gives the anime this highly tinted feel. It's like trying to add nothing, but gloom to the graphics of your video games. Overall the animation is below average at best and really doesn't add anything to make the viewing experience more enjoyment to this hot mess. Final Score: 2 out of 10 Overall thoughts: This show is really bad. It is one of the worst Hentai I have seen. It is one of the worst anime I have ever seen. There is nothing good about this series and it is a waste of time. It is also offensive on many levels especially to gay people. It promotes pedophilia too. And please don't say, "Oh you're easily offended." No it's not that. There are lines you just don't cross when creating a work of fiction. Next you'll tell me to accept the censored 11 as serious forms of animation. I'm sorry I got standards and I'm not going to lower them to let jackets get away with dumb shit. I feel that this could have been an average Yaoi porn if the characters were much older and they cut out Tamotsu. I would like to also take the it me out to say the Yaoi genre of anime is straight up shit besides a few gems like Black Butler. It's like the people in this genre are just socially award men and women with massive ladyboners. It seems no one cares to make a good story at all in regards to Yaoi. It is sad when I can name more good Yuri anime than Yaoi anime.I hate that they decided to make this kiddie porn on top of having pedophilia too. That is a new low if I have ever seen anything in my life. This is an insult to anime fans too. This media has worked hard to bring us good shows even from the hentai realm. Everyone who worked on this piece of trash should be ashamed. I highly suggest you don't watch this mess and go check out something worth your time like Black Butler.
Reviewer’s Rating: 2
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