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Apr 9, 2024
I was looking at reviews for this anime just for fun and I couldn't help but notice that a very important point was left out of a lot of them.
This anime is, at its core, a love letter to VOCALOID and the culture surrounding it. If that's not your cup of tea, that's fully understandable!
And I definitely think it would detract from how much someone enjoys this anime, but I do however think that this is not a bad anime. And I also do think there are things to enjoy even if you don't like VOCALOID.
Let me explain.
The anime follows a boy, Saku, who
...
lives in a city surrounded by a big white wall. No, really. It's bizarre.
In this city, he lives a normal life - goes to high school, has a deathly sick sister; you know, the usual stuff. His sister's health is declining rapidly, so rapidly that he refuses to join a song trio with the deutergonists, Uta and Sosuke. In his desperation to save his sister, he remembers her telling him that the "white shadows" (beings that co-exist with them in the world) can grant wishes and, by some stroke of luck, him singing Uta/Sosuke's songs gathers a crowd of these white shadows.
As you can see, it's a pretty standard plot for your typical idol anime, but... white walls?? White shadows?? What???
Well... that's the charm of Actors! The story is absolutely bonkers. There is definitely no point in the story where you'll be able to predict what's gonna happen next, and I do think that's the beauty of it.
It's quirky on purpose, definitely a love letter to other surprisingly dark slice of life anime like Kemono Friends, so the story was entertaining to me.
As for the VOCALOID part of it...
Each episode has a cover song of a VOCALOID song sung by the characters. Why is that? Well, Actors is (was?) a CD cover series where-in famous Japanese voice actors sing VOCALOID songs. Although this exists in plenty by now, especially with the popularity of games like Project Sekai, back when Actors came out, it was pretty much the only thing of its genre.
First and foremost, the anime is a project made for the loyal fans who stuck by the CDs for 10 years (!!), just listening to song covers and hearding drama CDs.
If you're confused by characters, don't understand why they're sometimes shoehorned in/underdeveloped, et cetera, that is sadly just the reality of these anime adaptations made for fans. I didn't mind this as I've been a fan for a long time, but it is definitely a detract to most people coming blind in. Hopefully the anime sparked your interest in listening to the CDs as well!
Overall, I think this anime adds more than it detracts. Is it a masterpiece? Absolutely not. Far from it. But I think the insane premise, the music and the ability to turn off your brain and just enjoy it as an "cute boys doing cute things" anime makes it a net-positive overall.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Sep 18, 2021
(SLIGHT SPOILERS - ep 1-3)
I want to preface this interview by saying I have zero knowledge of the manga this work was adapted from nor do I have any prior experience with Jun Mochizuki's other works.
I watched this completely blind.
When I began watching Vanitas no Carte, I was not expecting to get the story that I ended up getting. The art, story, character design and the fact Bones was animating it, lead me to believe it was a more female-audience targeted shounen, such as Bungou Stray Dogs, Black Butler, KK, etc., however I was not expecting to go into a show that had copious amounts
...
of weirdly sexual scenes and romance scenes.
I'll go over it from the beginning:
The story follows the vampire, Noe, and the human, Vanitas, as they try to find and cure cursed vampires using a book that Vanitas was gifted by the previous Vanitas, who was a vampire.
The opening, the premise, the vague promise of gaybaiting shounen, lead me to believe this would be a buddy cop type of story with two worlds colliding and two complete opposites (in terms of race) learning to see past their differences to accomplish the same goal.
However, I could not be any more wrong. To talk about this, I first need to talk about the characters.
Noe, again from the opening and some slice of life moments, is a sweet tooth, a sweetiepie and generally just easily excited over things he cares about. That's what you'd like to think, anyway. In reality, he's somewhat of a mess of a character. At times, he's way too serious for me to think he's being consistent with the character they'd established, while other times he just seems uncaring. We learn fairly quickly about his background story and after seeing, I can't help but to think "is this really the same person?".
So many of his "cute" traits are just completely forgotten at times, his intelligence varies from situation to situation, and all of this just made it very hard to like him.
His relationship with Vanitas is clearly supposed to be "I dislike this person, but find him interesting", which then morphs into "I don't know how I feel about this person, but I still find him interesting", but it doesn't feel deserved. Their feel-good moments are far and between and the show spends much more time showing them interacting with every other person more.
(Slight SPOILER) Then there's Domi. I'm putting a spoiler for this section, because I do dwelve into her background story with Noe.
Domi is shown as a sweet girl who's forced to grown up quickly to help herself and Noe cope with the loss of her brother, however we see nothing of her previous personality. We see no anguish, no sign that the hardships of her loss and personality shifting was taxing to her.
Her and Noe's relationship is also very weird and does not feel as tightly knit as one would expect. Instead, she just feels like a one-sided love interest for Noe. (SPOILER over)
Then there's the character I have the most problems with. Vanitas. I hate this man and I don't say that lightly.
Vanitas is supposed to be the "anguished morally grey antihero who does things on his own premises and doesn't mind lying/being an asshole" and it follows the trope to such an extend that I can almost feel the remnants of Tumblr Sexyman radiating off of him. If Vanitas was released in 2014, he would have invaded Tumblr and I'll just let that speak for itself.
He weirdly sexually assaults a woman and when later asked about it, he tells Noe that his favorite type of person is one who "doesn't want to love him back". Someone put this man on some lists, goddamn. His whole 'relationship' with Jeanne is weird, gross and frankly put me off his character way more than any other thing about him.
The other thing with him is that he has no redeeming qualities in terms of personality. Yes, he's strong, smart, has knowledge about history, etc. but there's nothing about him that truly makes me say "ah, I can sympathize with that".
He's hinted to have a tragic background story, but I didn't see nearly enough of it for me to justify any of his actions or mannerisms.
I'll get some of the other anime standards over with:
Art (8/10): it's Bones. It looks good, it looks pleasing. The actions scenes are cool and nicely animated.
Sound (7/10): The BGM didn't really stand out to me, but the OP/ED are both certified bangers.
Story (6/10):
My second gripe with this show is the story. The pacing is terrible. It might just be Bones, because Bungou Stray Dogs didn't have the best pacing ever, but this one truly takes the cake.
3 episodes of plot, weird episodes filled with establishing things like romance (?) and BG stories, back to the actual interesting plot in like episode 8-9 and after.
Noe's background story was shown too fast, the whole "arc" of them being in the vampire world was shown too soon as well and overall there just wasn't enough time to actually hunt cursed vampires. I wish the show had been more episodic in the start, just to really showcase how Noe and Vanitas interact, but alas.
Enjoyment (6/10): I enjoyed half of the show. The other half not so much.
Overall (6/10):
I'm sure someone is tasting blood right now reading this, but I truly think this anime dropped the ball in many ways. However.
I am willing to chalk this up to Bones weirdness and the team needing more time to properly adapt the work. I didn't enjoy BSD either, I thought the first season was terrible, but now it's one of my favorite shows.
For now, I'm giving Vanitas no Carte a 6/10 and leaving off with a "I'm sure next season will be better".
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Aug 6, 2019
I'm writing this review, because I don't think the other reviewers are giving this series the justice it deserves.
Now, is this series a masterpiece? No, but that's totally fine. If you go into with your expectations at a level for an anime adaptation of a web manga you will not be disappointed.
I'll loosely go over the points.
(May contain slight spoilers for episode 1, but that's all)
Story (7/10):
The story isn't particular interesting nor is it original. A group of let's players are stuck in a mysterious game that they don't remember entering and they have to get 1 million views on the livestream of the show
...
to be released. They'll get punished if they don't follow the rules, yadda yadda.
Let's start by addressing the elephant in the room; is this a Danganronpa copy?
Absolutely and absolutely not. The concepts, adorable mascot, character designs (though more "modern" here) and character archetypes are absolutely in alignment with what you'd expect from a Danganronpa game, but rather than just being another trifle copy of a beloved franchise, it manages to encapsulate it's own aura and charm. Think of it as some of the amazing Danganronpa-styled spin-offs you see everywhere, but even more original.
The let's player thing is a bit cheesy, but also extremely adorable and it makes the characters easier to remember and "characterize".
As for the brutality of the show, it's not anywhere near the level of Danganronpa. The viewer is told in episode 1 that they'll be punished for not following the rules, but the punishment they're shown is somewhat weak and doesn't actually shock you in the way it does in Danganronpa.
This may be plot related, however, as these stories tend to have a meaning in the smaller details, so it's not a big issues for me, personally.
Overall, it's not fantastic, but if you curb your enthusiasm a bit and take it for what it is, you'll enjoy it.
Art (9/10)
This part is easily one of the best parts of the shows. The amount of detail put into each episode is ASTOUNDING and I'm surprised more people haven't giffed the shit out of the show. The artstyle itself is rather simplistic and "Pixiv-esque" (you know what I mean when you see it), but it's what they do with these characters. I don't remember any glaringly huge moments where they go off-model and look like blobs in the background, which in itself is a huge feat.
Each episode, they change up the art style for the different settings, challenges and touching moments. In episode 1's touching moment, they completely change up the lineart style and coloring and it looks amazing and perfectly emphasizes the mood they're trying to capture. There are so many places where the changes directly influence and enhance the story, whether it be the comedic timing, amount of animation, etc.
It really feels like some meaningful thinking went into creating the artistic side of this series and it's MUCH appreciated.
Sound (7/10)
I would write a long segment for this, but I honestly don't remember much of the music. It's inoffensive, modern, and doesn't really get in the way of the mood. It's not something memorable, but definitely not something that pulls you out of setting.
The opening is kinda boring, very generic, but I'm sure someone will find it enjoyable so do give it a listen.
Characters (10/10)
Giving it a 10 out of 10 may be a bit of an overkill, but honestly, much like it's forefather Danganronpa, the characters are what carry the show.
The guys are great, the girls are great and they're all memorable, quirky, and fun! Sometimes, in these big ensembles, some characters bleed into the background or get the short end of the stick, but they're really just all important and interesting. The weakest one at the moment is the main character, but that's to be expected of these types of stories and at least the story is self-aware enough to feel like a parody on the "hope inspiring protagonist".
All the characters are let's players, as mentioned earlier, and this brings some great gap moe moments. They have great twists to their personality which will make even the coldest of hearts melt just a bit. The pure dedication and love that each character has their genre of game is also incredibly endearing.
Also, for people who are worried about the characterization of women in anime, I will gladly announce that they get just as much depth and spark in them as the boys do, maybe even more so (since they're in the minority).
Honestly I can't describe well how great these characters are, so if you like these types of character driven comedy/drama shows with a big ensemble, do give it a try!
Enjoyment (8/10)
What is there to say which haven't been said? Despite it's cliché story, it's still a highly entertaining watch because of the characters and visuals.
Overall (8/10)
Calling this show a Danganronpa copy or "just another death game" is highly insulting and should not be taken to heart. Sports, harem, idol, and other sub-genres of anime all share the same overall themes and ideas, but that doesn't mean of them are worse than the others for having said genre.
Nakanohito Genome carries itself as a different story to Danganronpa with it's great visuals and characters and is a MUST WATCH for any fan of the genre!
For anyone else, why not give it a shot? It might surprise you!
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Oct 21, 2018
If you like slice of life manga, especially with the focus on childrearing, you should definitely give this manga a shot!
This manga follows the three Demon Kings who find a human child in Hell. The story is rather vague and especially unique, but it's very cute and charming in the way it's presented.
The story starts out rather slow and the development between the Masked King (the main character) and Maris (the kid) is very abrupt and painful. In the beginning, Maris feels like a real brat and the Masked King is completely useless when it comes to taking care of him, but as the author
...
and story grows more and more, it becomes better and better. It becomes very touching the further you read and you can really feel the affection between the characters.
All the side characters are likeable and get some type of development, some even getting chapters with focus on them. The characters are pretty cliched, but a lot of tropes are played with around with (playboy turning into a diligent father, etc.). Some of the other characters, like Lilith and the doctor, barely get developed, but I think that's due to time restrictions.
The art has a very mix of fairly realistic and cute art, with the Demon Kings and gags being drawn in a realistic style, but Maris being draw with the stereotypical cute round face and eyes.
The art just gets better and better the longer you read, but it's definitely not an eyesore in the beginning either.
Overall, I really enjoyed this manga and I think it's great if you like child/adult interactions. Do I think it'll win an award for excellency? Probably not, but that's also okay.
It's mindless, charming family fun and it's perfect for sad days
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Nov 14, 2017
If you've ever read and enjoyed works like "Yotsuba&!", "Barakamon", "Usagi Drop" and "Azumanga Daioh", you'll probably love this series too!
The manga follows two brothers; the older brother, Ryuuichi, who's an high school student and his younger brother, Koutarou, who is a toddler.
Due to a tragic event, Ryuuichi and Koutarou lose their parents, but they're taken in by a gruff older lady lovingly called "Obaa-san" (grandmother) and her butler, Saikawa.
Ryuuichi has to work in the "babysitting club", a club where teachers from the school drop off their children, as exchange for living with and studying in Obaa-san's house/school and the manga follows the adventures
...
started in this club.
The story is very simple, but does it's job extremely well. Every chapter is very cute and has episodic stories with reoccurring side characters, references to previous jokes and running gags, etc. etc.
You'll find yourself satisfied with each chapter as they're all very fleshed out and leaves a sense of "ah, that was a good story" every time you complete one.
The art is cute and simple, it fits the story of the tone well with it's shoujo manga-esque art style, round toddler faces and exaggerated (to a natural extend) expressions. All the characters are easy to distinguish and identify from one another.
All the characters has a good and a bad side, which makes them seem all the more real. The main character, Ryuuichi, is a hardworking guy who loves his brother, but can also be extremely dense and an airhead, which sometimes causes him trouble as well.
All the children are written realistically to the extend that they're believeable, but you won't get annoyed by their irrational antics, fights, etc. as the characters and their "motivations" are often easily understood and related to.
All the side characters are great too and aren't just dismissed randomly after a few chapters. Even the characters who only show up once in a blue moon go through character development of some sorts, or at least get some kinda of backstory to understand them better.
Overall this is a great slice of life manga with a great cast, cute story/stories, a warm atmosphere and it leaves you with a sense of belonging and familial love.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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