Naive8A's Profile - Reviews

Last OnlineFeb 21, 2023 6:18 PM
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BirthdayJan 1, 1991
LocationI am where I'm standing. Nowhere else.
JoinedOct 9, 2012

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Jan 17, 2014

Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita (Anime) add

Recommended

When an anime series' title is Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita--that translates to Humanity Has Declined, for those of you who don't know a smidgen of Japanese--potential viewers expect some sort of post-apocalyptic shounen with its fair share of violent gore, blood, drama, survival, and action. Already you have piqued the interest of a good bit of the audience. And when its main character is a female . . . Well, let's just say that it's an unfortunate fact that for some--sorry, many--people, action+boobs=instant must watch. With that you have increased the audience's interest by at least ten-fold. Finally you hear that it has fairies in ... it. Surely this means that there is some amount of magical, kick-ass superpower users in it, right? Now we are looking at a dramatic action-adventure with magic, boobs, and blood. Who could resist?

But this isn't the anime that JwSS is. It isn't a shounen, it doesn't have balloon boobs, magic plays little to no part in any episode, and the most violence we get is a scene where a piece of robo-bread tears himself nearly in half and starts gushing carrot juice. Instead, JwSS can only be described as a reflection on us--humanity. Now, I won't bore you with a psychological lecture about the meaning of life--God knows I don't have the ability to do that--but I will say that JwSS will touch on some of some of the worst parts of humanity--greed, arrogance, disregard, and apathy--as well as the best--home, friendship, individuality, and joy. It's at the same time both humorous satire and heartwarming affection toward us, the foolish humans, adorable in our pitiful march to . . . where? Regardless, this is an anime that all people should watch and more than once, simply because there is something to be gained by everyone who hasn't and more for those who have.

Story: 10
(I won't provide a synopsis; that's on the anime's page, and you're better off watching it anyway.) The entire series consists of several one or two episode arcs each with an easily identifiable central theme. JwSS doesn't force any of its satire, nor does it ever get (unintentionally) cheesy. It focuses on using its characters to tell its stories of homesickness or to joke about the metropolitan human society. If you are a fan of huge, epic tales of finding the ultimate pirate treasure, becoming the best magician's guild, beating up the bad guy who is also your childhood friend, or conquering the world with giant robots and mind-control, the change of pace to short arcs with not much to do with each other may not be for you. But if you enjoy the pacing of a bunch of short stories about a high-school otaku girl and her friends, series of stories with child prodigies with funky pigtails and her high school friends, or shows about high-school guys doing everyday high-school-guy things, then you might like the pace of this JwSS: self-contained, self-sufficient arcs with strong, natural, gradual character development. Virtually my only complaint was that the series was too short to reach its full potential. (Read: I want moar.)

Art: 9
The word I would use to describe this anime is "colorful". Each character's appearance is suited to their personality, and the studio certainly wasn't shy to use every bit of the color spectrum in its backgrounds when it came to anything to do with the fairies. Again, it suits the personality of the series, the light-hearted humor and the heart-warming tenderness of the series. The animation is hardly the smoothest I've ever seen, but it sure gets the job done; no silly, flashy special-effects; just honest, barefaced animation that makes sure to convey every nuance of the character's actions.

Sound: 10
Honestly, I have no idea how to rate sound . . . There was no problem at all; no problem hearing character's voices, the BGM set the mood for humor or solemnity as necessary. It was really good.

Character: 10
Apart from the main character and perhaps her grandfather, each arc generally does not share many characters in common. Of course, you may wonder how there is character development when only one character is recurrent, but as she shares with us stories of the world she lives in, she comes to understand more about the humans of the past, as well as her own personality. She is believable in her imperfection, likeable for her humor, and lovable in her insight. She does an excellent job of telling us about fairies and the people around her. Through her we gain an understanding of the world she lives in, and perhaps more about ourselves.

Enjoyment: 10
The mix of satire and tenderness in this anime does wonders for its enjoyability. Humor is used effectively to keep us interested in its ridicule of humanity, and when it isn't amusing you with you, it's preparing to make you feel glad to be human. Never does it drown you in sorrow, and never does it give you a shot of pure euphoria. Its strength isn't concentrated so that you feel drugged into happiness or contemplation. Rather, it is diffused; it uses its subtle sarcasm and tenderness in a way that is more persuasive than forceful. You enjoy the short, small quips and soft happiness you get from relating to the situations. This is an anime that can be enjoyed at a slow pace, which matches its overall "personality".

Overall: 10
I am fully convinced that this is an anime that is both enjoyable and informative; note that I didn't say educational. It leaves the viewer prone to contemplating humanity while never leaving the viewer depressed about it. The personality of the anime is evident in its every aspect, and I would suggest this to anyone and everyone who is looking for something new.

(Note that this is the first review I have actually put good effort into; the other one was basically a rant...)

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Oct 21, 2012

Shinseiki Evangelion (Anime) add

Not Recommended

I HATE NEON GENESIS EVANGELION.

I wish i could scream that at the makers of it, not to mention THE WHOLE FREAKING WORLD.

Okay. Let's get this over with.

I really don't want to think about this anime.

Crud.

... Lemme try again.

Neon Genesis Evangelion is, if you couldn't tell from the scores I gave, pathetic. At least to me. The goal of this review/rant is not to convince anyone to hate it, just to show why I hate it. Let's start with the beginning. In the beginning, NGE showed promise. It had a good story, good potential for character growth, and a believable situation, as far as fiction goes. And the main problem i had was the character growth, or lack of it, rather. Shinji Ikari was great raw material for a protagonist, he had his problems, his secrets, his weakness, and his strength, the ability to be an exceptional EVA pilot. And it seemed that he was well on his way to becoming my next favorite character. But do you know where that went? Downhill. The infamous episode 16. He goes into the angel, is trapped, his friends try to save him, he gets out, and immediately begins to go berserk on the very city he is supposed to protect. And I am proud to say that I remember very little of it. I skipped most of that episode, and every episode thereafter. From then on, every episode had a tedious session of him messing with his own head. From then on, angel fights were boring and/or overtly violent. They were obscene bouts of attempted action and they didn't work for me. From then on, Shinji's personality, which had actually seen some positive growth, became completely twisted. You don't get much more twisted than having fantasies about a comatose girl, jerking off to them, then killing her at the end of the alternate ending, which was just as confusing, just as irritating, and just as pointless as the original.

Speaking of Asuka, she was another good character that I loved. For a short time. Then she went in the same direction as Shinji, becoming a bathtub inhabiting girl who had "I hate the world" issues, just as Shinji had "The world hates me" problems. Her tomboyish attitude, her skill with an EVA, her possible love for Shinji- DOWN THE DRAIN. And you might be thinking, "Now wait, you can't hate the entire anime, as well as the makers of the anime, because the characters didn't develop the way you want, and the story didn't have the ending you wanted." I agree, it's not fair to hate an entire anime because of the characters or an unexpected plot. But this is beyond that. Hating a character is proof that the anime is good. It makes you realize that you feel the hate that the characters themselves have. The anime has successfully drawn you in. This is different. An example of an anime making me hate a character by drawing me in is Holland from Eureka Seven. This, on the other hand is me hating the makers of the anime and the anime itself because of what they did to everyone in the story. And an example of an unexpected, unwanted plot turn is the death of Lelouch in Code Geass, or the repeated death of Mayuri in Steins;Gate. This, however, is taking a good anime and killing all purpose, sense, and likability. Seeing Shinji and Asuka kill the angel in episode 9 was very satisfying; seeing Asuka tear apart the angels in The End of Evangelion was not satisfying at all. And it has come to my attention that according to some, Asuka didn't die at the end; these some are liars. Not only does Asuka receive extensive wounds from the fight, she was strangled by Shinji; even if he doesn't actually kill her all the way, he still tried.

Sigh. I really don't want to keep going. But I need to get this out of my system.

Then there is Rei. Possibly as disappointing a character as Shinji. Out of the three, she has the most potential. But not only do they kill her, they kill her, bring her back, kill her again, reveal that Shinji's dad loves her because she is a clone of his wife, kill all of her other selves, make her appear naked in every episode past 16, and basically spit on my hopes for her. The more I saw her in the beginning, the more screen time I wanted her to have so that she could become a person, a character that might be up there with Yuki Nagato, Kallen Kozuki, C.C., Lucy from Elfen Lied (not Nyuu, she doesn't really fit), and everyone else who was unapproachable at first but became greatly beloved by all. But, just like Shinji and Asuka, Rei's personality went down the drain. Completely.

As for the other characters, they didn't disappoint me nearly as much; Misato was one of my favorites. The only stains on her soul were the extensive sex scenes near the end. Same goes for Ryoji. Toji was a great character in and of himself; too bad he died. Gendo Ikari is one of the non-EVA pilots whom I hate; he is, among other things including a shameless, selfish lunatic, a pedophile. Ritsuko is not as bad as him, but she, as with her mother, are stained and imperfect, which wouldn't be so bad if nearly everyone else wasn't as bad as they were.

I could go on, but it is getting late, and I really don't feel like going on. Maybe I'll finish up later.

Peace out. May the blessing of Haruhi Suzumiya be with you always.

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