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May 13, 2024
As a fan you might go nuts about the very idea of this show existing, but pretty soon it's apparent that it only operates on the smallest of scales, both in terms of writing prowess, or what it's trying to achieve.
Still, I love that the show is comedy focused, and a perfect outlet to spend more time with all these characters. But they're shallowly written, kiddy versions of themselves, with no room for the edgyness most of these shows are known for. So, no black comedy like in Overlord or Tanya the Evil, no quick and over the top scenarios like in Konosuba, no
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compelling drama like in Re:Zero. Wait, what's the appeal exactly?
It's kind of like having a Garfield comic strip made of all these series. It would at least have been a golden opportunity to poke fun at isekai as a genre, but they barely went beyond "Oh, you're from Japan too?" in season one, and it's similarly basic here. The humor is more funny cute than funny ha ha.
It's perfectly serviceable, and it's kind of fun how they keep adding to the cast with new shows like Shield Hero and Cautious Hero. Still, it's pretty underwhelming for the most part. Very safe and brand friendly, like an extended 10 minute advertisement.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Feb 11, 2024
This is the first season of this wonderful show that left me seriously conflicted.
I read ahead, as most did that were as enamored with the show as I. But I still left the ending to this arc as a surprise to myself, to discover it in anime form along with everyone else. But it's exactly this ending that leaves me feeling so ambivalent to everything I thought I loved about this part of the story.
As a piece of fiction, I think it contains some of the most heart-wrenching, gut-punching, inspired storytelling I've ever experienced. Some of these moments in the manga redefined the way
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I want to tell stories forever!
But it seems like the author is intent on muddling all sides of the conflict, so in the end you're left unsatisfied on all fronts. That's what gets me about Faputa and the village. The moral of the story flip-flops so much that it kind of ends on the worst possible timeline. I was rooting for Faputa, until they humanized the village so much, so then you're rooting for them to get through to her, but then they just offer their bodies and willingly die so Faputa can heal her wounds she took from ego-fighting the wildlife. Her rage was senseless, their sacrifice was senseless, the village died, but never confirmed died, characters like Vueko got a needlessly cruel ending, while Wazukyan was unjustly forgiven. You can frame everything under "we all just wanted to be cool explorers and make our dreams come true", but it rings sooo hollow after everything you've seen these people do. To put it in context, Mitty literally shows up again, and it's not even in the top 3 most traumatizing things this season.
Morality was always a complex issue in Made in Abyss, but this time it just felt intentionally obtuse and backwards. The final note is thus tonally incredibly off. "Let's go on an adventure!" does not even sound feasible. I start to question if there ever was any "fun" to the journey Reg and Riko were taking.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jan 4, 2023
The show manages one thing. It does stand out from the crowd. Only in the worst way possible.
Everything that makes for a fun or interesting isekai is entirely missing from this show. The main character is such a blank slate that he might as well have been originally from his new world and spared us the melodrama of telling his foster parents the fact. The show refuses to get going and for half the season we're stuck in one place, in essentially a "training arc" that any other isekai would have resolved in its first episode. The characters just have no appeal. None. No charisma,
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no humor, no draw. Even the oh so dramatic elements they try to introduce with secrets, and pacts with gods and so forth are just so unnecessarily overcomplicated, and ruin the pacing or any real sense of tension the story might have built up. Judging these efforts even on their own term, because they sure as hell aren't what I was interested in, they're half baked and just plain lame.
Getting out of the "starter zone" annoying, unappealing, complete asshole characters await! Oh and the mc decided he's going to be some kind of Mother Theresa and help everyone just for the sake of it. Not only is this played straight, it's presented semi-realistically, so people try to screw him over, or use him, but op status comes to the rescue... greeeeat.
I managed to hold on until the end, but when they tried to cram in a moral about him being too powerful, but still needing his companions, who he shouldn't treat as lesser-than, I just lost it. This show is just not good enough for me to actually care about any of this. I hated all the characters, none of the animation or visuals in general were impressive, the story was convoluted, dramatically unsatisfying and just lacking in every department. A lot of shows have taken the main appeal of an isekai, mainly the power fantasy and escapism aspects, and subverted them in one way or another, with great success. What Saihate no Paladin subverts is your expectation that you'll be watching a good show. You will not.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Feb 3, 2021
The first couple of episodes had me absolutely hooked. Unfortunately, this show couldn't escape the same curse that plagues other slice of life anime either: it just sizzles out the longer it goes on.
The premiere of this series was pretty unique, and was the most memorable moment of this entire season for me. I'd probably go back just to watch that initial episode. What followed carried that energy and giddiness that was absolutalely contagious. I never imagined it would be this fun just to watch newlyweds get close to each other and take their first steps in building a life and a relationship.
But what
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follows gets more and more mundane. The cast gets bigger, dragging away the focus from the mains with some pretty run-of-the-mill interactions. This part of the series did not excite me at all. On top of that, the specialness of those first moments seemed to fade with time as the episodes piled up. At no point did the series become obnoxious, but I didn't see the point of going on past episode 8-9, and in hindsight, I was completely correct. The only reason I did so was to mark the show as completed and to give a fair assessement of it to myself or anyone else.
The only other show I would liken this to is Takagi-san, but where as that one left me satisfied but hungry for more as well, this just leaves me glad that I'm done with it, and nostalgic for those first episodes. It's not bad by any means, just a but unrefined.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Nov 30, 2020
How are people sleeping on this show? I'm not out here claiming this is some masterpiece, but it is a straight up, action packed shounen that's hype as frick from episode one!
To be upfront, I'm writing this as an avid player of the mobile game, so my experience would differ completely from someone who's coming into this show blind. What that difference entails might be that just a simple throwaway line from a background character holds inherent value for me, because it's one of the girls I know from the game, and how cool is that!? Reference!
But take all that away, and the fundamentals of
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this show still remain: fun battle scenes and high drama! I especially enjoyed all the ways they realized the rig system from the game in this show. They had so much fun with it visually! And though this might muddle the rules to an extent where it's hard to follow what's even possible, or how things work, it also makes for some of the craziest visuals out there. It came to a point, where even as a fan of the mobile game, I had no idea what to expect from the battles, and at times I just stopped to wander at the inspired scenarios the creators made.
Now to be perfectly clear, the animation isn't as top tier as it could be. I wouldn't venture to say that it gets ugly at any point, but the places where the characters go off-model are usually off-putting.
Also, because of the immense detail some characters and their rigs hold, there is an abundant use of cgi in the show. Speaking as someone that finds things like that annoying even in the best of times, I was actually impressed with how well everything worked together. I never thought these animation styles were clashing, they complimented each other very well, and I think that comes down to consistency. The alien technology and the rig-system was usually 3D and since it remained so whenever they showed up, I think it was a good compromise to bring to life the details of these assets.
Storywise I think the show also explores some interesting areas. Though I have to admit, the storytelling could be very ham-fisted at times, hammering home the same point over and over, but I think all the angles they approached it were enjoyable. Ayanami, Enterprise, and best of all, Kaga and Akagi. There were some genuine heartfelt moments, and if you're a fan of the game and are familiar with these characters, those moments are all the more powerful.
In the end, this show is just a genuine good time, and a real triumph for the fans of the game. I hope we will get a second season somewhere down the line, so the new content of the game gets a chance to shine as well. But, for the time being, I think we can be content.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Sep 17, 2020
I'm sorry everyone, I tried really hard with this, but the show is actually unbearable.
Such a shame too, since the presentation is so nice, reminiscent of Bunnygirl senpai even. Sad to say, the animation is the only saving grace here.
The amount of torture it took me to even make it to episode 3 is just baffling. I can't remember the last time a show made me cringe so hard that I had to live commentate on it, and pause every 5 seconds.
There's virtually no decision the protagonist makes in this show that I agree with. Absolutely none. He's so socially inept, so unbearable, so irredeemably
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unlikable that I struggle for words.
Now take all the stupid clichés of the genre, every concievable unconfortable situation, and have this character make all the wrong decisions in them. Meanwhile he has the girl main stuck to him like glue. She seems to forgive and forget for the some of the most egregious things he could possibly put her up to. The kind of things he makes her do for him would never fly, even in an actual, love based relationship. But he gets away with them anyway. Too bad it just leads to more cringe and drama.
I can appreciate a new angle, a more realistic approach to the harem genre perhaps. But this is certainly not it. It's every bit as formulaic as anything else, but all the redeeming qualities are missing. Why include all the bad, and top it off with something even worse?
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Jul 9, 2020
Why does this always happen? We have yet another show with a great premise, and a great head start. It's unique, the humor hits, all elements of production work really well.
And then we get to the second half of the series, where the show abandons it's unique premise for reverse harem scenarios and a new plot for the final episodes. Which, I gotta say, even if it had served as an okay story on its own, it's just so unnecessary here. Even to break up the tedium that the show devolves into. It's all the cliches you can handle: clueless protagonist, romantic scenarios undermined
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by last minute jokes, so ultimately she can stay buddy buddy with everyone.
I get so worked up by these things, because it started out SO good. This premise, that she has to avoid her death flags, and develop relationships and strategies so she survives till the end of the game is great! It lead to great humor, nice, but onorthodox character introductions and development. But once the show gets to the school part, and the novelty of seeing the older version of everyone wears off, it's a no-stakes, by-the-number harem show.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jan 11, 2019
Zombieland Saga had the chance to become one of he best, if not THE BEST idol show out there. The start of the show was shocking, but hilarious. The zombie concept left a lot of room for unique comedy, and the cast of odball characters from different eras (most of whom didn't even want to become idols) really set the show apart! Deathmetal and rap battles, weird promotions and oddjobs to get the group's name out there, it was all very promising in it's creativity and stark difference from other idol shows.
Unfortunately, the show started to get into formulaic and predictable stuff mid-season. The episodes
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regarding the character's backgounds, the horrendous 3D concerts, it was all pretty bland. Even the later episodes about the group dynamic and the main character were less and less unique. Even if we take all the objectively bad things out, it's still just wishy-washy idol stuff you can watch anywhere else, probably better. Where are the different music genres from the earlier episodes? Where is that crazy energy that carried the show?
Unfortunately, Zombieland Saga ended up as another trend-follower instead of the trend-setter I wanted it to be. It's still a quirky show about zombie idols, and I think it's still worth watching, but the show didn't deliver on the promise of it's great early episodes.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Sep 16, 2018
This should have been so much better! I realize this may sound entitled, but it's so hard to watch a show that actually grabbed your attention drop the ball like this!
The setup, and the execution of the first episodes had me hooked. Forcing together characters with different social standings is always fun, and the "tortured" past of the main character was the cherry on top! But 90% of character developement gets done in the first couple of episodes and after that the crew just enjoys their newly made bubble, where all previous problems (source of comedy) just disappear!
Such simple opportunities just went ignored here! Why
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switch out the in-game characters for the real life girls? Wouldn't it be funnier if these burly men broke character and started talking like high-school girls? Why is the teacher, who semi-catfished one of her students, just ignored and pushed to the side, when this was a golden opportunity as well? She remains a glorified chaperone for the rest of the season, when she could've been a fun addition.
And why does the focus switch from balancing real life and videogames to just them playing the game!? Is anyone actually here for that? To watch a half-baked gamer show? Because that's what you get from about episode 7.
This was such a disappontment. By the ending, the show is so disconnected from the original concept, that it was a chore to get through. You're just watching them do an in-game event for the school festival. What an emotionally charged, amazing finale.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Aug 20, 2018
If you happen to have an excellent show that becomes outstandingly popular, it should be ecpected that it'll become overhyped. And even though that is the case with Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica as well, I would still recommend it to others.
My problem is that the story doesn't hold as many surprises as it thinks. Even though almost every episode (well, maybe apart from the first two) is set up to have a huge twist, I don't think a lot of them delivered. The darker undertones are immediately present in the first moments, and even though the show takes its time to dive under afterwards, your defenses
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are immediately up. At least, I was anticipating these things to happen.
But that doesn't take away from the undeniably amazing art style, animation and character that is present throughout the series. Every fight and encounter is a joy to watch. The emotional stakes build up over the season, and I lived for the moments where these payed off. The rivalries, the character development, it's all great stuff. The two big twists of the story wary in quality. The need for and existence of magical girls felt so contrived that it could've just been left unexplained. The other, character based twist was far better, and it resulted in my favorite episode, but it's not something we haven't seen before.
The ending is also worth discussing. In short, I think it's too self-indulgent, and isn't all that interesting for the time that's devoted to it. The "final battle" lacks the emotional charge and struggle it reallly needed. After we reach a solution, it just becomes completely weightless, and as I've said, self indulgent. Everyone is amazing, everything becomes okay. No hard feelings, no regrets, just a sugary, semi-melancholic Happy End. No thanks.
Overall, I think this is a great show, but everyone ought to manage their expectations before watching it. If we didn't already have series with similar structures and ideas, I could really call this series revolutionary, but as it stands, for me it just stands out with its great execution.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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