This is a review of the ENTIRETY of Fruits Basket; That goes for all 3 seasons of the 2019 anime, as well as the original 2001 anime.
Fruits Basket was one of the first shows I watched when first getting into anime and it remained as one of the most beloved shows I ever had the honor of watching, all these years later. However, I don't think I really took in just how much this show truly meant to me until the remake came out. When seeing these characters again in an all new light and remembering these scenes and stories that I fell in love
...
with years prior, it became immediately clear that this was something truly special that hasn't really been replicated for me in many things that have come before or after it. One concern I had when going into the remake was that it would devalue the original anime for me, in which I wouldn't be able to go back to it or that I wouldn't be able to in good conscience recommend it to people when there's a clearly definitive alternative version for them to watch, instead. Well, when watching the remake, I got so incredibly engrossed in being brought back into this world, that I actually wound up going back and rewatching all of the original series, as well. The original series only really covers the first season of the remake, and a lot of it is more or less exactly the same, save for the visual differences and some minor wording changes. But after having both of these shows fresh in my mind, do I think that one is better than the other? And do I think that you should watch only one or both of them? Well, let's discuss that.
Fruits Basket wasn't just one of MY introductions into anime. The same can be said for a lot of people, since this was one of the first anime dubs that really took off over here, in the west. It was also one of the first dubs for a lot of the legendary voice actors we know and love in today's industry. Probably the most enjoyable part for me was going back and comparing the dubs between the two shows. I cannot stress this enough. The dubs in both the original and remake are some of the most FLAWLESS performances in any sort of acting performance I have ever witnessed in my entire life. It's honestly surreal, seeing it all unfold. Taking into account the DECADES between the two shows and hearing the performances of these actors who were just starting out and having them be THIS good, while also somehow managing to evolve and develop in a whole new generation and create something equally incredible. I cannot be thankful enough for the incredible work that went into casting and directing both of these shows. It's a labor of love in every sense of the word. And it's an admirable spectacle to see these actors perform in two totally different eras of their careers, as well as the anime industry as a whole.
The majority of the cast from the original show reprise their roles in the remake, which I absolutely adore. Laura Bailey is and absolute legend in everything she does. And her work as Tohru in both the original and the remake are nothing short of acting at its absolute finest. She perfectly encapsulates the purity, naiveté, genuine kindheartedness of this beloved character and I absolutely cannot fathom anyone else leading this stellar cast, other than her. Both her original performance and the one in the remake are also very distinct, while also continuing to fall in line with one another to where it still sounds exactly the way you envision her sounding, no matter which version you watch first. It's kinda hard to describe, but while they both sound different, they also both sound exactly the same. Like it's the same person, but at a different stage of their life. Probably because, well, that's exactly what it is. It's been almost 20 years, people! The same goes for Eric Vale and his portrayal of Yuki, in which both versions (much like the character designs) are very distinct and its very fascinating to see how this character was handled at one point in this person's career, and how he's handled in another. Both sound incredible. Both are admirable to listen to and learn from, from an actor's perspective. And while both sound very distinct, they both continue to perfectly align with my memory of this how this character sounds, and that speaks great volumes for not only how great the actor is, but also how passionate and devoted and dedicated the director was. Caitlin Glass very clearly poured her heart and soul into this series. You can't fake this stuff. She's been a pioneer in this industry in ALL variations, from acting to writing to casting to directing. If she's involved in any way, you know that what you'll end up getting will be nothing less than perfection.
On a completely different note, but still equally admirable, Jerry Jewell as Kyo sounds EXACTLY the same! It's incredible how his performance from 20 years ago aligns perfectly with his performance of today! You could've told me that he recorded for both shows back to back, and I would've believed you. And that's not to say he hasn't improved at all. Far from it. His portrayal of this character was brilliant 20 years ago and his ability to seamlessly tap back into it and recreate that character in a new light and have it align so perfectly with this new show is nothing short of absolute brilliance. And it doesn't stop there. Probably my favorite performances in the remake were that of my two favorite characters, Hatori and Kisa, voiced by Kent Williams and Kate Bristol, respectively. Both of them have distinct performances between the original and the remake, and I can't say enough good about both of them. I could honestly listen to Hatori in the remake on repeat and never get tired of it. His voice is absolute bliss to listen to and I can't sing enough praise about what Kent was able to do for this character. As for Kate Bristol... she is an absolute legend! She voiced the young Kisa Sohma when she was only ELEVEN YEARS OLD! It's incredible to witness when someone so young has so much talent right out of the gate like that. The Kisa episode of the original series absolutely broke my heart and Kate's performance of a character that was within the same age range as her at the time is definitely a contributor as to how that character won me over and became my favorite character in the entire series. And the fact that she can STILL voice that character almost TWENTY YEARS LATER... there's nothing to describe it. I can only imagine how incredible and emotional of an experience it must have been for her. Her FIRST acting gig and it's THIS good!? And getting to reprise it 2 decades later!? That's not possible. It really isn't. But she pulls it off perfectly. I'll never stop admiring the journey of this actor, from beginning to now.
While I have nothing but high praise for each and every returning voice actor, the same goes for every new cast member that can only be heard in the remake. Like I said, this entire dub is a labor of love in each and every element. The creators know how beloved the original is and they wanted to recreate that magic as much as they were able to. And they were most definitely able to, whether it was with the original cast members or completely new ones. It's been 20 years, so some changes were inevitable. But I use the word "changes" VERY loosely. Because even when it's a new actor taking the helm, the performance is absolutely spot on and encapsulates both the spirit of the character and the feeling of the original actor. Whether or not these new actors looked to these original performances to influence their own, or if it just came naturally when working with such an incredible director, only they can answer that. But I can definitely say that they succeeded in their pursuit of bringing these characters to life in a new light. The most notable change would be to the character Momiji, who has a German accent in the dub of the remake. First off, Momiji's original voice actor, who was absolutely brilliant, by the way, is currently no longer working in the voice acting industry. It would've been a miracle in and of itself to bring her back for this. So to have a new actress take the helm was expected. Though, the new direction might have been a surprise to some.
But that's another example of how the industry has evolved over the years and how the original source material is being more respected and more clearly translated, whenever things get localized. We're no longer living in a world where shows need to get "Americanized" for the sake of catering to an audience who can only ever watch stuff that's in tune with things that they're already familiar with. America loves anime! Because anime is awesome! We wholeheartedly welcome it and accept it for what it is. And this remake gives us an opportunity to appreciate these things that the original creator wanted to share with us, back when creating the original manga. For starters, you hear some character names pronounced slightly differently in the remake's dub. For example, the character Shigure had his name in the original anime pronounced the way an American would typically say it, upon first reading it (Shih-goo-ray). But in the remake, his name is pronounced as Shee-gu-rei, which is how a Japanese speaker would pronounce it. And it only makes sense to go with this change, because... well, the characters are Japanese. As for Momiji, he was indeed half-German, half-Japanese in the original manga, as well as in the Japanese dub. And they brought this element of his character over for the English dub of the remake and it only adds to the complexity of his character. Not only does it make him distinct from the rest of the cast, but it also holds a very special meaning to the character. As for the performance, I'm blown away by how well the performance of Mikaela Krantz in the remake aligns with that of Kimberly Grant of the original series. Even though both have very different portrayals, it genuinely sounds like the same kid, but with different accents. Again. The casting, directing and acting is absolutely spot on, on all fronts.
Another very drastic change would be that of the character Akito. This character has THREE English voice actors, actually! For the original, we have Aaron Dismuke for young Akito and Chad Cline for grown up Akito. And for the remake, we have Colleen Clinkenbeard who voices Akito in every iteration. All three are completely different actors with different fields of expertise, but they all come together to perfectly encapsulate the unsettling nature of this very mysterious and terrifying character. As someone whose heard a LOT of Colleen performances over the years, I gotta say that this is one of her absolute best. The amount of chills I got from hearing her performance in the remake was astonishing. As for both Chad and Aaron, they actually took on other roles in the remake, which I absolutely LOVE that they did that! They take on their new roles with just as much precision and devotion as they did with their work in the original, and I'm sure it meant a lot to them to have a place in this new version of a show that was such a staple in the beginning of their voice acting careers. Since this remake is the COMPLETE Fruits Basket experience, we of course have some new characters who are getting voiced for the very first time. I was worried that I wouldn't end up loving these new characters as much as the ones who already made their place in my heart for years, but of course I was completely mistaken. And that's definitely attributed to how incredible their voice actors portray these characters and perfectly encapsulate the spirit of Fruits Basket. They sound like they've been here all along and I can't imagine this world without them, now.
Ok... I can gush all day and night about each and every individual voice actor in this entire show. So let's try to move it along, here. Because while the acting is absolutely phenomenal in both versions, you need two other very important things to make these performances stand-out as brilliantly as they do; a stellar script and lovable characters. Let's start with the script. I cannot put it any other way, but to simply say that the dialogue in Fruits Basket is nothing short of poetry, incarnate. Every sentence carries so much emotional weight and sounds so distinct and profound. It feels like learning a new language, or as if you're hearing sound for the first time. I can listen to these characters speak for the rest of my life, as if their voices were the wind. It puts me at absolute peace and just sounds so natural, while beautifully unique and incomparable. This applies to both the original and the remake, by the way. From the line producers of the original and remake dub, to the mangaka who wove these words together in the first place. No matter what language you're reading or listening in, the words in Fruits Basket are along the lines of your favorite song in the way that they completely enrapture you with a spectacular symphony composed by a plethora of incredible talents that cannot be replicated by anybody else. As for the characters, in case you couldn't already tell with how much I've been talking about just their voices, these are some of my favorite characters in all of fiction.
Every. Single. One of them. Has a distinct personality, a rich and detailed backstory, a dynamic journey of growth and recovery throughout the story, and they resonated with me in completely different ways. The original show didn't cover all that the manga had to offer, so some changes were made to make it so the anime had a bit of a "complete" feeling to it when it came to an end. What I once thought were the entirety of some characters journeys turned out to be only the beginning. All that development is still present in the remake, but it's like admiring a beautifully crafted treasure chest, only to open it years later and discover the mountain of gold, hidden inside, all this time! My love for the old characters only grew tenfold, when watching the remake. Most notably, I wound up absolutely adoring the two best friends of Tohru, Uo and Hana. I already loved the dynamic that these three characters had. Having this sweet and innocent girl who couldn't harm a fly if you paid her be best friends with the two biggest outcasts in the school, one of which is a former gang member and the other being someone believed to be cursed. I honestly wasn't expecting to see development for the two of them in this series. I was a fool for thinking so. Hearing their backstories and learning how these three characters came together was one of the absolute highlights of the Fruits Basket experience for me. I was an absolute wreck, as if I was watching the show for the first time as a kid, all over again. I remember wishing that they had just a bit more screen time in the original show, and the remake absolutely delivered and made these two some of my absolute favorite characters in the entire cast.
I was most interested to learn about the last few Sohma family members I never got to meet in the original show. I was a bit confused as to why they only left a very small handful of them unseen in the original show. Would their stories really be enough to fill up both Seasons 2 AND 3? The answer; absolutely. There was a reason their introductions were held off for so long. Why SO much was allowed to happen before we even met them. Needless to say, their stories very much lived up to the emotional impact of the events that took place before they arrived. I love them just as much as the characters I knew for years, prior. Not a single second was wasted or boring in the slightest. Every single solitary element of this show was planned out from beginning to end. Seeing these old characters end up in completely different scenarios from when I last saw them was amazing to see. Seeing how much more they had left to grow and change and accomplish in this world, seeing how much these new characters would influence and shape their very existence. I'll never forget the journey these characters went on. It's a one of a kind experience that I'll always be grateful for having bore witness to.
The story of Fruits Basket is one of my absolute favorite in any form of media I consume. My favorite types of stories are ones of healing. Ones where you have characters coming together who help one another heal and recover from their traumatic pasts and create a beautiful future, together. Fruits Basket is one of the best examples of that. Having one of the most pure and beautiful soles as the shows protagonist makes you discover a whole new meaning of the word "kindness". In fact, "kindness" almost feels like too small of a word to describe her. As Yuki says at one point, "she deserves the moon, but she would never dare ask for it." Tohru always puts everybody before herself. She truly, genuinely and sincerely cares about every single solitary person on the planet and would do anything for them at the drop of a hat. She has this way of knowing exactly what people need, despite not fully understanding what they're going through. Even if her own experiences are different from theirs, she knows exactly how to get through to people. Because she's not a perfect human being with all the answers, which is a very important element to her. She's had her own horrible life experiences and she's still struggling with them, on a daily basis. But she always tends to deal with them alone, despite wanting to always be there for everyone else. She knows that all that people want at the end of the day is to be loved. And with each member of the Sohma family having been devoid of the concept of love and acceptance for most of their lives, having Tohru come along and teach them what it feels like for the very first time and seeing these characters finally come to feel comfortable with themselves is nothing less than beautiful. Again, it sounds like to small of a word. And in turn, it then gives all of them a chance to be there for her as they learn more about her and as she continues to suffer more and more hardships within her own personal life. But they don't do it out of obligation. They do it out of love. Because they truly love this new person who came into their life and became an irreplaceable member of their family.
Whatever reason you may have for watching anime. Whether it's because you enjoy the art style. Or because you prefer these types of stories. Or because you want to learn from these types or actors or writers. Or perhaps you just like to consume any type of media that this world has to offer. Whatever your reason may be, regardless of what you're into, Fruits Basket is a show that NEEDS to be experienced by everyone on this earth. As for which version you should watch... it would be an absolute CRIME to watch only one of them. Both of them have incredibly admirable and unparalleled elements to them. Getting to see these actors and study these performances that are two decades apart, seeing how brilliant both of them are and how each and every minuscule difference between the two was a conscientious choice made by the actors and writers and directors that only further improved upon the goals for each show at the time of their creation is absolutely fascinating for someone like me. I found myself learning more and more about acting and writing with every second spent with these characters. While the original is very similar to Season 1 of the remake in terms of writing and characters, it also has stuff that can only be found in the original. I think the original handles comedic bits FAR better than the remake. A lot of that is in part due to the animation style of the original. It all just ironically works better with the smaller budget they had available to them. And while the animation in the original still holds up to this day, the animation in the remake is to DIE for! It's stunningly gorgeous and breathtaking in every single solitary frame. Both shows also have their own unique soundtracks which are both amazing! You'll fall in love with these songs and find that they work perfectly for the shows that they're attached to. They perfectly encapsulate both the era the shows were made in, as well as the distinct style of animation that accompanies them.
Both shows have their merits and succeed with flying colors in what they set out to do. They have their individual unique elements, while also holding the same level of quality. Neither one is superior over the other. Besides, if you watch both of them, you just get to watch more Fruits Basket. And that is most definitely a good thing. I hope you get even a fraction of what I got out of this show. I truly believe its something that can heal and resonate with everyone and I think something like that is incredibly precious and doesn't come along every day. Whatever you may be going through, however you may be feeling, whoever you may be with or who you may need, I hope there's someone or something in this show that will connect with you and help you feel found. And just remember... You all have a beautiful plum on your backs. You always have.
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Aug 18, 2021
Fruits Basket 1st Season
(Anime)
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This is a review of the ENTIRETY of Fruits Basket; That goes for all 3 seasons of the 2019 anime, as well as the original 2001 anime.
Fruits Basket was one of the first shows I watched when first getting into anime and it remained as one of the most beloved shows I ever had the honor of watching, all these years later. However, I don't think I really took in just how much this show truly meant to me until the remake came out. When seeing these characters again in an all new light and remembering these scenes and stories that I fell in love ...
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Feb 6, 2017 Recommended
Orange Review (NO SPOILERS)
I have a certain trend with how I go about watching shows. Usually, I'll start off with knocking out new series, one after another. But then I'll just take a several month gap, mainly because I'm stuck in a mindset that thinks there isn't any show out there that can top the ones that I've already seen. Well if anime is good at anything, it's surprising people. I'm making an effort to get everything off of my "To Watch List" this year, so I started off the year with a little show called "Orange". And sure enough... I finished the entire thing ... in one sitting, and wound up crying myself to sleep because of how emotional this show was. But that's not just because I was no longer in my rut and had turned into a marathoning machine. It was because Orange is one of the greatest shows I've ever had the pleasure of viewing. So let's talk about why. From the surface, Orange is like a million other shows that came before it. High school setting, first ever relationship, you get the picture. But that romance is only the result of the actions that occur in the main plot. And I wouldn't dare spoil that plot, because it's one that manages to IMMEDIATELY pull you into this world and make you want to see where these characters end up. The story is simple, yet interesting. Not overly complicated, and it tells you your character's objectives, from the very beginning. The message and the journey is incredibly deep and one that you can relate to, or at the very least sympathize with. Personally, I decided to watch this show at the BEST possible time. This story hit very close to home in a lot of ways. Making me look back on a very special memory of my life that holds both a lot of happiness and a lot of pain. But instead of feeling sad when watching this, it only made me feel happy. The reason for this is because the story is so incredibly beautiful and the characters are such WONDERFUL people. When you watch as many shows as I have, you end up expecting every character trope in the dime a dozen high school setting. You know the ones. So when this show comes around and shows me its cast of characters, it's really something to behold. I LOVE shows with NICE people. I know it sounds weird, but I don't really ever like the jokish-bully or punching bag characters. And while this show does have its moments like that, these characters are really good at taking things seriously when it's needed. And in this show, being serious is needed A LOT. But it's never done in a completely serious, overly dramatic way. These characters are just so incredibly nice to one another. And not in just the "YOU CAN DO IT!" "DON'T GIVE UP!" sort of way. The things they say and the things that they're willing to do for one another is both real and incredibly moving. Probably my least favorite types of characters in anime are the ones who are willing to let the world end or endanger their friends, because they're so hung up on who they'll get to be in a relationship with, at the end of the day. This show is one of the rare exceptions where they DON'T do that. Even when it gets brought up that someone has feelings for another person, but those feelings will only cause problems for the main objective of the story, the character that has those feelings outright says that they're willing to put those feelings aside for the sake of protecting and supporting all of their friends and the objective that they're all currently facing. And I LOVE that. Orange has one of the nicest and most pleasurable cast of characters to watch. Each one of them is kind, caring, real, and important to the story. Now let's talk about the animation. At first glance, I was honestly a bit turned off by it's design. It's not that it was bad, but it was a bit too weird looking, to me. However, this opinion quickly changed and I grew to love this show's art style. Orange is animated by a company known as TMS Entertainment. A company that has a VERY large and impressive number of shows under its belt. But surprisingly, the only shows I've ever seen from them are Orange and... Sonic X!? ...Oooook, then? But ya. Orange's art style looks like a bunch of drawings of porcelain dolls, drawn in colored pencil. Probably a VERY weird way of putting it, but in short, I love this art style. It's unique, beautiful, and fits the show to a T. The music in this show is something that I enjoyed just as much as the artstyle. With all of the shows I've watched, and especially ones with this type of setting and tone, I'm very used to having a lot of piano music to be used. I don't mind much, since the piano is probably my favorite instrument. However, this show is much more centered around music played with the guitar. Honestly, this was a very nice breath of fresh air that led to a beautiful soundtrack that perfectly accompanied the show it was attached to. This is also another one of those shows that has a lot of silent moments that are better off without music, and the silence in a way is SO powerful, that it sometimes feels like the loudest thing you hear in this show. Surprisingly, the only songs I didn't like in this show are the opening and ending themes. Not bad, but nothing really great, on both visuals and audio. Though, I do like the idea of referring people to Orange's opening if they ever ask me to sum up anime in just one opening. A bunch of high schoolers running around an open field, in their school uniforms. That's what it's all about. And finally, the classic sub VS dub debate. As always, if I'm given the option to watch a show in sub or dub, I will give both shows an equal chance by watching the first episode in both languages. Personally, I can recommend both versions for this show. They both did a good job and I had no problem with either one of them. They honestly sound very similar, so pick whichever one you prefer. I personally went with the dub on this one, since it helped me relate more to these characters. The scenario was already very relatable to stuff that I've gone through in the past, but the english voices remind me of people who are part of my life, right now. They sound real. And I appreciated that. As always, leave it to Funimation for stellar anime dubs. However, this show DOES have a lot of reading in it, regardless of which language you watch it in. So be prepared to pause a couple times per episode, if you're not a fast reader. In conclusion, Orange was something that came into my life at just the right time. The start of every new year is always usually the worst part of the year for me. So to start the year with a show so beautiful with its messages of love and support and caring for your friends was just the perfect kind of show for me at this moment. A lot of it reminded me of things in my personal past, and it just gave me hope that I'll be able to better myself and do more to better the lives of the people important to me. The characters are all beautiful and lovable people who support each other in a realistic way. And the art and music is both amazing and a breath of fresh air for shows that this one is similar to. Speaking of other shows, if you enjoyed Orange and are looking for shows similar to it, here are some recommendations. The first one would be one of my favorite shows of all time, Ano Hana. An 11 episode show about trying to fix a long lost friendship, with the same amount of small magic that Orange has. My second recommendation will be another one of my absolute favorite shows, Clannad. A show with some of the best characters, storytelling, music and animation in all of anime. These 3 shows fall in a very similar category of shows that will make you ball your eyes out for weeks on end, but you'll be in love with the journey you went on with them. So with that, I honestly cannot give Orange anything less than my highest recommendation. Orange... gets a 10/10.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Feb 5, 2017
Pokemon XY&Z
(Anime)
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Pokemon the Series: XY&Z Review (CONTAINS SPOILERS)
It's not every day, I get to write a Pokemon review. It's always bittersweet, having a new generation of Pokemon come to an end. In the games department, X and Y was absolutely revolutionary for the Pokemon franchise. As for the anime, well... we just came off of the Black and White anime, which is widely considered to be the worst of the Pokemon anime. So X and Y had a lot of fixing to do? Does it succeed? Well, let's talk about that. First off, I don't know how they keep doing it, but the Pokemon anime just keeps ... getting better and better, in terms of animation. That's undeniable. Right from the get go, the new art palette (teehee) is a huge step up from the already amazing looking Black and White (which is the only amazing thing about that season). Not only to the colors look improved, but Ash looks significantly older in this series. Of course he's still in 10 year old limbo, but we can at least pretend that he's aged over time, with this one. I get that they want to have a 10 year old protagonist so that the majority of the Pokemon anime audience can have a character that they can relate to, but I think it'd be even more impactful to have that protagonist grow up, along with its audience. While he may not be doing that in the age department, he definitely did that in the personality department. So in Black and White, Ash had completely lost and and all knowledge and skill he ever had, throughout the entirety of Diamond and Pearl. And considering D&P has an INCREDIBLY smart and deep Ash in it, Black and White back peddled like nobody's business! So when X and Y roles around and introduces this new, more confident Ash, I was really impressed. This Ash is more confident, courageous, intelligent, and acts as a mentor to his traveling companions. Usually that honor belongs to the older male traveling companion. But Ash does a really good job with this role, while also continuing to have growth and struggles of his own. It's by far the best Ash Ketchum in the Pokemon anime, and I'm REALLY sad that the small bits of the Sun and Moon anime that I've seen so far seem to completely erase that personality and rewrite Ash from the ground up, once again. But I guess we'll just have to wait and see if that's entirely true. Speaking of starting from the ground up, like always, Ash has an entirely new traveling party in this new region. And for the first time since the Hoenn generation, Ash is traveling in a party of FOUR this time, as opposed to three. First off, we have the female playable character in X and Y, Serena. Right from the beginning, Serena is a very interesting character. When we get to see her and personal life, she seems very atypical, compared to all the other female traveling companions that Ash has had, in the past. First off, she doesn't start off with any Pokemon, or even with any plans to get one and go on a journey. She's just a girl living at home, who doesn't seem to be really involved in anything related to Pokemon. But the reason she has for going on a journey is actually REALLY interesting. You immediately become interested in her story and hope to see it go somewhere that Pokemon has never really gone, before. Unfortunately, this big suspenseful journey gets wrapped up pretty quickly and anticlimactically. But that doesn't stop Serena from being an absolute joy to have on screen. Serena reminds me a lot of Dawn, in which she's a character that continuously grows in both victory and failure. She has her victories like every main character always gets. But it's not always like that. A lot of her victories involve overcoming obstacles such as people and past events that tell her she's not good enough. And I'm not just talking about jerkish rivals. I'm talking about parents who paved a predetermined path for her. I'm talking about legends in the industry of her dreams that tell her she has no hope of succeeding, simply because the great classics that came before her already set the bar and nobody will ever be able to top it, simply because it isn't a classic. Not only that, she has a lot of times where she DOES fail and it breaks her up. Seeing her in those darker states is one of the more emotional things to witness in the Pokemon series. But what's even more powerful is seeing her recovery from those moments. Serena goes through more growth and development in her journey than Ash was able to do in the first THREE generations of Pokemon! They didn't treat Serena like a side character. They made her important and an equal to Ash in the story. And not only does she look up to him for inspiration and admire him more than any other traveling companion in the past, but Ash also looks up to her, as well. We're always gonna have a soft spot in our hearts for Misty and I absolutely loved Dawn as a character in Diamond and Pearl. But I can easily say that Serena is the BEST female protagonist in the Pokemon anime's history! And I'm happy to say that the great characters don't stop there! Ash's next traveling companion is the 5th gym leader in X and Y, Clemont. Who I constantly refer to as Clementine, because reasons. My favorite character in the Pokemon anime has always been Brock. He's both incredibly hilarious and he's also been such a great role model to the other members of the group. But throughout all the time we spent with Brock over the years, he never had a journey of growth in the anime. At least not one that was very prominent. The reason for that is because he didn't really ever need one. Being a well seasoned gym leader, he was incredibly smart and focused more on helping others, due to him kinda already having his life plan all figured out. But as soon as he discovered a desire to start something new, he went and did it, alone. So we never saw any of the struggles he may have had. So now we switch over to Clemont, who is a gym leader just like Brock and also INCREDIBLY intelligent. But he isn't nearly as confident in where his life is headed and finds the desire to go on a journey to develop his skills and expand his horizons. And he gets that ambition from meeting Ash. Being a gym leader makes Ash look up to him, but Clemont returns those exact feelings in this random trainer that he just met. So they end up traveling together with a promise to help one another in improving themselves. Just like Serena, this made Clemont a lot more enjoyable to watch, since we get to see him grow, as opposed to just being the voice of reason. And while I still say Brock will always be my favorite, I can say that Clemont is the BEST male traveling companion that Ash has ever had. While his journey isn't as grand as Serena's, we still see a lot of growth that we've never seen in any male traveling companion before him. Something I'm really glad about is that he wasn't as super nerdy as I initially thought he was gonna be. Ya, he's a sciencey inventor type of guy, but he's not really nerdy about it. The only thing I really didn't like is that his new inventions that got introduced almost every episode ALWAYS came with an overly detailed explanation on what they did and how they worked. And they were always followed up with Ash saying "WOW! SCIENCE IS SO AMAZING!" It was like having 2 Team Rocket mottos in every episode, and it just took up too much time, on top of it being super cheesy and not nearly as cool as the Team Rocket motto. But still, he has a ton of kick butt, awesome moments that make him seem really cool and not at all like your typical nerd trope. I also like how he's the first of Ash's traveling companions to actually get tired from all that walking and running around that they always do. I mean seriously! Ash and company have traveled the world by foot for over 20 years, and we JUST NOW get a character whose like "I'm too old for this!" Granted, it's probably cuz he's always lugging around a giant metal backpack, but still. It was a funny addition to his character. Now like I said, this generation of the anime actually had FOUR traveling companions! The final member of Ash's group is Clemont's younger sister, Bonnie. Right off the bat, you're reminded of Max from the Hoenn anime. I actually like Max a lot more than most people do. I found him more interesting than May and he's also the main focus of my favorite episode in the entire Pokemon anime, "Do I Hear A Ralts?". So I was actually really excited to see another younger, non-trainer character join Ash's group. Bonnie is both absolutely hilarious and extremely adorable. At first, she does seem a bit much, with how she thinks every single Pokemon is "SOOOO CUUUUTE!". But she plays off of Clemont really well and has a lot of cute moments, herself. One thing she does is that she tends to go to every attractive girl she sees and asks them to "Take care of" her brother. Which then results in Clemont pulling her away, super embarrassed. Obviously this is just a re-skin of the Brock gag that we all know and some of us love. While it's not as funny as watching Brock's ear getting ripped off or getting poisoned to death but miraculously recovering from it, it's still funny to see. Bonnie actually plays a really important role in the anime, despite not being a trainer and thus not really being able to start a journey of her own, yet. She has a lot of episodes centered around her that range from cute to funny to "OH MY GOD IT'S SO SAD!!!!! ESPURR WHY!?!?!?!?!?" She gets even more important in the show's second half, known as XY&Z. First off, as if the jump from Black and White to X and Y wasn't impress enough, in terms of animation, the animation jump from XY to XY&Z is EVEN MORE mindblowingly amazing! Honestly, the episodes in XY&Z look up to par with the Pokemon MOVIES! And I don't mean the old ones, I mean the ones getting released right now! Seriously, this show is stinkin gorgeous and deserves respect for not only seeing how far the Pokemon anime has come, but also for simply being one of the best looking anime I've seen. But ya. Back to Bonnie. In XY&Z, we find a mysterious, unknown Pokemon. Bonnie takes it upon herself to take care of it and give it the name "Squishy". Now Squishy actually plays a very important role in the show's story. But honestly, having a name like Squishy makes it VERY hard for me to take a lot of those intense moments at the end of the show very seriously. Regardless, Bonnie is thankfully never pushed to the side or treated too much as a mascot character. She plays a very important role and she's an absolute joy to watch. All 4 of the main human characters play off of each other so well. I can easily say that this is my favorite group of human characters in any Pokemon anime generation. They were all fantastic and I very much enjoyed going on a journey with each and every one of them. And of course, Team Rocket. Unfortunately, they don't get NEARLY as much screen time and emotional episodes all to themselves as they did in Diamond and Pearl, but they still had a ton of great moments and were 1000 times better than they were in Black and White. As for the Pokemon characters... again, Diamond and Pearl has this show beat. Those of you who have seen Diamond and Pearl will probably understand and agree with me when saying that they had the BEST Pokemon characters in the history of the show. X and Y had some Pokemon that stood out more than others, but Diamond and Pearl made EVERY Pokemon important and likable. This show did not. Probably the most prominent one is Ash's Greninja. They tried REALLY hard to make Greninja the next Charizard. They REALLY wanted you to like this Pokemon. Did they succeed? Well... sort of? Greninja actually does a lot to make Ash more likable, as weird as that sounds. It's sorta hard to explain it all briefly, but you'll understand when you see the show for yourself, how Greninja makes Ash more involved in battles, as well as more deep of a character. The music is classic Pokemon style. It's good, but nothing super memorable. The 3 opening theme songs are all great, however. The 1st one is just a remix of the original theme song that we all know and love, so that may turn some people on, right off the bat. The other 2 are really good and also really different, compared to the theme the past couple of openings seemed to have. I just REALLY wish they made the english openings longer than 30 seconds. I mean, come on! Kids aren't THAT impatient! Especially at 8:00 in the morning. I promise you! Now, like every generation of Pokemon, there's a butt load of cash cow movies, trailing behind it. X and Y has 3 movies attached to it, which I'll go over very briefly. The Diancie movie has an ending that'll probably scare some kids who are new to Pokemon. But if you've seen the first Pokemon movie, you know EXACTLY how the "BIG PROBLEM" at the end of this movie is going to get resolved. All in all, not worth the watch. The second movie stars Hoopa, who is one of the most annoying talking legendaries in Pokemon movie history. Not nearly as bad as Keldeo, thankfully. But still incredibly annoying to where I'll tell you to avoid this movie, simply because Hoopa is in it. The last movie stars both Volcanion and Magearna, and I gotta be honest. This is the first Pokemon movie in OVER A DECADE that I can actually say wasn't absolutely terrible! It's still not as great as the oldies, but it was ACTUALLY fun to watch, which is something I can't say about any other Pokemon movie that was released within the past 10 years! Magearna is the best part of this movie. It's just a really cool Pokemon to look at. This movie made me love a legendary I probably never would've cared about, otherwise. They had moments that made me happy and sad, as well as whimsical and entranced in their story and just overall design. I would seriously recommend watching this movie just to see Magearna. This movie won't blow you away in the story department, but it's got SOMETHING, at least. So that alone is worth the watch, when compared to the past 10 years of shovelware Pokemon movies. Back to the anime, the XY&Z portion of the show is sort of a movie, itself. I may just think that because of how deep these characters are, but the final episodes at the Pokemon League, onward are actually really intense. Now, I'm gonna start talking about the outcome of the Pokemon League and what happens after that. So if you don't wanna be spoiled, I'd recommend skipping to the final paragraph. So with all the growing Ash had in this journey, and with these specific Pokemon on his team being SIGNIFICANTLY more powerful than teams he's had in the past. I truly believed that this would finally be the generation that has Ash win the Pokemon League! I thought it was finally time! However, he had some tough competition. There's this SUPER FRIENDLY rival of his named Sawyer, who is honestly one of the more annoying characters in this show (and voiced by Pikachu in the Japanese version). And there's also a character named Alain. Alain actually has his own series of spin off episodes that got released throughout the X and Y anime. I won't spoil what they're about, but it's pretty interesting stuff and gives you an idea of what a Pokemon anime without Ash would be like. Honestly, it was cool. And as much as I liked Ash in X and Y, I wouldn't mind seeing the world of Pokemon through someone else's eyes. But throughout that side series, you see that Alain is a ridiculously powerful trainer. He eventually meets Ash in XY&Z and the two of them become friends and wish to battle each other in the Pokemon League. Ash gets his wish when he goes up against Alain in the FINALS! This is the first time in Pokemon HISTORY that Ash has made it to the FINALS in the Pokemon League! I truly believed that this would be the time that Ash would come out on top. And throughout the whole battle between him and Alain, they make it all seem like it's going to come true. Ash and Greninja are in COMPLETE control of the battlefield, whenever they're working together. They make Greninja INTENSE and you just KNOW that they're gonna win and Ash is FINALLY going to win! .........but he doesn't. As ends up losing to Alain, even though the final attack is done by Greninja, who ends up fainting from exhaustion. This was the most frustrating part of the entire show. This was the PERFECT time for Ash to finally come out on top! I know the show creators have said that if Ash ever won the Pokemon League, his journey would be over. But I KNOW that's not true! Ash wouldn't just go home and stare as his 1st place trophy for the rest of his life, whenever he won it. He would go out to a new region to find new Pokemon and go to new places and take on a new challenge. He would NEVER end his journey, as long as there's still new places to explore in the world of Pokemon. He won 1st place in the Orange League! Did he stop his journey, then? Nope! He became king of the Battle Frontier and was even offered a position as one of the Frontier Brains! Did he take the position? Nope! He continued his journey around the world! So ya. It's nonsense to say that Ash isn't allowed to win, or else his journey would be over. He DESERVED to win here and it would've been a perfect end to an incredible journey with a character we all grew up with. But whatever. Alain wins the Pokemon League. But the show actually doesn't stop there. Out of nowhere, the final battle with Team Flare begins. And it's one of the most epic battles with an evil team in Pokemon history! Team Flare's ambitions are explained in a way that makes them seem a lot more intense and fierce, as opposed to how they were explained in the games. They made Team Flare both incredibly evil and genuinely frightening. So it's up to not only Ash, but Serena, Clemont, Bonnie, and the unsung heroes of Pokemon, Team Rocker, to stop Team Flare and save the Kalos region. All of them play a huge role in this final battle. Clemont and Bonnie have very deep and emotional moments that were both very sad and incredibly dark for Pokemon standards. Serena didn't stand out as much as they did, but considering how much her character rocked the rest of the show, I say she gets a pass. As for Ash... Let me just say this. The voice actors of both Ash and his traveling companions deserve recognition for how stinkin awesomely they voiced these last couple of episodes. It's honestly some of, if not the BEST moments of voice acting in the Pokemon anime's history. Ash sounds truly intense and is able to send chills down your spine with his words, alone. Clemont does just as good of a job as Ash with that, and Bonnie goes from cute mascot, to downright heartbreaking. Seriously. I know a lot of us were real uppity when the Pokemon dub got handed over to a new company and all the voices got changed. But I loved their work in Diamond and Pearl, onward. And now that they've been doing the dub LONGER than the original dub, and seeing the performances they gave with these last few episodes of XY&Z, I applaud the heck out of every single person who worked on this show. You all seriously did an amazing job and you should be truly proud of your stellar performances. In conclusion, Pokemon X and Y is FANTASTIC. It was a million times better than Black and White, the animation is the best it's ever been, the main human characters are absolutely incredible, and the ending of this series was everything that the ending of Black and White should've been. I still think that Diamond and Pearl wins by a hair, in terms of story and overall cast, however. Both of them are fantastic and the absolute highlights of the Pokemon anime. If you've been out of the Pokemon anime for a long time and don't really think it's worth returning to, I can tell you with total confidence that you WILL like X and Y. As long as you can accept that all the Pokemon and characters and their voice actors from your childhood aren't there anymore, X and Y will prove to be something truly special and something that can be enjoyed by every Pokemon fan, as well as fans of anime, as a whole. Pokemon The Series: XY&Z gets a 9/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Feb 5, 2017
Pokemon XY
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Pokémon the Series: XY&Z Review (CONTAINS SPOILERS)
It's not every day, I get to write a Pokemon review. It's always bittersweet, having a new generation of Pokemon come to an end. In the games department, X and Y was absolutely revolutionary for the Pokemon franchise. As for the anime, well... we just came off of the Black and White anime, which is widely considered to be the worst of the Pokemon anime. So X and Y had a lot of fixing to do? Does it succeed? Well, let's talk about that. First off, I don't know how they keep doing it, but the Pokemon anime just keeps ... getting better and better, in terms of animation. That's undeniable. Right from the get go, the new art palette (teehee) is a huge step up from the already amazing looking Black and White (which is the only amazing thing about that season). Not only to the colors look improved, but Ash looks significantly older in this series. Of course he's still in 10 year old limbo, but we can at least pretend that he's aged over time, with this one. I get that they want to have a 10 year old protagonist so that the majority of the Pokemon anime audience can have a character that they can relate to, but I think it'd be even more impactful to have that protagonist grow up, along with its audience. While he may not be doing that in the age department, he definitely did that in the personality department. So in Black and White, Ash had completely lost and and all knowledge and skill he ever had, throughout the entirety of Diamond and Pearl. And considering D&P has an INCREDIBLY smart and deep Ash in it, Black and White back peddled like nobody's business! So when X and Y roles around and introduces this new, more confident Ash, I was really impressed. This Ash is more confident, courageous, intelligent, and acts as a mentor to his traveling companions. Usually that honor belongs to the older male traveling companion. But Ash does a really good job with this role, while also continuing to have growth and struggles of his own. It's by far the best Ash Ketchum in the Pokemon anime, and I'm REALLY sad that the small bits of the Sun and Moon anime that I've seen so far seem to completely erase that personality and rewrite Ash from the ground up, once again. But I guess we'll just have to wait and see if that's entirely true. Speaking of starting from the ground up, like always, Ash has an entirely new traveling party in this new region. And for the first time since the Hoenn generation, Ash is traveling in a party of FOUR this time, as opposed to three. First off, we have the female playable character in X and Y, Serena. Right from the beginning, Serena is a very interesting character. When we get to see her and personal life, she seems very atypical, compared to all the other female traveling companions that Ash has had, in the past. First off, she doesn't start off with any Pokemon, or even with any plans to get one and go on a journey. She's just a girl living at home, who doesn't seem to be really involved in anything related to Pokemon. But the reason she has for going on a journey is actually REALLY interesting. You immediately become interested in her story and hope to see it go somewhere that Pokemon has never really gone, before. Unfortunately, this big suspenseful journey gets wrapped up pretty quickly and anticlimactically. But that doesn't stop Serena from being an absolute joy to have on screen. Serena reminds me a lot of Dawn, in which she's a character that continuously grows in both victory and failure. She has her victories like every main character always gets. But it's not always like that. A lot of her victories involve overcoming obstacles such as people and past events that tell her she's not good enough. And I'm not just talking about jerkish rivals. I'm talking about parents who paved a predetermined path for her. I'm talking about legends in the industry of her dreams that tell her she has no hope of succeeding, simply because the great classics that came before her already set the bar and nobody will ever be able to top it, simply because it isn't a classic. Not only that, she has a lot of times where she DOES fail and it breaks her up. Seeing her in those darker states is one of the more emotional things to witness in the Pokemon series. But what's even more powerful is seeing her recovery from those moments. Serena goes through more growth and development in her journey than Ash was able to do in the first THREE generations of Pokemon! They didn't treat Serena like a side character. They made her important and an equal to Ash in the story. And not only does she look up to him for inspiration and admire him more than any other traveling companion in the past, but Ash also looks up to her, as well. We're always gonna have a soft spot in our hearts for Misty and I absolutely loved Dawn as a character in Diamond and Pearl. But I can easily say that Serena is the BEST female protagonist in the Pokemon anime's history! And I'm happy to say that the great characters don't stop there! Ash's next traveling companion is the 5th gym leader in X and Y, Clemont. Who I constantly refer to as Clementine, because reasons. My favorite character in the Pokemon anime has always been Brock. He's both incredibly hilarious and he's also been such a great role model to the other members of the group. But throughout all the time we spent with Brock over the years, he never had a journey of growth in the anime. At least not one that was very prominent. The reason for that is because he didn't really ever need one. Being a well seasoned gym leader, he was incredibly smart and focused more on helping others, due to him kinda already having his life plan all figured out. But as soon as he discovered a desire to start something new, he went and did it, alone. So we never saw any of the struggles he may have had. So now we switch over to Clemont, who is a gym leader just like Brock and also INCREDIBLY intelligent. But he isn't nearly as confident in where his life is headed and finds the desire to go on a journey to develop his skills and expand his horizons. And he gets that ambition from meeting Ash. Being a gym leader makes Ash look up to him, but Clemont returns those exact feelings in this random trainer that he just met. So they end up traveling together with a promise to help one another in improving themselves. Just like Serena, this made Clemont a lot more enjoyable to watch, since we get to see him grow, as opposed to just being the voice of reason. And while I still say Brock will always be my favorite, I can say that Clemont is the BEST male traveling companion that Ash has ever had. While his journey isn't as grand as Serena's, we still see a lot of growth that we've never seen in any male traveling companion before him. Something I'm really glad about is that he wasn't as super nerdy as I initially thought he was gonna be. Ya, he's a sciencey inventor type of guy, but he's not really nerdy about it. The only thing I really didn't like is that his new inventions that got introduced almost every episode ALWAYS came with an overly detailed explanation on what they did and how they worked. And they were always followed up with Ash saying "WOW! SCIENCE IS SO AMAZING!" It was like having 2 Team Rocket mottos in every episode, and it just took up too much time, on top of it being super cheesy and not nearly as cool as the Team Rocket motto. But still, he has a ton of kick butt, awesome moments that make him seem really cool and not at all like your typical nerd trope. I also like how he's the first of Ash's traveling companions to actually get tired from all that walking and running around that they always do. I mean seriously! Ash and company have traveled the world by foot for over 20 years, and we JUST NOW get a character whose like "I'm too old for this!" Granted, it's probably cuz he's always lugging around a giant metal backpack, but still. It was a funny addition to his character. Now like I said, this generation of the anime actually had FOUR traveling companions! The final member of Ash's group is Clemont's younger sister, Bonnie. Right off the bat, you're reminded of Max from the Hoenn anime. I actually like Max a lot more than most people do. I found him more interesting than May and he's also the main focus of my favorite episode in the entire Pokemon anime, "Do I Hear A Ralts?". So I was actually really excited to see another younger, non-trainer character join Ash's group. Bonnie is both absolutely hilarious and extremely adorable. At first, she does seem a bit much, with how she thinks every single Pokemon is "SOOOO CUUUUTE!". But she plays off of Clemont really well and has a lot of cute moments, herself. One thing she does is that she tends to go to every attractive girl she sees and asks them to "Take care of" her brother. Which then results in Clemont pulling her away, super embarrassed. Obviously this is just a re-skin of the Brock gag that we all know and some of us love. While it's not as funny as watching Brock's ear getting ripped off or getting poisoned to death but miraculously recovering from it, it's still funny to see. Bonnie actually plays a really important role in the anime, despite not being a trainer and thus not really being able to start a journey of her own, yet. She has a lot of episodes centered around her that range from cute to funny to "OH MY GOD IT'S SO SAD!!!!! ESPURR WHY!?!?!?!?!?" She gets even more important in the show's second half, known as XY&Z. First off, as if the jump from Black and White to X and Y wasn't impress enough, in terms of animation, the animation jump from XY to XY&Z is EVEN MORE mindblowingly amazing! Honestly, the episodes in XY&Z look up to par with the Pokemon MOVIES! And I don't mean the old ones, I mean the ones getting released right now! Seriously, this show is stinkin gorgeous and deserves respect for not only seeing how far the Pokemon anime has come, but also for simply being one of the best looking anime I've seen. But ya. Back to Bonnie. In XY&Z, we find a mysterious, unknown Pokemon. Bonnie takes it upon herself to take care of it and give it the name "Squishy". Now Squishy actually plays a very important role in the show's story. But honestly, having a name like Squishy makes it VERY hard for me to take a lot of those intense moments at the end of the show very seriously. Regardless, Bonnie is thankfully never pushed to the side or treated too much as a mascot character. She plays a very important role and she's an absolute joy to watch. All 4 of the main human characters play off of each other so well. I can easily say that this is my favorite group of human characters in any Pokemon anime generation. They were all fantastic and I very much enjoyed going on a journey with each and every one of them. And of course, Team Rocket. Unfortunately, they don't get NEARLY as much screen time and emotional episodes all to themselves as they did in Diamond and Pearl, but they still had a ton of great moments and were 1000 times better than they were in Black and White. As for the Pokemon characters... again, Diamond and Pearl has this show beat. Those of you who have seen Diamond and Pearl will probably understand and agree with me when saying that they had the BEST Pokemon characters in the history of the show. X and Y had some Pokemon that stood out more than others, but Diamond and Pearl made EVERY Pokemon important and likable. This show did not. Probably the most prominent one is Ash's Greninja. They tried REALLY hard to make Greninja the next Charizard. They REALLY wanted you to like this Pokemon. Did they succeed? Well... sort of? Greninja actually does a lot to make Ash more likable, as weird as that sounds. It's sorta hard to explain it all briefly, but you'll understand when you see the show for yourself, how Greninja makes Ash more involved in battles, as well as more deep of a character. The music is classic Pokemon style. It's good, but nothing super memorable. The 3 opening theme songs are all great, however. The 1st one is just a remix of the original theme song that we all know and love, so that may turn some people on, right off the bat. The other 2 are really good and also really different, compared to the theme the past couple of openings seemed to have. I just REALLY wish they made the english openings longer than 30 seconds. I mean, come on! Kids aren't THAT impatient! Especially at 8:00 in the morning. I promise you! Now, like every generation of Pokemon, there's a butt load of cash cow movies, trailing behind it. X and Y has 3 movies attached to it, which I'll go over very briefly. The Diancie movie has an ending that'll probably scare some kids who are new to Pokemon. But if you've seen the first Pokemon movie, you know EXACTLY how the "BIG PROBLEM" at the end of this movie is going to get resolved. All in all, not worth the watch. The second movie stars Hoopa, who is one of the most annoying talking legendaries in Pokemon movie history. Not nearly as bad as Keldeo, thankfully. But still incredibly annoying to where I'll tell you to avoid this movie, simply because Hoopa is in it. The last movie stars both Volcanion and Magearna, and I gotta be honest. This is the first Pokemon movie in OVER A DECADE that I can actually say wasn't absolutely terrible! It's still not as great as the oldies, but it was ACTUALLY fun to watch, which is something I can't say about any other Pokemon movie that was released within the past 10 years! Magearna is the best part of this movie. It's just a really cool Pokemon to look at. This movie made me love a legendary I probably never would've cared about, otherwise. They had moments that made me happy and sad, as well as whimsical and entranced in their story and just overall design. I would seriously recommend watching this movie just to see Magearna. This movie won't blow you away in the story department, but it's got SOMETHING, at least. So that alone is worth the watch, when compared to the past 10 years of shovelware Pokemon movies. Back to the anime, the XY&Z portion of the show is sort of a movie, itself. I may just think that because of how deep these characters are, but the final episodes at the Pokemon League, onward are actually really intense. Now, I'm gonna start talking about the outcome of the Pokemon League and what happens after that. So if you don't wanna be spoiled, I'd recommend skipping to the final paragraph. So with all the growing Ash had in this journey, and with these specific Pokemon on his team being SIGNIFICANTLY more powerful than teams he's had in the past. I truly believed that this would finally be the generation that has Ash win the Pokemon League! I thought it was finally time! However, he had some tough competition. There's this SUPER FRIENDLY rival of his named Sawyer, who is honestly one of the more annoying characters in this show (and voiced by Pikachu in the Japanese version). And there's also a character named Alain. Alain actually has his own series of spin off episodes that got released throughout the X and Y anime. I won't spoil what they're about, but it's pretty interesting stuff and gives you an idea of what a Pokemon anime without Ash would be like. Honestly, it was cool. And as much as I liked Ash in X and Y, I wouldn't mind seeing the world of Pokemon through someone else's eyes. But throughout that side series, you see that Alain is a ridiculously powerful trainer. He eventually meets Ash in XY&Z and the two of them become friends and wish to battle each other in the Pokemon League. Ash gets his wish when he goes up against Alain in the FINALS! This is the first time in Pokemon HISTORY that Ash has made it to the FINALS in the Pokemon League! I truly believed that this would be the time that Ash would come out on top. And throughout the whole battle between him and Alain, they make it all seem like it's going to come true. Ash and Greninja are in COMPLETE control of the battlefield, whenever they're working together. They make Greninja INTENSE and you just KNOW that they're gonna win and Ash is FINALLY going to win! .........but he doesn't. As ends up losing to Alain, even though the final attack is done by Greninja, who ends up fainting from exhaustion. This was the most frustrating part of the entire show. This was the PERFECT time for Ash to finally come out on top! I know the show creators have said that if Ash ever won the Pokemon League, his journey would be over. But I KNOW that's not true! Ash wouldn't just go home and stare as his 1st place trophy for the rest of his life, whenever he won it. He would go out to a new region to find new Pokemon and go to new places and take on a new challenge. He would NEVER end his journey, as long as there's still new places to explore in the world of Pokemon. He won 1st place in the Orange League! Did he stop his journey, then? Nope! He became king of the Battle Frontier and was even offered a position as one of the Frontier Brains! Did he take the position? Nope! He continued his journey around the world! So ya. It's nonsense to say that Ash isn't allowed to win, or else his journey would be over. He DESERVED to win here and it would've been a perfect end to an incredible journey with a character we all grew up with. But whatever. Alain wins the Pokemon League. But the show actually doesn't stop there. Out of nowhere, the final battle with Team Flare begins. And it's one of the most epic battles with an evil team in Pokemon history! Team Flare's ambitions are explained in a way that makes them seem a lot more intense and fierce, as opposed to how they were explained in the games. They made Team Flare both incredibly evil and genuinely frightening. So it's up to not only Ash, but Serena, Clemont, Bonnie, and the unsung heroes of Pokemon, Team Rocker, to stop Team Flare and save the Kalos region. All of them play a huge role in this final battle. Clemont and Bonnie have very deep and emotional moments that were both very sad and incredibly dark for Pokemon standards. Serena didn't stand out as much as they did, but considering how much her character rocked the rest of the show, I say she gets a pass. As for Ash... Let me just say this. The voice actors of both Ash and his traveling companions deserve recognition for how stinkin awesomely they voiced these last couple of episodes. It's honestly some of, if not the BEST moments of voice acting in the Pokemon anime's history. Ash sounds truly intense and is able to send chills down your spine with his words, alone. Clemont does just as good of a job as Ash with that, and Bonnie goes from cute mascot, to downright heartbreaking. Seriously. I know a lot of us were real uppity when the Pokemon dub got handed over to a new company and all the voices got changed. But I loved their work in Diamond and Pearl, onward. And now that they've been doing the dub LONGER than the original dub, and seeing the performances they gave with these last few episodes of XY&Z, I applaud the heck out of every single person who worked on this show. You all seriously did an amazing job and you should be truly proud of your stellar performances. In conclusion, Pokemon X and Y is FANTASTIC. It was a million times better than Black and White, the animation is the best it's ever been, the main human characters are absolutely incredible, and the ending of this series was everything that the ending of Black and White should've been. I still think that Diamond and Pearl wins by a hair, in terms of story and overall cast, however. Both of them are fantastic and the absolute highlights of the Pokemon anime. If you've been out of the Pokemon anime for a long time and don't really think it's worth returning to, I can tell you with total confidence that you WILL like X and Y. As long as you can accept that all the Pokemon and characters and their voice actors from your childhood aren't there anymore, X and Y will prove to be something truly special and something that can be enjoyed by every Pokemon fan, as well as fans of anime, as a whole. Pokemon The Series: XY&Z gets a 9/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Nov 20, 2016 Recommended
Charlotte Review (MINOR SPOILERS)
If you know anything about my taste in anime, you know that I absolutely adore any anime that has connections to the company known as Key. They are a company that creates visual novels that tend to later get adapted into anime. Their works include Kanon, Air, Clannad, Little Busters and Planetarian. All of which are absolutely stellar and at the top of the anime empire, with their phenomenal artwork and masterful storytelling. Their characters are amazing and will leave you emotionally broken and in tears for many many years to come. I can wholeheartedly give every single one of their shows ... my absolute highest recommendation. However, there have been 2 times where they did not start with a visual novel, and rather decided to create a completely original anime, right from scratch. The first time they did this, it was with a little show called Angel Beats. And again. If you know anything about my taste in anime... I. LOVE. ANGEL BEATS. I have said many times that Angel Beats had the potential to be without question THE GREATEST ANIME OF ALL TIME!!! However, the KEY phrase here (hehe) is "had the potential". What I believe to be the only thing stopping Angel Beats from being the world's greatest anime is that it did not have the time to flesh out its immensely large cast of amazing characters. The beginning and ending are perfection, but the middle BEGS to have more within it. If I got to make any anime of my choosing get a continuation, it would be Angel Beats (forgive me, Haruhi). But not necessarily a sequel, because the story is very much finished. But instead, I would want a second season of episodes that took place in-between the episodes of the first season, similar to the 2nd season of Haruhi Suzumiya. So ya. In terms of their original anime series, Key continues to have a near perfect reputation, with this one show... However, there is now another. And her name is Charlotte. Charlotte is Key's second attempt at creating an anime, before a visual novel. Does this one fix the problems Angel Beats had? And does it live up to all the legendary shows that came before it? Well let's talk about that. Just like Angel Beats, this show is animated by the people over at P.A. Works. I used to say Angel Beats had the best animated humans in any anime I've ever seen. But then I saw a show called Shirobako and that one easily took over that title. And who made Shirobako, again? Oh, hey! Our good buddies over at P.A. Works! So ya. Needless to say, the animation in this show is stellar. The music is no slouch, either. You get really familiar with the songs very quickly. The opening to this show is also VERY intriguing. I very much love it, but I'm not sure how to describe it. It's just a very interesting opening to watch and listen to, over and over. You're almost in a trance, whenever you listen to it. But let's talk about the big important part. The story. So Key is known for mostly making romance stories that take place in worlds that are about 95% realistic. The other 5% goes towards a teeny bit of magic that usually appears right at the end of the show. The only exceptions to this set up are Planetarian, Angel Beats, and Charlotte. If you've seen Angel Beats, you'll feel right at home with this show. A lot of that shows elements and themes are relevant in this one. Only, without the, you know, "MAIN" element. Instead we have a different one, which may or may not be one of those things that's exciting to find out about when you watch the show for yourself, so I'll just leave it at that. In terms of its pacing, do I think it did things better than Angel Beats? Well... this show didn't have a cast of 15 main characters like Angel Beats did, so that's good. Each character seems complete and is enjoyable to listen to. They all also have a lot of real moments. This show can be pretty intense and all the stuff the characters have gone through start to weigh down on them. They start to lose it at some points and sometimes even go down entirely different paths, as a result. But while I highly commend the show for making these characters so real in that regard, I was kinda disappointed when they completely threw that mindset away, when making the last episode. Thankfully the entire show DOES get completed. There's no cliffhanger and no loose ends that warrant a second season. But it very clearly got rushed, in the end. 12 episodes simply isn't enough for a Key anime. What's arguably Key's best work? Clannad. How long is that? 40+ episodes. I know companies don't just have unlimited time and money where they can just make every show as long as they want it to. But I just wish the 12/13 episode limit wasn't so set in stone in the anime industry. And even if it is, I wish more shows got the chance and idea to pull a Haruhi and have a second season that has episodes take place within the first season. I really do think the last 3 episodes of Charlotte have a LOT of ideas within them and can be spread out into one or even two extra seasons! Then maybe we wouldn't have gotten one of those "tie things up all nicely in a convenient little bow, right at the last minute" endings. Honestly, with how much anguish and anxiety the characters showed, regarding their journey and situation in the end, I was REALLY not a fan of the "and they all lived happily ever after" ending. I'm still happy for the characters ending out ok, but I'd go as far as to call it unrealistic that everything turned out ok. Specifically talking about the main character, Otosaka. His situation alone has so many questions to it that makes no sense, considering how the show ended. I honestly wish the ending was more tragic or more of a downer, just for the sake of it making more sense. Referring to Angel Beats again, without spoiling anything. The ending is both happy and tragic. There is both loss and fulfillment. And while Charlotte does have its sad and tragic moments, it has WAY too much success and positivity in the end that just sorta seems unreal and almost wrong. It's difficult to describe, without spoiling too much. So I'll just leave it as one of those shows that has a great journey, but not the most fulfilling destination. Even if the characters are ok with it. Now for the classic sub vs dub debate. Well for Key shows specifically, me and everyone else who watches them can more or less 100% recommend you watch their shows in Japanese. Mainly because the majority of Key shows have kinda notoriously bad dubs. For all the Key shows based off visual novels, I 100% recommend you watch them in Japanese. I am very much not a fan of the dubs Well... I kinda like Air's dub, personally. And Planetarian only has 2 characters in the entire show, so it's probably not too terrible to recommend either language. As for Angel Beats and Charlotte, I personally like both versions for both shows. I know a LOT of people will disagree with me, regarding the Angel Beats dub. Considering it was directed by someone who's kinda infamous in the anime dubbing industry. But Charlotte has a different director and I kinda prefer the dub, over the sub. Both are stellar with a few characters I wouldn't mind having recast. But the deciding factor in watching this show in dub is due to Lauren Landa's interpretation of the character Tomori. Tomori's Japanese voice is just a bit too young sounding for my liking. However, Lauren fixes this with her performance, which is very much needed, considering the common problem of dubs not really being able to portray super young characters, sounding super young. Honestly, throughout the entire show, I thought it was Wendee Lee voicing Tomori. But only when doing the last minute research for this review, I found out that it was indeed someone else. And that just blows my mind on so many levels. You'd think I'd be able to tell if it was her or not. There were so many times where I can just hear Haruhi SO clearly. But I'm really amazed to find out that it was someone else. I don't mean to say Lauren's performance was good because it sounded like Wendee's. I'm just saying that I really like the voice and it was exciting to see that it was someone else. Possibly someone I'll grow to be very fond of in future shows. And finally, OVA's. As of right now, Charlotte has only 1 OVA episode. It's a filler episode that takes place sometime between episodes 3 and 6. Usually, OVA's are pure nonsense and completely pointless. And considering the OVA's we got for Angel Beats, a show that's in desperate need of extra episodes, SO IT WAS INCREDIBLY DISAPPOINTING TO SEE IT FINALLY GET SOME AND HAVE THEM TURN OUT TO BE COMPLETELY POINTLESS AND CONTAIN NOTHING OF ACTUAL IMPORTANCE........... I was pleasantly surprised with Charlotte's OVA episode. While it is a filler episode, it contains one of THE CUTEST CHARACTERS IN ANIME INDUSTRY! SERIOUSLY, THIS ONE OFF CHARACTER'S DESIGN IS SO STINKIN ADORABLE THAT I LITERALLY SQUEALED WHEN I SAW HER FOR THE FIRST TIME! AND SHE'S ALSO INCREDIBLY SWEET AND ADORABLE AND I WISH SHE WAS IN THE ENTIRE SHOW SO STINKIN BADLY! Not only that, but this character's story that only takes place within this one single episode is SO STINKIN HEARTBREAKING AND EMOTIONAL, THAT IT HAD ME CRYING MORE THAN I DID THROUGHOUT ANY OTHER EPISODE OF THE ACTUAL STINKIN SHOW! I LOVED HER SO STINKIN MUCH!!!!!!!!! *ahem* In short, watch the OVA. It's actually also a good episode to start with, to see if you wanna see whether or not you'd like to watch the entire show. In conclusion, Charlotte is a Key anime. That alone is enough indication to go and watch it. Like every Key anime before it, the show has amazing music and visuals that you'll absolutely love. And the story has its moments of heartbreak and emotional distraught that'll leave you in a puddle of your own tears. This show doesn't break your heart NEARLY as much as Angel Beats. If you haven't seen either Charlotte or Angel Beats, I'd actually recommend watching Charlotte first. Simply so you can watch Angel Beats second and have the more satisfying ending to a Key anime marathon, if you decide to take one. The show has a great concept, but is simply in need of more episodes in-between. I'm glad it at least got wrapped up in SOME WAY, but I very much would've preferred a different way of them doing it. But in the end, I'm glad I watched it. Despite the problems in this show Key hasn't come anywhere close to losing its magic. Let's just hope others realize this and give their shows the extra episodes that they very much need and deserve. Charlotte gets a 9/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Nov 6, 2016 Recommended
Shirobako Review (NO SPOILERS)
Hey, kid. We heard you liked anime. So we put some anime in your anime, by making an anime about anime, that way you can have anime with your anime, while watching anime about anime! In case you couldn't comprehend any of that nonsense, Shirobako is an anime about an anime production company. The concept alone sounds incredibly interesting. And I've definitely heard a lot of praise be sung about this show. So I was really happy to finally start watching it. Now that I've finally finished, let's get down to what I thought of the whole thing. So right off the ... bat, I gotta praise the heck out of the animation. When certain anime shows have episodes that involve the characters watching TV, you always wonder if they're watching something that's live action or that's animation, since you can't really tell in their world. Shirobako does a really good job at differentiating the "real" world and the "anime" world, within the show. They do this by having some of the most physically diverse characters I've ever seen in any anime to date... not counting stuff like One Piece, where everyone looks insanely ridiculous with their tea cup pants and pinwheel heads. I'm talking straight up diverse human bodies. On top of the inclusion of the heavier characters that you don't really see in anime all that often, the thin characters look VERY built. Everything is proportioned very well and people look full and thick. Sure, they still have the big eyes and rainbow colored hair and the fact that I still can't tell the difference between a 16 year old girl and a 30 year old woman, but Shirobako has some of the most well built anime bodies I've ever seen. In their "anime" world, they give those characters the MEGA eyes and the hourglass waists, to make it look more unreal, within this world. I seriously cannot sing enough praise about the character animation in this show. You really gotta see it for yourself, to see what I mean. On top of the incredibly well built bodies, there are a lot of interesting shots in this show. Just stuff like people talking on a phone or putting their hand on someone's shoulder or brainstorming an idea by themselves. It's all done at really interesting angles, to the point of almost feeling like an art piece. Honestly, I can screen cap several hundred screenshots of this show and they'd all be very pleasant to have as a desktop background. Honestly, I would go as far as to give this show the same sort of recommendation as I did with Flying Witch. By which I mean I feel this would be a nice show to have play in the background, just for the visuals. Seriously, MAJOR props to P.A. Works for their outstanding performance on this show. They did not disappoint in the slightest, with this one. Ok. Enough gushing about the gorgeous visuals and onto the meat and potatoes of this anime feast. (wut?) The story in this show is pretty straightforward. The first 12 episodes involve the company working on and finishing one show, while the last 12 focus on them working on another. So it's nice to have that variety in topics and projects. Now I'll admit that there are a few episodes here and there that seem a bit... weird. By that, I mean that there are a couple episodes that are just strictly communication throughout the office. A main objective isn't really presented, and it really does feel like you're just watching people work. The characters are still entertaining enough to make it enjoyable to watch, but it just seems a bit weird at times, to make those moments full-fledged episodes. But then again, there are several episodes in other anime that involve people trying to find a roommate at school or play a baseball game for the 80 millionth time. And we never really find those boring, because we're used to those sorts of plots in a slice of life anime. This is just a very different type of slice of life. And by different, I mean that it doesn't star a male high schooler, surrounded by a bunch of female high schoolers, exploring their lives in high school. It's actually something different! So even if I'm not entirely used to it and don't understand it right away, it's still exciting to be in a different setting that I've never experienced before. Now the characters are just as fun to watch as their designs are intriguing and enjoyable to look at. Our protagonist is Miyamori Aoi who went off to work at an anime production company, along with her high school besties, in hopes of fulfilling their life long dream of creating an anime together. All 5 of the anime club members are a joy to watch on camera, as well as the plethora of other anime company employees who you'll be getting well acquainted with, throughout the show. While you most definitely will know who these characters are when you get to know them, you might have a bit of trouble remembering their names, because there are SOOO many characters. We see just about every nook and cranny of the industry. We see Miyamori's work in the production side of things, we see the inner workings and opinions of both 2D and 3D animation, this show literally has it all. The only part I wish I got to see more of was the voice acting side of process. That part does have its few moments in the spotlight, but not nearly as much as all the other parts. And it doesn't really talk much about the inner workings of voice acting, it just sorta shows it being done. The most detail you get, regarding the work behind the voice acting is seeing the people discuss and argue who to cast for certain parts. That's about the only thing I wish I got to see more of. The music in this show is pretty stinkin good, not gonna lie. I got very attached to a lot of the background songs that played and I actually wound up liking BOTH of the openings and BOTH of the ending themes in this show. And that's not something I get to say, very often. The openings and endings got stuck in my head for a very long time and I am very much ok with that. The songs and visuals were both fantastic and I had no problem watching them before and after every episode. Now this show has 2 OVA episodes that are actually really cool ideas. They're both the first episode of the 2 anime shows that the characters in Shirobako were working on! It's really cool and interesting to see that and I'm so glad that they included that. The first one is a bit... ehh... but the second one is absolutely fantastic and REALLY made me wish it was a full blown show. Something I really loved in this show is to see the character's passion for the shows they were working on. There were several times where the anime employees would phantasize the characters in their shows standing right in front of them, cheering them on. And it would make them happy that their creations were proud of them and happy with how they got brought to life. That sort of magic is just so whimsical to watch and it always made me warm and fuzzy inside, whenever those moments popped up. In short, Shirobako was an absolute joy to watch. It's a fascinating look at the industry that we all hold so near and dear to our hearts, but never really got to see. Of course, this is most likely a very sugar coated interpretation of the actual anime industry, but a lot of characters and plot points were actually based off of real life people and past events, so that's really cool. I would definitely watch this show as an amazing piece of history, if nothing else. It might be a bit hard to follow at times and some episodes are a bit weird to be entire episodes, but the overall premise is nothing less than amazing to experience. And again, the animation is fantastic. I'd go as far as to say that Shirobako has the best animated humans in any anime I've ever seen. Whether it's for the stunning visuals, great music, or fascinating experience that you can't really get from any other anime, I can most definitely recommend this show to just about anyone. Shirobako gets a 9/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Aug 25, 2016 Recommended
Bokurano Review (CONTAINS SPOILERS)
OHHHHHHHHH BOOOOOOOOOY! THIS SHOW! THIS STINKIN SHOW! I am absolutely blown away, at what I just watched. I'd just like to give a quick shout out to GlassReflection, for introducing me to this show. 99.9% of the time, he introduces shows to me that become some of my favorite viewing experiences of all time, and BOY, DID HE NOT DISAPPOINT, THIS TIME! If I had to describe Bokurano, it would be if Madoka Magica, Attack on Titan, and Danganronpa all had a baby. Though, Bokurano actually came before ALL of those shows. So I guess it'd be more suitable to say that ... you can thank Bokurano for all those other shows and games. Madonna Magica actually even has a reference to Bokurano, in one of the episodes. So if Madoka herself recommends this show to you, then you NEED to see it. But here's the one thing that made me like this show FAR more than Madoka Magica and Attack on Titan. Unlike those two shows, Bokurano wasn't spoiled for me. I had both Madoka and AoT spoiled to high heaven, before I even went and watched them. And because of that, my experience with Madoka became a lot more underwhelming and unenjoyable than everyone else's experience, and I didn't even bother finishing AoT, because I was able to describe every single scene, before it even happened. So ya. Don't spoil things, people! It ruins shows! And don't use the "They should've watched it, already" excuse. Not everyone was born at the same time as you and not everyone got into something at the same time as you. Nobody is obligated to experience something as soon as it's created, just for the sake of not having it get ruined by other people. If you know that someone doesn't want something spoiled, DON'T SPOIL IT. Now that that's settled, let's write up a spoiler heavy review of Bokurano! But before I do, I'm gonna give you all a fair warning. Bokurano is a show that is most enjoyable when you know literally NOTHING about it, going into it. In fact, it's one of those shows where simply mentioning anything about it can be considered a huge spoiler. So I'm gonna warn you all right now that this review will have to contain spoilers, in order to be written. I try my best to keep all my reviews spoiler free, but for this show, it's almost impossible to do so. If you don't wish to be spoiled on anything, I'll just tell you right now that Bokurano gets my absolute highest recommendation. So go watch it. Like. Right now. Ok, then. Where do I even begin? So something that made me a bit hesitant to watch this show at first was that I eventually found out that it's a mecha anime. Personally, mecha is my least favorite anime genre that I've watched. I don't think the mechs themselves are to blame, per se. But it's just sort of a fact that if a show has a giant robot in it, I don't like it. The only exception to this is iDOLM@STER: Xenoglossia, though I'll be completely honest and say that I probably only like it, because it's iDOLM@STER. So as soon as that opening started playing and that giant robot appeared, I was immediately worried. But now that it's all said and done, I am thrilled to say that Bokurano did not disappoint. Not only is this the best mecha show I've seen, but it's also one of my absolute favorite anime series, or all time. The show does not follow any sort of rules or tropes that others mecha shows do. It's very unique and different. Like I said, it has a LOT of similarities to shows like Madoka Magica, AoT, and Danganronpa. Stuff like a bunch of teenagers being tricked into a life or death game that puts the entire world at risk of destruction, a demonic chibi creature thing who is the most despicable character in anime history, tons of plot twists that involve your jaw dropping 20 meters downward and your heart getting ripped out of your chest, literally every single thing you could possibly imagine going wrong happening, and MILLIONS OF PEOPLE DYING. Sounds fun! Now this show has a VERY big cast of main characters. 15, to be exact. And with only 24 episodes, giving each of them enough screen time to know about them is quite the challenge. Well if iDOLM@STER can do it, so can this show! And it most certainly did! One episode is all each character needs, in order for you to know what they're all about. These characters have two types. They can either be incredibly relatable and super likable, which leads you to being absolutely miserable when they end up getting put on the chopping block. Or they can be the lowest of the low, absolute despicable scums of the earth, where you're just waiting in anticipation for them to get put on the chopping block, and worried sick about how much damage they'll do, before then. You WILL know each and every single one of these characters, by the end of it. You may not remember their names, and possibly not even their faces, but you'll remember every single detail of their stories. The only thing a bit disappointing is that you won't really be attached to them as people, for long periods of time. Since each of their stories are only an episode long. They're fantastic stories, but the characters attached to them simply don't last long enough for you to fall in love with them, as much as you did with their stories. The reason I say you probably won't remember their faces is due to the animation. This show was made in 2007, by a company called Gonzo, which is made up of former members of Studio Gainax. When looking at all the other shows that came out in 2007, as well as 2006, Bokurano honestly doesn't stand out much, when standing next to its peers from that era. It's certainly not terrible, but if I told you that this show was made in the late 90's, you'd probably believe me. The character look very plain, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. But for a show with 15 protagonists, it'd be helpful if you were able to differentiate them from one another. Even the opening theme song doesn't have any stellar animation. In fact, the entire opening is made up of several clips from the show, itself! Usually the openings of a show are the most beautifully animated portion of the series. But not for this one. Though, I will give it credit for being one of those shows that has the opening become more meaningful, as time goes on. Another thing a bit lackluster in this show is its music. While its opening theme is very enjoyable, the show's soundtrack ranges from forgettable to nonexistent. Mecha shows at least have the accompaniment of big, epic orchestras, to enhance their fight scenes. But this show doesn't really have that. Though, considering the type of the show it is and what the characters are going through when piloting it, I could pose the argument that those scenes sorta benefit from a lack of music. And finally, the sub vs dub debate. Or rather, the lack of one. Because Bokurano actually doesn't have a dub, which is kinda shocking, honestly. The Japanese performances are all good, but I'd definitely like to see this show get a dub one day, simply so that the show has another opportunity to be put in the spotlight. Now this show is incredibly dark. But not necessarily violent. Like I said earlier, MILLIONS OF PEOPLE DIE!!! But it's not nearly as graphic as other shows are, such as Elfen Lied and Attack on Titan. A lot of the gruesome details are off screen or just done in an instant. In fact, I'm pretty sure there's only one scene in the entire show where you see blood. And it's a very minimal amount, despite the events of the scene. So for the more squeamish people who are a bit nervous to go into such a gruesome show, I can assure you that you won't have to look at anything gory. Though, there's a LOT of despicable events and acts that take place in this show that can very easily make people uncomfortable, despite the visuals not being incredibly detailed on the matters. I'll just say that the show is rated R for a reason, and leave it at that. The fact that Bokurano is a hidden gem is an absolute crime, to me. Those who've seen it love the heck out of it, but it NEEDS to be seen by more people. The show is all about things getting twisted in every possible direction, at first. Literally anything and everything can and will go wrong. Throughout the first three quarters, it's all about unveiling every piece of the puzzle. And once you finally do, it becomes kinda easy to see how it'll all end. But by that point, you're so hooked not eh story, that you absolutely NEED to finish it. The worst thing I can say about this show is that it probably won't have the best rewatch value. Since the most excitement is derived from being in suspense, waiting to see how long each character survives, as well as what happens to them right before they die. If you ever do rewatch this show, it'd be best to do it with a friend who hasn't seen it. But for those of you who haven't seen it at all, and are ok with viewing a very gruesome series of events, this show will not disappoint. If you love Madoka, AoT, and Danganronpa, thank this show. Because its the reason that these shows came into being, and it definitely deserves some long overdue praise. Bokurano gets a 9.5/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Aug 18, 2016
Flying Witch
(Anime)
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Mixed Feelings
Flying Witch Review (NO SPOILERS)
Heh. No spoilers. As if this show actually has anything to spoil, in the first place. Ok, then. Flying Witch is one of those shows that I see a screenshot or a short clip of and I think the artwork looks so stinkin good, that I just gotta go see the entire show. And unfortunately... that doesn't always lead me to the best of shows... If I were to describe Flying Witch in one word, it would be "nothing". That's the gist of it. NOTHING happens in this show. So you're thinking "Oh, then it's a slice of life show?" I ... guess??? But it's the most eventless and dull lifestyle that you'll ever witness. Now, I said that there isn't anything to spoil in this show, and there really isn't. But I will be going over some events in the show, as well as the overall beginning set up, just so I can better describe things. Don't worry, though. I swear that you won't be getting spoiled on anything groundbreaking, no matter how much detail I give you. So as the name of the show implies, this show stars a witch, named Makoto. Now you may be thinking "Ok, a witch. So there's probably some cool magic and otherworldly events in this show, right?" Nope... Well... there is, but it's almost entirely non existent. What I mean is that a lot of the magic in Flying witch is either done through reciting words, writing a spell or drawing a symbol, or through jump cuts that have NO flashy transition that even acknowledges that something magic even happened. For example, there's this cafe in the show, run by a witch. But the cafe looks like an abandoned, destroyed building. What they gotta do is a series of gestures, to make the cafe's true appearance show itself. You see them looking at the destroyed building, cut to their faces and bodies, doing the gestures, and then cut to the building being completely different. No transition. No sound effects. Nothing. Another thing is the flying. Makoto doesn't entirely know how to fly, at the beginning of the show. That gets mentioned around episode 4 or 5, or something like that. So you'd think we'd watch her trying to learn how to fly. But no. On the second to last episode or so, there's a scene that has Makoto flying on her broom. One of the characters mentions how well she's flying. And she just says "Oh, ya. I finally mastered it." And that's it. It's never brought up, again. There's even a part where a non witch character starts training to become a witch. She asks for her parent's permission and they just say yes, with no hesitation. And then that's it. She never gets any magic powers throughout the show, but she's apparently now in training to become a witch. And that's the end of that. So if you're watching this show for its magic elements, don't. They're the most nonexistent non extravagant magic elements you ever see, or rather not see, in any anime ever. So how about the slice of life aspect of the show? Is that any good? Well... not really. It doesn't have any sort of plot, in any of the episodes. Not even any episodic ones, like Ouran Host Club or Fruits Basket. And it isn't funny in the slightest, like Azumanga Daioh. This show is all about existence. Just straight up existence, in the blandest way possible. There's about .0001% of magic, thrown into the mix of it, but that's all. Now a show about simple existence isn't always a bad thing, when the characters are at least interesting to watch. So... are these characters interesting to watch? Take a guess... Just like how the show can be described as "nothing", all of the characters can be described as "nobody". Not a single one of them has a personality. At all. I could not describe these characters, if my life depended on it. I even went and looked up the character descriptions for everyone on MyAnimeList, and even THEY can't describe these characters in more than 1 or 2 sentences. Probably my favorite description was for one of the main characters, Chinatsu. Her description is "Younger sister of Kei. She dislikes bake because she thinks it's for adults." That about sums it all up, right there. The characters are all nice people. That's about as much as I can say to describe them. Nice. They're always nice to each other. There isn't a single bit of conflict in the entire show. I could probably count on one hand, all of the sentences in all of the dialogue of the entire show that had even the slightest bit of conflict in them. There's literally nothing else to say about it. There's no conflict. No problem solving. No plot twists. No nothing. This is a show about nothing, starring a bunch of nobodies. As for the music, it's just as bland and nonexistent as the show, so at least it flows well with the show it's attached to. Still, you won't remember any of the songs in this show. Not even the opening or ending. The opening and ending are generic in both sound and visuals. Completely skippable. There's no english dub as of right now, so you're only option is sub. The voice acting is fine. No problems with it, at least. Though, if there ever is a dub, you may think this is a good show to have play in the background, while you do something else. Though, personally, I think it'd be better to leave the visuals in the background, and don't even worry about listening to what's going on. The animation is probably the best thing in the entire show. That's the whole reason I decided to watch this show, in the first place. The animation was done by J.C. Staff, a company that has worked on MANY other shows, and many that are far better than this one. Such as the previously mentioned Azumanga Daioh, Toradora, and one of my favorite shows, Little Busters. The animation in Flying Witch is really stinkin good. Scenery is beautiful and the characters are nicely detailed, despite their boring designs. HOWEVER. There is ONE thing in the animation that REALLY bugs me. And that is the character's noses. I know that that's a weird thing to complain about, but the character's noses all have this little light ring bubble on them, and it's VERRRRRRRY annoying to look at. Right from episode 1, that stupid light ring thingy bugged me, to no end. And it stays there, throughout the entire show. But other than that, the animation is near perfect. The only thing left to talk about is that there are some OVA episodes, for Flying Witch. There are 9 episodes, each being no more than 2 minutes long, and being animated in a chibi CG art style. As for the plot of these OVA's... they have just as much of a plot as the regular show. In other words... nothing at all. So in conclusion, Flying Witch is nothing special in the absolute slightest. I don't think I'll ever be watching it, again. Though, I can't really say I HATED it, as weird as that sounds. It wasn't a bother to watch, being only 12 episodes. It was easy to follow, since there's literally nothing to follow, in the first place. It's nice to look at, and it may be fun to watch with your kids or younger siblings, since this is one of the few anime series that is actually appropriate for a very young audience. If you wanna watch this show to relax, I GUESS I can recommend it for that. Though, to save you some time, I would only recommend watching episodes 7, 8, 11, and 12. Those were my favorites out of the bunch, and you can honestly see what the entirety of the show is about, just by watching one of them. So ya. That's about it. If you're looking for a good slice of life show, with subtle magic that actually adds to the story, watch one of the Key anime. If you're looking for a slice of life with a plot, watch Ouran. If you're looking for a slice of life with actual comedy and actual characters, watch Azumanga. And if you want a show about literally nothing... watch Flying Witch... I'm honestly not sure where to leave off this review. On one hand, I was ok with watching this and it certainly wasn't a bother to do so, but on the other hand, I got absolutely NOTHING from watching this. So I'm gonna give this show a bit of a weird final score. If you're willing to watch this type of show and accept that you'll get absolutely nothing from watching it, I can give this show a 5. But if you don't want to watch this type of show, then I'd give it a 0. I know that isn't really a fair rating, since the fact that a show was even able to be created deserves at least SOME respect. In that case, I'll give it a 1. But please know that my rating of 5 doesn't mean the show is decent, and my rating of 1 doesn't mean the show is terrible. I'm giving it a 5, simply because it's the the most indifferent rating I can give. And with this show, I am 100% indifferent to its existence and to my experience watching it. Flying Witch gets either a 1/10 or a 5/10.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Aug 8, 2016 Recommended
Planetarian: The Reverie of a Little Planet Review (NO SPOILERS)
If you know about some of my favorite anime series of all time, you'll more than likely know that I am a HUGE fan of Key. Key is a company that makes visual novels that are centered around ripping your heart right out of your chest and tearing it to shreds, while burning it to crisp right after beating it into the ground. In other words, they're good at making you cry. I've been a fan of Key for a LONG time. I discovered them by accident and I am forever grateful for it. My first ... Key anime was Air, a show that is very dear to my heart. I then proceeded to watch their other works. First Air, then Angel Beats, then Clannad, and then Kanon. Every single one of these is a masterpiece and is legendary for its masterful storytelling and absolutely perfect visuals. Ever since finishing those shows, I would check the Key Wikipedia article, to see when the other Key Visual novels got an anime adaptation. A few years later, a new Key anime released, called Little Busters. And it definitely lived up to the legacy that the shows before it had created. And just a few weeks ago, a new Key anime called Rewrite has begun airing. Needless to say, I was extremely excited to see it. But there was one Key visual novel that I didn't think would ever get an anime adaptation, simply because of how different it is from all the rest. And that is Planetarian. I actually didn't know that this show had even gotten confirmed to become an anime, until the day of Episode 1's release. When I finally heard the news, I flipped out. I was SO excited! But because I absolutely adore these Key shows, I waited until the anime had finished, before watching it. Thankfully, Planetarian is only 5 episodes long, so it wasn't a very long wait. I just watched all 5 in one sitting and just like all the Key animes before it, Planetarian has left me in complete awe, amazement, and sadness. So like I said, this anime is only 5 episodes long. Making it the shortest Key anime. Considering the type of show that it is, 5 episodes is plenty of time to tell its story. I could totally see them adding to it, and expanding the universe even a LITTLE bit. Not as in a sequel, but if they had added some elements into the story right from the get go, they could've easily made this a 12-13 episode anime. I know they could've done it, considering how masterful Key stories always tend to be. But I am still 100% satisfied with what I got. Now, the animation for the first 3 Key animes were done by the lord and savior of anime, Kyoto Animation. However, after Clannad, Key has been jumping from company to company, when adapting their future visual novels into anime series. Angel Beats was animated by P.A. Works, Little Busters was done by J.C. Staff, Rewrite was animated by 8-Bit, and Planetarian was animated by David Production, whose other works include Soul Eater, Code Geass, Black Butler, and Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. This is actually my first time seeing any of David Production's work, believe it or not. And what a wonderful show to start with. Planetarian was beautiful, to say the least. If there's something I can promise you with every Key anime, its beautiful animation. For the most part, it's just really above average. But there are some instances where they just knock it out of the park, as Key tends to do. Honestly, there were several times where I went rewound parts or paused the episode, just so I can look at the scenery, in all its details. Congratulations, David Production. You've won me over in just one show. Another thing I can always promise you with every Key anime is that it'll have phenomenal music. Absolutely beautiful tracks that add so much to the scenes that they're in. There's no other way of putting it. Planetarian's soundtrack is just as wonderful as all the rest. The only complaint I could come up with is that there's actually no opening theme to this show. Since it's technically not a full fledged anime series, being only 5 episodes, I guess they didn't think it was deserving of one? The show does have an ending theme, though. Unfortunately, the ending theme is drawn in a less detailed, chili art style. It's ok, and the song is alright, but I definitely would've loved to see a full blown opening for this show. Especially considering the openings for other Key shows are some of the best openings in anime history. Like I said before, this show is VERY different from other Key visual novels. This is actually the only one that doesn't take place in a high school setting. I'd elaborate more on what the show IS about, but I think it'd be best to discover it on your own. I will say that because of the type of show that it is, there is a very small amount of main characters. Or rather, there's a very small amount of characters, period. When deciding whether to watch this show in sub or dub, the first episode is all you'll need to watch, in order to review every character's voice in the show. Speaking of the sub vs dub debate, which one do I prefer? Well to be perfectly honest, one thing that Key animes don't have a very great reputation for are its english dubs. Personally, I'm actually a fan of the english dub of Air and Angel Beats. But for Clannad, Kanon, and Little Busters, I can't say I'm a fan. Planetarian was given the red carpet treatment by Funimation, as soon as it was released. The first english dubbed episode is already released for you to check out. Like I said, that'll be all you'll need to watch, to decide which dub you like more. This one sounded alright, and I can honestly recommend watching the english version simply so you can look at the visuals for longer periods of time. Here's hoping that the rest of the english episodes can do the show justice, when they release. But for now, all I can promise you that the Japanese version did its job perfectly. I was a bit hesitant to give this show as much praise as I wanted to, at first. It's only 5 episodes long, so does it really deserve to be held in such high regard as one of the best anime that I've seen? Honestly... yes. Yes it does. Even if it was only 5 episodes, I enjoyed this show just as much as any other Key anime I've seen. I even liked it more than Kanon, which is 26 episodes! This show has the perfect music and animation that Key is always known for having. The characters are very likable and you'll love just seeing them interact with one another. I especially love characters that don't really mix well together, but wound up together simply because of the current circumstance. The small moments where things are happy, even if it's just a general conversation, they always manage to make you smile. And just like every other Key anime, it'll manage to slam a meteor of sadness, plummeting right down into your soul. Only 5 episodes? That's all the time they needed, to leave their mark. There's not much else I can say, really. It's a Key anime. Key is and always will be legendary, and held in the highest regard as one of the greatest storytellers of all time. Planetarian: The Reverie of a Little Planet gets a 10/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Aug 8, 2016
Steins;Gate
(Anime)
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Steins;Gate Review (NO SPOILERS)
Steins;Gate......... WHAT EVEN IS LIFE, ANYMORE!?!?!?!? Ok, so there are a lot of shows that I know of to be very famous, but I've always been incredibly late to the party in actually seeing it. Steins;Gate is one of those shows. Usually, during these circumstances, I either end up not liking the show nearly as much as I thought I would, or I fall in love with it immediately, and regret not getting into it, sooner. So where does Stein;Gate fall on that meter? Personally, it's sorta half way. And by half way, I don't mean that I just thought it was ... alright. But rather, this show took the BIGGEST 180 in any show I've ever seen! Starting right off the bat, Steins;Gate is VERRRRRRRRY slow. Like, REALLY slow! It was honestly very difficult to keep interest in this show, when I started it. The episodes are very repetitive with little to no progress, as well as the same, running gags and conversations that I wasn't really into, in the first place. Really, the only thing that kept me going was that they gave you JUST enough in each episode, to make you want to find out what the big mystery was. So I kept going. It still wasn't fun in the slightest, treading through the repetitive parts, but I was still genuinely curious about what was going to happen, in the end. I watched one episode of this show, every 2 or 3 days. That usually indicates that I'm not really enjoying the show, and I wasn't. But when I reached episode 12..... OH BOY, DID THINGS CHANGE. I went from watching only 1 episode every other day, to finishing the entire 2nd half of the series, the OVA's, AND the movie, ALL in one sitting! I can't even describe HOW they managed to rope me in so quickly and fiercely, in just one episode! But as soon as they did, I never looked back. The show picked up IMMENSELY, after that point. Stuff got revealed, progress was being made, plot twists kept popping up out the wahzoo, it was nuts! It seriously made those first 11 episodes totally worth it! I was SO happy that I wound up watching this show! And it's really weird to say that. You'd think a show with the entire first half being uninteresting would make me not like it, regardless of how the ending turned out. But MAN, the second half is just too incredible! Usually, it's the other way around. A show has an amazing start, but unsatisfying ending. Honestly, I'm very much ok with this great feeling I'm having, now that it's all said and done. It's a lot better than ending on a low note. But still, I'll admit that having the entire first half be unappealing to me is not exactly a good thing, so I should really acknowledge it, when reviewing this show. The entire first half centers all around research and constant arguing between the show's 2 main protagonists. A lot of the research, plot/history talk is centered around the characters just looking at a computer screen, or testing out some of their experiments. And the arguments that the main characters have involve constant name calling and childish accusations of each other's characters and personalities. As someone whose not into those sort of "jokes" to begin with, having to see 11 episodes worth of it wasn't very pleasant. But as SOON as episode 12 hits, EVERYTHING changes. It becomes a lot more serious and action oriented. It's incredible, just how much it picked up. The plot twists and events will most definitely entertain the heck out of you, and leave you in suspense, until the very last second! It was SO good. You really just need to see it for yourself, to believe it. Maybe what I've said about the first half turned you off a bit. Unfortunately, you can't just skip those first 11 episodes, and understand everything that's going on. I know 11 episodes is a LOT to ask someone to tread through, but I promise you that it'll be 100% worth it. Plus, you might even like the first 11 episodes more than I did, so that'd be nice. The animation is done by a very much unknown and smalltime company called White Fox. Their list of shows that they've worked on is very minimal, but even still, I gotta say that this is some of the best animation I've seen. Specifically the characters. I absolutely LOVED the designs of the characters. After you've seen as much anime as I have, you tend to not really be surprised by any appearances of characters, regardless of the art style. A lot of things eventually end up looking the same. But Steins;Gate has some of the best character designs that I have ever seen in an anime! There were a lot of times where I really just wanted to pause the episode and just look at the characters, some more. Sometimes I'd rewind, to rematch a simple movement that they did. I don't know what it is, but I just REALLY loved it. The environment's artwork is pretty great, too. I'm honestly shocked that this company isn't more well known or more used. The music is very subtle, as well as very seldom used. This sort of show doesn't really require much music, so it did a good job at knowing when and when not to include it. The few tracks that it did have are very subtle and quiet, and add a whole lot to the later end of the show's more emotional scenes. As for the opening and ending, they aren't my favorites. I liked the songs a lot more than the visuals, for both of those. As far as the sub vs dub debate goes, I ultimately decided to go with sub, for this one. The dub isn't bad, mind you. But I feel that the Japanese cast just sounds a bit... older? I know the main cast is very young, which honestly, is a bit weird, considering what kind of stuff they do in this show. But then again, it's anime. So a 18 year old scientist or a 16 year old defense attorney or a kid whose been 8 years old for over 20 years is sorta the norm, nowadays. But even though the main cast is so young, they look a lot older, then they are. So I preferred hearing them with older sounding voices. And I personally think the Japanese cast sounded a LITTLE bit older. I was worried watching this show in subs would make it difficult to keep up with what I thought would be a very intellectual show. And while it very much is so, I had no problems in understanding what was going on. So pick whichever language you prefer. Both get my approval. Even though the Okabe is voiced by stinkin CILAN FROM POKEMON, IN THE JAPANESE VERSION! But despite how much I despise Cilan, I absolutely love The iDOLM@STER. And since Kurisu was voiced by Chihaya from iM@S, I GUESS I can allow Cilan to be in this show. So what's my final verdict on this show? I'm honestly very torn. I want to give it so much high praise for how it all turned out, but at the same time, I REALLY didn't enjoy the first half of this journey. It's hard to recommend a show, with such a huge obstacle in the way of it. But if my words regarding the second half interest you at all, and you're willing to make your way through the first half of this show, then go for it. I guarantee you'll love the second half. The first half... it's up to you. Personally, I would've preferred some sub plots during those times, maybe to help better build up each character's personality and learn more about them. While we do learn a lot about them in the second half, I wouldn't of minded learning even more, during the first. Even if it was something that didn't really contribute to the events of the second half. I would rather have that, as opposed to 11 episodes of Okabe and Kurisu insulting one another in the same exact way. Now, this show does also have some OVA episodes and a movie finale. There's 4 mini episodes that are just jokey, side stories. There's an alternate pathway episode, which I really don't understand the outcome of that one. Then there's one OVA episode which takes place one month after the series ends, which is then followed up by the movie, which takes place one year after the series ends. Now, even though the movie isn't filler and is sorta the official ending of it all, I kinda wanna throw out the suggestion to not watch the movie. The was the series ends is perfect. Seriously perfect. You won't be disappointed or think that it's still not done, or anything like that. The movie continuation and finale isn't BAD, per se. But it's more so just... not necessary? I think that's the best way to describe it. It's just another last second panic enduring event that gets resolved in the end, and leaves the overall ending unchanged. If you're completely contempt with the ending of the series, then please feel free to leave it at that and skip the movie. But if you absolutely adored this show and wanna see more Steins;Gate, then you can go and see this movie. Though, I can almost assure you that it won't add anything to your overall experience. So I can't really recommend watching it, as a way of getting a better ending than what the series, on its own. Mainly because I think the series ended perfectly. In short, I loved this show. It's got some MAJOR issues in the first half, but the second half is honestly some of the best things I've ever experienced in any anime I've seen, so far. I'm willing to look past its flaws and give it a very strong recommendation. But I don't think I'll be able to put it in my top 10 favorite anime series. Top 20, definitely. But there are a lot of turn offs in this show, very early on. If you're willing to look past those turn offs and make it into the core of this show, I guarantee you won't be disappointed! Steins;Gate gets an 8.5/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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