Back to MitKer's Profile MitKer's Profile

If I were asked what kind of anime 'Shuumatsu Nani Shitemasuka?' is, my answer would be that it's an attempt at a masterpiece. Unfortunately it is no more than an attempt.

I'd argue that a sizeable part of the problem with SukaSuka is that a story of potentially very large proportions was forced into a 12 episode format. As a result, many vital points of the plot are simply hanwaved into it or overlooked. In the end, despite having truly compelling moments, the story as a whole just is forced, not to mention some actual fundamental problems in the plot (like spending the later half ... of the series getting a regeneration sword, then simply not using it and pretending it doesn't exist).

The art wasn't breathtaking but I enjoyed it and felt they were attempting somewhat of a classic look with both the design and color palette, which was nice.

The characters, despite lending themselves to some sterotypes, are memorable, and the two that really matter do undergo quite the amount of development.
-------------------------------

Watching the first episode I remember being awed by the breadth, the grandeur of the world being built before my eyes. But the promise of the first episode vanished in the second and of that grand world we would only see two or three more places throughout.
To me, the entirety of SukaSuka is like that first episode, an unfulfilled promise.

★★☆☆☆ Story
★★★☆☆ Art
★★★★☆ Sound
★★★★☆ Character
★★☆☆☆ Enjoyment
★★★☆☆ Overall

Simply put, I think that Mushishi is the best anime ever to be made. None other nears the masterful storytelling, excellent technical completeness and richness of Mushishi, which coexists with its strongly defined style, far from cliché and stereotypes. But the greatest thing about Mushishi is that it's one of the extremely few animes that reach the point of being poetic (along with Kino no Tabi, Yojouhan Shinwa Taikei and Mononoke Hime). These four animes have become art and are the only ones I have watched to do so.
Musishi overtakes them most importantly for the structural perfection of its plot and the amazing contrast of ... lyrical stories told in an epic overarching set, bound by the setting and Ginko himself. Narrating tales of few, but that however manage to encompass humanity itself.
There is no more that I can say, other than that you should watch this and that it may feel to have a more natural (slower) pace than almost any other anime, but the use of inserts, scenic sound and other resources allow the story to flow amazingly.

Sakamichi no Apollon (Kids on the Slope) is a story about friends, music, youth and romance that starts as Bon (Nishimi) transfers to his new school.

The story itself is brilliant, however simple. Those of you who know japanese rest assured that the dialogues are greatly crafted and truly credible (unlike many popular series), arguably due to its being josei genre. To put it like this: the story isn't predictable (I thought I knew how it would end about 3 times and all of them I was wrong (though that may say more about my dumbness xD)) but even if it's not predictable, it's not ... ridiculous either. The writer was clearly very thoughtful about it (the story is ring structured) and the adaptation is very well made.

The art is perhaps the most lacking part of the series, in particular the character design for Ricchan (Ritsuko) was rather displeasing, but most of the rest is very good. The hand animations for the instrument playing are really good (better than Nodame Cantabile, on par with Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso, though maybe not as fancily adorned) and the fighting scenes were very good too (have in mind that they're not very relevant for much of the series, however, I'd dare to say they're better than Naruto's and many battle anime's).

Sound is great, though as a jazz lover I may be biased about that, but anyway, the seiyuus do a great job bringing out the characters. Bon for example has very dislakeable aand very likeable phases, and the seiyuu transitions flawlessly between them.

I enjoyed this almost like one of my favorite animes and I wouldn't doubt recommending it to anyone up to a josei romance drama.

The overall score: 9.4 (Story 10, Art 8, Sound 9, Character 10, Enjoyment 10)

So you are thinking of watching NHK ni Youkoso!...?
Sato is a hikkikomori who happens to be on his best luck when by chance a girl he had seen at his appartment building approaches him and decides to "save him".

I must say I did enjoy this show and found it very funny around the first half, though it became rather repetitive sometime into the middle of it. (I almost peed myself laughing the first time I heard the 1st ending :O How stupid)
There is however a flaw I find in this series that many perople overlook. I think there are two basic states about a ... character's personality: either it's likeable or relateable. Most characters are somwhere between these two, but Sato leans veeery strongly toward relateable. There is a problem with this: Not everyone can relate to him (which is my case).

He is in fact, in my opinion, borderline idiotic. The seiyuu doesn't help him at all, since he randomly shouts in anger whenever Sato does... well basically anything. (Not exactly very introverted... wait wasn't he a hikkikomori???).

This would be actually fine if he actually developed from this phase in any meaningful way (TBH he did, but he did all of the series' worth of development on the later half of the last episode, not exactly even pacing if you ask me)

Misaki (the girl) is another ticket, she is on the likeable side and is very well made, but is depthless until you actually learn about her past which is at best only hinted up until the last epsiode when it is revealed.
The stories are a disappointment, and felt as though the writers were trying to force them into the series to earn the socially inept's sympathy by making the characters do frankly stupid things *SPOILER* like being caught in a pyramid marketing scheme or becoming addicted to videogames or whatnot *SPOLIER END*

So in summary, the characters are very shallow and do not develop for 23 of the episodes, and the stories are par at best for that long (except for an actually very interesting flashback about Yamazaki), mainly because instead of using the stories to develop the characters, the writer decided to use them to get the audience to relate to them instead for the better part of the anime. Which may have led to more audience but definitely not to more quality.

Thanks

SPOILER
I have seen a lot of people bitch about Misaki spying on Sato without telling him and how that is a good excuse for him to be an asshole to her or about how she said he was a useless person, but I honestly think otherwise, so if you care to try and change my opinion leave a message in my profile and I'llleave a message in yours telling you why I think what I think
SPOILER END

It's my intention to make this review more helpful, so I will devote three sections for different purposes.
-Reasons why Amagami SS might not be for you
-Detailed Review
-Tips while watching
I'll also keep this review spoiler free.

First off, Amagami SS (ASS from now on), like any other anime is not for everyone, so it'll be up to you whether you watch it or not, but before you do let me guide you so you know if you might enjoy it.
You shouldn't watch ASS if you dislike:
-Romance anime
-Non harem animes (there are several main love interests, but they don't occur simultaneously)
... -Non ecchi animes
-Omnibus styled anime
-Male lead character
-Vulnerable lead

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Being done with that, let me review each aspect of the anime separately.

Story:
I've grown more and more respectful of animes based off visual novels, and their story is the main cause. This is because the stories of animes of this kind have very definite plot points and a very clear direction, never falling into filler chapters, not even filler sequences, let alone arcs. That said, ASS has a strong plot for each story arc, probably because any visual novel without a strong plot would bore the player, save for an eroge perhaps. summarised, its the love story of main character Tachibana Junichi and six other girls, which each get their separate version of the story. What I really liked about ASS, other than its exceptional (its literal meaning 'an exception') straightforwardness, was its potential to be different. What potential? you may wonder, what I mean, is that there are actually 720 different ways to watch ASS! Truth is I ran into it when I was in need of a change, an it was that broadness of possibilities that motivated me to watch the series as fast as I did (I finished it in 2 days, something I hadn't done in a veeeery long time). Now you may say, 'no way, you're stupid, there isn't a chance for a series to be watched 720 different ways', and you would be mistaken, because what I mean by that is that you can start with whatever arc you please and go on with any other. There being six different arcs, that is actually a bunch of different orders to follow, which is not that breathtaking, but it was a welcome change for me, and chances are, if you've watched as much anime as I have, it might be a pleasant one for you too. So I dare you to ignore the episode order and do whatever you want if you are gonna watch ASS (keep in mind that arcs are 4 chapters each plus a bonus so arc one starts ep. 1, arc two starts ep. 5, three is ep. 9, four ep. 13, five ep. 17, six starts ep. 20, and ep. 25 is a bonus; basically (4 x arc number) + 1).

Art:
Art was decent, visual quality is generic (again literally 'like that of its genre') but competitive, and well done; what I was thankful for was that each female character had a distinct design which was thoughtfully fitted to their personality in my opinion.

Sound:
Here I was very impressed, rarely had I seen an anime with so many endings in such a short airing time, accounting 7 endings through 25 episodes, summed up with 2 openings, all of which were very decent.

Characters:
ASS' characters are, like its story, very well defined and properly thought out, as I said, their design is individual, although it might seem 'futsū 普通' due to all of the other school anime around, its praise worthy that each has their personality and reacts in what I thought were more human and grown up ways, except perhaps for Junichi's sister, who was sadly unable to get an arc of herself xP.

Enjoyment:
I loved watching through this show, partly because I'm a very corny fellow, but also because it brought me new faith in anime I had not discovered and that I might enjoy just as much. With luck it may do the same for you if you happen to watch it. I do think though, that my case was very particular, so it's best if you keep your expectations somewhat lower.

Overall:
I give Story a 9, for its possibilities, Art an 8 for its professional quality, Sound an 8 for the resources invested, Characters a 9 for the solidity and individuality and Enjoyment a 10 for... well, for enjoyment xD. That averages 8.8, which rounds up to 9.

------------------------------------------------------

Tips:
-Take your chance and watch it differently
-Take a break between arcs
-Have patience with the MC, who starts up all pathetic at the beginning of each arc
-Watch it subbed xD


That's it for my review, I hope you found it useful, and if there is something you think is wrong or needs discussion feel free to leave a comment about it on my page.

Given that you may not care for my opinion, let me start this review by letting you know whether you should watch Kotonoha no Niwa (KnN from now on) on an attempt to make this reaview more useful.

You should NOT watch it if:
You dislike Spice of Life, slow pacing, little dialogue and/or romance anime. This movie is with certainty not shounen, there's no fight scenes, no world-scale-plot, no ecchi, no fanservice nor unbeatable main characters.

I also think that you would like it better with at least a basic understanding of japanese, as it will, IMO, give you a better understanding of some of the plot's ... subtleties.

You SHOULD watch it if:
You're in for an eye-candy, a down to earth love story as well as state of the art (yet without action) animation.

I would watch it anyway if I were you, for just the landscapes and all the art in general would make it for a worthy watch even if it didn't have any plot at all.

Additional tips :)
You should pay close attention to the movie to understand most of its undertext, I advise you not to watch this when you're sleepy or when you just don't care. You might not be comfortable with the romance centering around a teacher and a student, if this is the case, You shouldn't pick this anime up. If you don't mind being spoiled, I'll add a remark at the bottom of the review.
------------------------------Category review------------------------------

Story:
It's true that the story is astonishingly simple, a 15 year old student who happens to end up sheltered from heavy rain along a 27 year old woman on several continuous occasions and starts building up feelings for her as the movie goes on. Even under this simple plotline, director Makoto Shinkai chooses to go with what is possibly the simplest approach to it, in fact, (although I'm not certain, so don't take it seriously) I would say that there's more music than there's dialogue. Even though, I still think that this left the storytelling unharmed, I actually think that the way it's told is absolutely sublime, the closest to perfect I had watched in ages; it feels like there are real conversations going on, not just game tutorials or TV documentaries or whatever popping out of nowhere. It is this minimalistic approach on dialogue and resource that allows for the one that's actually used to really make an impression on the viewer, that is however, if you're willing to watch it. Anythough, on a personal level, I give this movie a 10 in story, because of its mature and realistic discourse.

Art:
As would be expected, Makoto Shinkai delivers an awe-inspiring visual style, perfect from top to bottom, starting on the delicious and natural looking greeness of the colour palette to the intrincate reflections on wet surfaces. This is indeeed the strongest category the movie has to offer, with extremely polished sequences, developed into perfection and without skimping a single cent on a single frame. It's an obvious 10.

Sound:
Very nice SFX never feeling reused or sloppy really allow for better enjoyment, specially without the awkward volume adjustments that frequently occur on lower quality anime which attempt to save money/time instead of properly adjusting and selecting samples. The voice acting was all that could be asked for, though, not having any particular difficulties or challenges of the sort to seiyuus, there's very little to state here. Something I DID find remarkable was music, which, if paid attention to, proves to raise the bar on regards of music in anime overall, with complex rythms and syncopations, as well as intrincate harmonic progressions, the soundtrack of KnN put itself amongst the few animes with actually artful original music. I give sound a 10, for this merit, as well as for how it compares with others.

Character:
As mentioned before, these characters DO seem real, and although simple in nature, they manage to develop fully all throughout, and most importantly, they manage to do it without taking aid from cliché. This alone deserves a 10.

Enjoyment:
I really loved this anime, I will have to be forgiven by yourself if I had overstated my praise for the movie in this manner, but I really do think it's a perfect 10. Who knows, maybe I'll watch it again in some time and realise it's not that perfect, but for now I do think it is, as I think it's underrated, and to say that a 150er is underrated really is taking it to the extreme. Of the animes I have started and finished so far, I could only compare my enjoyment of this one to Fullmetal Alchemist and Mushishi, which you must agree is VERY high up.

Overall I give this movie a 10. :)

------------------------SPOILER------------------------------------
---------------------------SPOILER---------------------------------
------------------------------SPOILER------------------------------
---------------------------------SPOILER---------------------------
------------------------------------SPOILER------------------------
---------------------------------------SPOILER---------------------
------------------------------------------SPOILER------------------

Additional tips(cont.)

If you're a love-lover, it'll disappoint you to know that there's never a kiss throughout the movie. The movie doesn't end up quite closed on the plot matter, for, although it reaches completion, it seems as though another movie could be made out of it with the characters far away from each other. (I'm inclined to believe that the best plot is one that doesn't need a sequel, but that does make the viewer want a sequel :) )

Once more, with a dislikeable review! I'm not going to break down this one, as not having finished the anime would make it improper to do such a thing.

I thought that, for the first 2 chapters, this show was fine, it was dramatic, strong and straightforward (for the most part). Now, as I went on through the next chapters one thing really made me very anxious, and that was: The MC's absolute punyness. It became unbearable at some point to have to watch Ganta cry like a da*n baby every single chapter, literally, up to where I decided to drop it (Chap 5) there wasn't ... a single chapter where he didn't cry, and in most he did it more than once. That said, I really, really HATE, feamale seiyuus doing male voices. To be honest I didn't even check the seiyuu's cast in the first place, but after hearing Ganta shout like a baby so frustratingly often, I realised and checked, and yep, it was Yuki Kaji doing the girly shouts. To add up to this, Shiro played the most annoying kind of cliché possible: The stupid careless girl. I really don't get how there can be anyone out there who cares for this kind of character, but one thing is sure I don't. It really annoys me to have a stubborn topped with mindless character, no matter how breasty (o.O)

Anyway, those are my reasons for dropping this anime. A little advice: If you want to see a pathetic character, go watch Watamote and have a nice laugh, instead of just hating the MC the minute he opens up his mouth.

Thanks!!!

Overall: 6

Here goes yet another of my really dislikeable reviews... Yay!
I´ll be honest with you, I was disappointed with this anime, quite a lot. Firstly, the premise is not much innovative, even though the way it was done was different than other animes of the sort (SAO, Accel World, etc.). My disappointment came from the fact that, even when not being a bad anime, I ended up waiting for something to happen for weeks in a row. It was something like "Yeah! this time something WILL happen... Maybe?... Maybe not?... Perhaps next week!". And the real problem is that I was expecting Log Horizon to ... be an action anime or an adventure anime, when it all ended up being a Slice of Life. This could have been fine, if it weren't for so many episodes plagued with absolutely obvious facts, as if, rather than an anime, I was watching an MMO's beginners tutorial coupled up with "Economics 101".

Story: 7

I think I'm being very generous here for an anime I almost quit on over the exasperation of episode after episode of announcing somehting important happening that didn't even come up after all, summed up with those chapters where somehting DID happen, but it was made to be felt as tiny and unimportant as possible due to the 10 minute explanation of how a horde of trolls (goblins, whatever) is stronger than an unwalled village of puny townsmen.

Art: 8

The art wasn't compelling, but there were no uncomfing reductions in quality all throughout. There WERE times when it was noticeable how budget was saved by not showing talking mouths and so, but such things are acceptable, although at times it made it hard to tell whether the characters were talking out loud or thinking.

Sound: 8

Sound was decent. I liked the OP and the ED, but the overall soundtrack within the chapters was nothing to praise, as weren't the sound effects used through the course of the sreies.

Character: 7

Again, I feel like I'm being too generous on this. Let it be like this, though. Characters were not impressive at all, not even the good kind of cliché. But what I found unstandable was the fact that EVERY SINGLE ONE of the characters HAD to do somehting that at the very least appeared important, as well as praising Shiroe for his "brilliant" ideas, as if he were Yagami Light or Lelouch.

Enjoyment: 7

It's a seven just to be fair, and only because I've rated "worse" anime better than this on the enjoyment. It's not heartfelt, though, as, just the way I said, I was just about to drop LH by episode 20 or so (if I can recall it caorrectly).

Overall: 7.4