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While the experiment that I mentioned back in the forums is going underway, I thought i'd review an anime I watched because I was interested in it.

So here's my review of No Game No Life.

Story:

TL;DR
NGNL is about two young neets going into a fantasy world to beat the god of gaming.

[Synopsis]
... -BEGINNING-
As for those who like a little more meat in a synopsis:

There are two worlds. Our normal world, and a fantasy world.

The fantasy world underwent a race wide war, including gods, leaving only 16 dominant races and 1 god. That 1 last god, who disliked how the races resort to killing each other to settle differences, decreed that all disagreements be settled in the manner of a game.

While being governed by 10 pledges, all races play all manners of games/contests in order to expand land, become royalty, etc. Basically it'd be like making Alexander the Great expand his empire through Old Maid or Chess with the rulers of his neighbors, wagering something of equal value to their lands.

Now back in our normal world, two siblings that go by [Blank] who excel so hard at gaming: they play MMOs with their hands and feet on two different computers each, are challenged by the 1 god I mentioned before to a game of online chess.

After the pair beat the god (the siblings not knowing it IS a god), the god is so pleased that he invites them to "the world they should have been born in". After a little understandable skepticism, you don't go accepting random offers on the internet, the siblings reflect on their neet lives and jump at the chance to play along with the god.

And thus the god pulls siblings into his world through their monitor, explains how his fantasy world works, and leaves the two siblings wanting to rule the other races, beat the 1 god again, and become gods themselves.

-END-

Erase all thoughts of SAO and .Hack, because this is not that. Not just because the god (called Tet) isn't a rogue game developer getting his kicks nor a rogue game AI being so gosh darn interested in perma-death; but because their isn't translating reality into game/fantasy world terms (see "
Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?").

If anything, a similar anime is Outbreak Company due to a similar setting more than story, and The Devil is a Part-Timer for vice versa.

I don't have any real problems with the story. Nothing was rushed, everything was taken into consideration quite well. It's a nice "battle of the wits" anime with an ending that can go @#$% itself.

Make no mistake, sheep! This anime isn't here for your enjoyment. It's here to get you so invested, so head over heels, that you helplessly go buy the light novel and manga. Which is kind of backwards for me. I don't watch an animation, and become interested in the non-animated medium.

I'll get into a little more detail when it comes time to break down the characters.

Art:

Take your favorite anime's box art to an art program, and increase the hue and brightness. You like that? Well this anime has quite a bit of it. Dark and safe colors are the shackles of The Man, man.

"Who cares if every characters eyes look like they're about the jump out at you like your using a dim light to find your dog in a dark room, and the mouths seem to disappear off the face?"

These are sarcastic thoughts, but not a deal breaker.

The anime is very colorful and cute, with some surprises as it references other anime art styles. You ever thought the art style of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure was awkward but bad ass? NGNL thought so too.

*wink* *wink*

The animation for the most part is approaching fluid, even outside the action scenes. It has its hiccups, but only for the sticklers. Frames seem to drop at least once in all episodes, the only pine cone in the fruit salad being the opening portion of the first episode. So don't worry too much.

Sound:

For me, there's nothing like atmosphere. No matter what kind of anime you watch, you want all your senses to make you feel like your smack dab in the middle of everything.

I was able to get so invested into the anime, thanks to its stings, and the ost speaking to me. I may be a sap for good music, but I love how the anime is a house and the OST is basically the mortar to the brick. A melody that makes me believe as if this is both a virtual world and a fantasy world. Or a fantasy world looked at with the cold logic of a virtual world. Being exploited, and worked around.

I'm more of a fan of the opening than the ending theme, but both convey the atmosphere we should expect in the anime.

Character:

Here's the part I wanted to get to.

Our main characters are the siblings Sora and Shiro. Both are very intelligent in separate fields (with room for a grey area, that is both protagonists coming up with the same answers, I'll let you figure out where), the big brother is a mentalist and the little sister is a mathematician.

Together they're codependent neets, connected by the kidney to make an unbeatable duo at any game. Ever.

Nice. Strengths and weaknesses established, characters sympathetic, goals established, solid protagonists.

Now what may make you pack it in, is that the anime is centered around certain victory. The protagonists never lose, and thus never seem to change or learn anything new and thus never grow as human beings. It's a showcase of elites. But I invite the viewers to maybe be less focused on how they never change, and more so how they approach new problems. Treat them like Superman in how if we know he's always gonna bounce back, be interested in how he does it each time a trial comes around.

Only our protags aren't superhuman. In fact when boiled down anyone can be as special as them, so long as you pay attention to the world around you. Keep calm, gather data, use everything you can, don't start a game you haven't thought out.

Now this is where things might get hairy. The third main character (Dola Stephanie) is, to me, more of a supporting character. Someone to be worked around, rather than alongside. So naturally she's supposed to represent the audience. Not in how she conveys information to us in case the MAIN main characters say or do something that goes over our heads, but to represent you normal people who either play the straight man toward over the top antics or who are just happy to be here while having no clue what the heck's going on.

Us smarter, and more attractive people if I do say so myself, will see Dola representing other anime characters in other anime (right down to the massive breasts), rather than the audience. As they are often clueless, helpless, and try to compete with the smarter and more experienced lads only to show how much smarter and experienced those lads are. Someone their to really show what happens to normal people put in these situations. Much like how someone might say a well trained boxer can beat 10 normal men at once.

In terms of how bad-ass and useful they are on the screen, and who is left fooling the fools because the fools are laughing at the fool, Jibril should switch with Dola. But I believe Dola's main character position is more so because of her position rather than her abilities. It was because of Dola that they even knew Jibril existed, and it was because of Dola that the duo protags found a place to sleep and etc.

Now what makes me give this anime high marks character wise, are the interactions. There's still your "bear taking a dump the woods" ecchi scenes, and over exaggerated neet/otaku tendencies, but it's done in hilarious ways, I've never seen before. Gold star.

Enjoyment:

I had a grand ole time. Though the anime loses it's rewatch-ablity the same way you don't watch a mystery thriller once you know the answer to the mystery; the sheer antics, quotes to live by, and character interactions, trivia and art style are enough to keep me coming back.

There's nothing else like NGNL, and it's just damn good. Damn damn damn damn good.... damn.

Overall:

The final verdict of No Game No Life, is an 8 out of 10. A very high 8 that makes me feel like a man.

Other than that "pissing in my corn flakes" ending, I recommend you stream the anime at least once.

I don't recommend you buy it though, as my mother taught me to never pay for something that isn't finished, but it's your money.

"But what if you buy manga of an ongoing series?" There's a difference between buying a complete volume with all the chapters inside, and buying a manga so you can subscribe for more chapters OF that volume.

For anime similar to it, that i've seen:
If you want to lean more toward setting and similar premise, watch Outbreak Company and Baka and Test.

Hope you liked my review~
Until next time, i'll see you on the next review~

Whoa, is this a retro review? Probably not.

First Half
"Sins of the father fall on the fins of the father swimmer. Then my son is going to Jannah." - Lupe Fiasco

Second Half
No!
We were so close! We were almost free!
Why must we be held down, and fester within comfort zones!

... Let's begin!


Story:

The first half the anime had me! I was in! It had me by my iron heart strings developed by my obsession with Tekken! It's like the story was split between two twin brothers, and the first brother got along well with his neighbors Art Design, Sound Design and Character Design. The aesthetic was there!

But it just breaks my heart to inform you that the second half shoves his brother in a dumpster, forcing him to dive for trends we're trying to leave behind. Then makes everyone watch!

The story is based around one boy (Okumura, Rin) out of a pair of twins, that is the son of Satan. As the demon side of him starts to awaken, demons that were tracking him down for as many reasons as you can fit in an anime start surfacing. Naturally, tragedy befalls the church he and his brother were raised in, and results in his adoptive father dying. So in order to set things right, he goes to an exorcist academy to learn about the world around and to fight off demons, while taking care of a katana that keeps his powers in check.

It's like Devil May Cry meets high school! He wears our misunderstood, delinquent hero niche with pride and that already makes the series less generic. We're talking back in the day, Yu Yu Hakosho, character design. And I like that! He has seen what passes for evil, and aims to stop it, no matter what people think! Where the part of the world that doesn't matter calls him violent, the viewer can see him as the guy who devotes himself to action. No matter how much trouble he might get into.

Enjoying yourself so far? Good, now if you want to make it through to the end of the anime I suggest you lower your expectations quite a bit.

As the series goes on and it naturally becomes harder for Rin to hide his demonic powers and origin, the anime misses it's chance to go down the path less traveled!
The friend Rin saved and even his own twin brother, step aside and basically let the world bully Rin because his powers are just like his fathers. Even though he never met the guy, and became and exorcist to fight him, they blame all his father's miss doings on the son. Just one son though. Looking at both of them like they're the spawn of Satan must have been too much work.

And I refuse to accept how the anime might defend itself with, "that's the point; it's realistic".
Then my eye sight must be going bad... because I could've sworn I saw this anime in the genre called "fantasy". It's so supposed to be unrealistic by definition. The awesome Kamina (from Gurren Laggan) approach Rin has throughout the anime is neutered when his little brother and and his friend with tits are two flicked pebbles into the rushing main stream of prejudice and classicism.





Art:

The art style is nice since it reminds me of Bleach meeting Full Metal Alchemist in a way, even if it annoyed me when the animation style seemed to change during one serious fight scene while (trying not to spoil).

It's a mix of diverse proportions and appearances among support characters and antagonists that made me smile. The change in funny faces and expressions during the comedy moments were all the more welcomed.

The effects are pretty great too, like that time when the catholic church basically tries to nuke hell. Freakin' amazi-hi get back here! I'm not done reviewing!





Sound:

The opening themes and first ending themes at the start really fit the theme the anime was trying to go for. A modern day urban rebel vibe that leans towards Samurai Champloo but is more like Bleach now that I think about it. Oddly enough, the second ending theme tugs more at Inuyasha.

This anime seems to understand that if you're going to be like everyone, be more like the anime everyone can agree on liking (except for some mad people).

The ambiance is nice.

Overall everything gets a solid "good".





Character:

I feel the characters really were trying to grow as people, but much like the kids in the real world: they were held down by how adults are supposed to think. Instead of being cool about "talented and hard working Rin" being "the spawn of satan Rin" or remembering that he saved most of their lives several times if not fought along side them, the anime forces everyone to never lets up on how Rin alone is closest to Satan out of the twins.

"Satan is your father, your father did bad things for generations your father is Satan, and father father father father father father demon!"

Basicly putting everyone who had enough sense to not to be a jerk about it in a box until everyone felt like it's about time to not be generic.

Though in there understandable defense, the friends who treated Rin like crap did so in part because Rin didn't have enough control over his demonic side. He might set people on fire, get mad enough to ice cream truck punch someone... oh and maybe even hurting the poor ozone layer.

So most of everyone's growth as characters were stunted for several episodes, until they learned to blame Satan and not one of his two sons. And even though the characters that didn't catch on either got their butts beat or died horrifically, the anime wasted good episodes by feeding them to the main stream machine when the support characters could've supported the main character more.

Oh and the anime killed off the most bada$$ character (Rins adaptive father) and replaced him with a douche bag, so it looses points there. Even if they try and make up for it with flash backs. Makes me wonder why even bother killing him if the anime could've benefited off of him being alive, and show that you realized that by flash backing at every gosh darn turn.


But hat's just the second half of the anime for the most part. The first half of the anime is very interesting thanks to the characters. With personalities and growth that you don't see often in anime. This includes the Smart Delinquent, The Monk In Training, The Care-Free Sage, and the self centered Kistune girl.

Afterwards we fester into the cliche the busty nice girl, and the polar opposite twin brother.





Enjoyment:

You were the chosen one! You were on your way to destroying mediocrity, no joining it! Bringing balance to anime, not leaving it in darkness! And it hurts my enjoyment score because it's like saying, "Yeah, I enjoyed half the anime but was disappointed by the rest." Everything the first half worked at building up with fun episodes, the art style, character growth, falls flat!

You kill off an interesting character and parade him around in flashbacks and references, drag the story through a tar pit by making fleshed out and fun characters become annoying show off how they don't like Rin's dad much, and just overall drop the ball.





Overall:

The final verdict for Ao no Exorcist/Blue Exorcist is a 5 out of 10.

It's an anime that quit being good half way for me. Takes all the good qualities and flare I saw, and uses them for evil! An anime that does half well for me, gets a half score on my scale.

And it's a painful 5 because I really did enjoy the first half. I truly did, and was expecting to keep enjoying myself. But don't like the direction it took. The episodes that could have been spent with the same flare as growth it developed, fell into the ole Yin and Yang pitfall.

You can't tell me you weren't expecting the good guys to be evil if meant being their definition of good! Or the demons aren't as bad as everyone believe! If you do tell me that, i'm going to drawn the innocence you sullied in ice cream!

I really hope the series learns from it's mistakes this time. Until then, i'll see you guys on my next review.

I'm starting to see the appeal to the "**** is like ****** but" stamp, so I'll take a crack at it:

Hundred is like Infinite Stratos but better.

Let's begin:





...


Story:

No seriously, it's so similar! A guy that has high compatibility with his world's battle suits called "Hundreds", goes to an academy surrounded by water. There everyone's interested him, a snobby girl fight scene, a cross dresser, etc.

Details, details, details.

But Hundred seems to have a stronger story than Infinite Stratos, and also has elements from Strike Witches, Freeze, and Seraph of the End (believe it or not)



In a world where destructive creatures called Savages wreck havoc all over the planet (from time to time), a special unit of people called Slayers are trained and sent out to fight these monsters.

There's a catch! Coming in contact with these monsters gives you the risk of being infected by a virus the creatures hold. Which can either kill you or turn you into a Variant. Which is like a Slayer but generates more energy into their weapons and combat abilities, and are likely to go into a murder frenzy! So their like a rival faction/race of sorts, and that's pretty cool.

Now this happened to our main character (Kisaragi, Hayato) and his childhood friend(Crossfode, Emile), which explains the main character's edge or high compatibility to his Hundred.

I like how the anime gave context to his abilities. He wasn't related to some legendary slayer, and he didn't need it in order to get into an academy. The only reason he's at the academy in the first place, is for the medical treatment he can get for his little sister.

So and we're off on our college-military life with the anime taps turned up a good amount.



Now where I feel the anime suffers, is how shifty the tone can get.

Are we watching a main character suffering from the past where he and his childhood friend are almost killed by a monster that infects them with a virus they could have died from or lost their sanity to?

Nah, he's learned to deal with it pretty quickly, as opposed to crowds interested in him and women's flirtatious advances!

Are we watching the main character try and come to terms with a virus that's slowly eating at his lust for the power to not lose a fight, or are we watching another wacky harem scenario?

Nah, he gets control of it rather quickly.

Are we in a world where kids are purposefully subjected to the virus of Savages in order to manufacture super soldiers, then promptly dying or going insane if they don't have a role in the plot?

Yep, moving on~

Maybe everyone's wearing a mask just to stay strong and turn life into a cliched anime, because the atmosphere has trouble staying consistent sometimes. It never broke my immersion, so that's good. But it's best to keep an eye on tone from now on.



The story does have a sliver of uniqueness as the anime goes on, but if thought Infinite Stratos was forgettable: this anime only slightly alleviates that. It does set up for another season nicely around the ending, so be on the look out for those hints or the anime will feel like their's too many loose ends.

Such examples being some lone talented scientist out for revenge, harsh environments for kids, people with high authority keeping secrets, cross dressing for a reason, you know the drill.







Art:

"Oh boy, an anime not CGing it's balls off~!"

*watches the last few episodes*

"Spoke to freaking soon~!"



Am I the only one who finds 3d objects in a 2d environment jarring? And vice versa?

No?

Then the CG popping in, and watching 2d characters fight said CG is jarring!


Not as bad as Infinite Stratos though. I guess the Chief Animation Directors must have been fighting with their own inner Variants. Having a strong enough will power to keep CG's greasy mitts off the characters using their mechanical Hundred parts in fights and CG's muddy feet off the environment, but not enough will power to resist using it on throw-away-enemies or helicopters around the end of the series!

It was jarring when the Prince of Egypt did it, it was jarring when Spiderman's animated series did it, and it's not about to change because it's an anime!

That said, when the anime behaves itself: the animations are pretty damned detailed. Not the art, the animations. The subtle movements of people interacting as opposed to standing stark still needs to be commended. I love anyone who thinks of the little things when making an anime.

The art style on the other hand, still does that fanservice bit where no matter what your wearing: if you have big tits or thick thighs, they're gonna reflect light off them like the military-school uniforms were oiled up.

Now I'm no harrumphing prude; I hunted down a pervy comic the moment I finished the series. But it sure would be nice to see an anime save such glossy appearances for when your actually showing off fan service, and not make the pervy points of interest look saran wrapped. Save that for the body suits, like you have been.

Still, the art style itself (or the character design) looks really good. Norie Tanaka did a swell job, to say he's mostly been an animator. You may recognize his handy work from that one episode in Fairy Tail and those few episodes from Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic.






Sound:

The ambient music seems to be the only music I like. The opening theme's tone reminded me of Date A Live's opening theme, and not in a good way. It came off a bit misplaced, since the tone of the series itself is so shifty. What the opening seemed to be going for here, was how the characters were all struggling with something and the atmosphere always weighed down on everyone, but they had fight on and stay together to make a better tomorrow.

And if the anime stuck with that, and not made a check box of pervy and romantic cliches, I'd be alright.

So the opening left me trying to skip past it sometimes.

The ending shifted between three different songs as the series progressed. This is what I enjoyed over the opening, as it did fit the tone a bit better. The clicks or groups within the series sang songs that fit their characters for the ending themes, and that vibes well with me. It feels as if the characters are growing are experiencing different things as time goes on, and that should be commended.



As for the voice actors, I loved them~

Everyone fit their characters, except the rival Variant faction who had a kid who was voiced by someone quite older than the character's design suggested. He was skinnier and smaller than the main character, but spoke as if they were around the same age.

If it were intentional like in Black Butler: Book of Circus (you know the two characters I'm talking about), than I'd have no problem. But since I got no such vibe, it was surprising.

Other than that, it was nice to recognize other character's voices. Like how the main character's voice sounds like Muneakira from Hyakka Ryōran Samurai Girls, but was the actor who played as the knight from Rage of Bahamut: Genesis. It helped keep me invested as these characters were kept alive in a way by the talented voice actors.






Character:

Girl One: "We act so close because we've been together since we were kids. We're childhood friends."

Girl Two: *gasp* "That means I'm childhood friends with him too~!"

Girl One: Ha! No, you only spent a day with him as a child. It's not the same."

Me: "Pfft, dayum!!!"



That's how I experienced that moment between the two love interests competing. I get a kick out of the boldness everyone demonstrates towards the main character.

There's no CARDINAL SIN Tsundere whooping @$$ over the mistakes the main character makes. Nope, everyone must have realized this is an anime and so perversion is treated as a joke that everyone is in on.

It's like the cast is one big party, and everyone is invited. Giving me quite a good time. If I had to compare it anime cast wise: it's like Tokyo Ravens and Hyakka Ryōran Samurai Girls were dripped into the creation, and made everyone bold without being out of character.

While voice actors did their parts, the characters that were sided in late in the game came off pretty stale or generic. They had no soul; they were just their. I'll let you see what I'm talking about as you get further into the anime.

But yeah, thumbs up for the cast this time around!





Enjoyment:

Here's what you're gonna enjoy. You're gonna like the bold characters, CG not detaching you from the action scenes, good characters, attentive animations here and there, and unique art style.

What you're not gonna like is the CG coming out last minute as if it's a cop out, no new character types, heavily cliched, shifty tone, loose ended story elements, and fan service laid on thick.

In short, nothing new here. It rises above one of it's popular predecessors (Infinite Stratos), but not far enough to make it's own identity.

It seemed to have lost a bit of steam when crossing the 12 episode finish line due trying to hit a target audience and not trying anything new, but it shouldn't be a waste of time should you pick it up.





Overall:

The final verdict for Hundred, is a 7 out of 10.

Overall, it's just another typical anime. It focused enough on it's elements to not be average, but I felt it lost a lot of potential somewhere along the line. Maybe the visual novel has what the anime lacks, but at this point in time, after watching all 12 episodes, I'm just not thrilled. I'm not at the edge of my seats. I'm happy with the time I gave it and might rewatch the series in bursts, But not buy the disc sets.

I hope you enjoyed my review, I know I don't put a lot of these out, but thanks for reading, and I'll see you all next time~

Whoa! Booming impacts, wind and sweat(I think) lashing about! There's a guy getting wrecked by some unknown force within bright lights, then collpases upon the ground with a battered body! And-wait...
Is that guy that got beat up our main charater?
Oooh.... it's gonna be one of those anime... but you know what?
I loved it.




Story:

The poor fella who just got his ayuss' whooped in the first seconds of the anime is our main character, Satou You. After traveling with his father who's in the military, he comes to town to attend highschool. While in town, Satou gets hungry and visits a near ... by corner store in search of something to eat.
While in the store, Satou broswes meals he simply cannot afford at present... until he goes toward the far back of the store where the refridgerated goods are held for sell. Satou was nearly brought to tears at the sight of several boxed lunches (Bento) being labeled with half price stickers!

As Satou frolics toward the boxed lunches and the managar (or God of Discounts) who labeled them leaves, Satou is introduced to the area's culuture...
The moment the mangager leaves, EVERYONE FIGHTS OVER BOXED LUNCHES!!!

Enjoy.

Ok, maybe the anime's story dosen't end there, but that's the jest of it.
You see, everyone who fights over the boxed lunches "with respect" are called "Wolves". And later on the best Wolf in the area, who's name is Yarizui Sen, takes Satou under her wing and teaches him what it means to be a wolf and earn those half priced boxed lunches.

As the anime progresses, it shows that wolves don't just have other wolves to worry about. Oh no, the wolf has natural enemies such as fat people (boars), jocks (tempest/The Storm), hunting dogs (guys who avoid fighting by teaming up and barricading), politics and land grabs!!!

Needless to say: if you like stories that involve an over the top premise, main characters training in order to be the motivating stalwart everyone looks up to, "fight the power" showers, and unrequited love from your hot blonde cousin, then you're gonna love this anime~

I enjoyed the story a lot. And it didn't need to be complex for me to look forward to what happens, or the final fight and conclusion of the series.




Art:

The animation got the job done in this action comedy. There's no martial arts or anything like that. Just brawls, acrobatic duels, but no known styles of fighting. At least the styles used aren't known to me. Even still, I loved the attention put in the fights. The stunts the characters did, how moves weren't really recycled and used in scene after scene, it was all fun to watch.

But the scenes that showed the cityscape and country side were the best. I feel a lot of thought was put here, and the first episode set the tone for the rest of the anime pretty darn well! Though areas, like in the corner store, expands (making the store seem as big as a gym), I think this is pretty normal for anime that wants to flaunt over the top action.

If you're a stickler for animation, you may not like the drops in frames when outside of fights and the opening theme's animation, but that's shouldn't worry you too much.

The opening did great in getting me pumped and informed about what kind of anime i'll be watching, but to me seemed like Satou was portrayed poorly. While he is striving and still learning throughout the anime, he isn't as weak at the opening made him seem to me. At least he wasn't that weak all the time, like the opening suggests. I would have liked to see him have more triumphant appearances in the opening.

You might also dislike how the characters might seem like they're floating or bouncing up in down when walking, or how in the dubbed version animations seemed to not really match up with the English dubbed version, but these things are pretty minor and didn't take away from my enjoyment of the anime.


All and all, solid stuff here.




Sound:

Solid work here too. Awesome opening and ending theme that portrayed the anime in a perfect light. The changes in opening and ending them hinted that the makers were probably having fun making the series. It's like, after the fighting and testing of souls, we come back to the club room to relax and eat~ Great theme choices!

The ambiance or background sounds and music were great.

The voice acting for the Japanese, and surprisingly the the English version, seemed spot on. Though the character's in the English dubbed sounded older, everyone made fine characters.

The sound effects during fights are amazing, brutal, and realistic.

What seems common in anime, though a small gripe, is how in the English version the voices seemed sped up in order to fit into the animation. I wish that in the future this is toned down a bit so it doesn't break immersion or enjoyment.



Overall, good stuff. The comedy and how believable the characters and environment are is there.




Character:

Thanks to the voice acting, the characters are brought to life in amazing ways. Though some are annoying, I wouldn't change anything except for the changes in dialogue between characters.

Satou may be our delusional, and tries to come off as our average melancholic, main character but he's pretty damn cool. Both subbed and dubbed versions of him are great! It's fun to see his change in dialogue between the versions.

Yarizui is more stoic and battle hardened int he subbed version, while the dubbed version makes her come off as a bit meaner and like she has to actually put effort into her stunts, but she's still a pretty cool character.

While Oshiroi is timid and bullied freshman when she's not thinking about man-on-man loving (which turns her into a drooling blushing mess), she might be the character that annoys you. While the dubbed version seemed to give her a little more backbone in her dialogue, I found her hilarious in how she draws inspiration for her yaoi fanfics from the characters in the story. And my god are her fanfics graphic.

Shaga Ayame, the hot blonde cousin, is lively and goofy. No matter what the version or change in dialogue between the sub and dub serious.



I'm not gonna spoil the other characters for you, but just know that with everyone doing there parts, the anime is a gem.




Enjoyment:

This anime is one of my favorites. It's as if all its oddities, like a story about highschooler's fighting over and making groups over box lunches, make the anime charming. The humor, the struggles, all during a modern day setting! It's awesome!

Perhaps it's the sheer ridiculousness, and how serious the anime takes itself that makes it fun to watch. It's almost motivating.

I'm sure if you find anyone willing to put with cartoons, and enjoy over the top action or and comedy, they'll like it too.

It's anime like this, that I enjoy reviewing. I get to share or bring attention to my favorite shows. Sure people might not like it if they're looking for a less ridiculous tone, but for the rest of us: we'll be waiting for works just like this one!

Heck, i'm rewatching the anime now! To make sure i'm covering my bases and to enjoy it all over again!

The Subbed and Dubbed versions seem to have a change in dialogue. While subbed is insane fun, the dubbed is a little more practical or aligned with other anime based on what they say. Like being aware of the Main Character's pervy delusions.




Overall:

The final score for Bento/Ben-to,

is a 8 out of 10.

It is one of my favorite anime that I will compare future anime that want to take a crack at ridiculousness.

It holds itself up not by trying to be by the book, but trying to have personality. Be it's on tale of Trials, Tribulations, and Box Lunches!!!

This is a series i'd be willing to support, just to show my appreciation to the makers.

I can't wait to see what else they've made.




Until then, I'll see you guys on my next view!

Finally finished all 12 episodes. Now I can review it!
Despite how I enjoyed so very much, I have to give this anime some tough love.
Here we go:



STORY:


In the first few episodes of the anime, it jumped around like nobody's business! Not as bad or as far as Baccano, so be at ease, but it was there and can confuse viewers. It leaps from and goes back to different points in time. Not like a flashback, but a rearranging of scenes.
Instead of getting from A to B, you see part of B at first, go back to A to explain B, then jump back to B. ... Those of you who weren't caught up in the humor of the anime definitely raised an eyebrow.
The start of the story itself was rushed and generic to a degree, but afterwards you can feel how the episodes pretty much felt like fillers before leading up to a final battle and ending of the series. The humor, characters, and ecchi scenes held me over to a degree, but I had a nagging feeling in the back of my head saying things like, "When are we going to get on with the rest of the story?" I hate to say I felt that form an anime I had fun with, but it's the truth.
The anime can easily be compared to a twinkie with chocolate chips. You're wading through the fluff and filler, in order to reach the meaningful progression (the chocolate chips).

Now for the anime played out. Oh god, how can I explain it so you can understand what's going on.
We start off with our main character, Kasuga, Arata, waking up from a dream foretelling the viewers that he and a mystery girl will struggle to reach one another but can't. And before the two can grasp each others hands, he wakes up to find himself grasping said mystery girl's breast.
After the usual morning skit with the mystery girl, Hijiri Kasuga, and showing off how close the two cousins are, they are off to school. Along the way, theirs another mystery girl who warns him and threatens to kill him.
Aside from the death threat, the story seems to be come off as the usual anime in a town. But during the schools break time, our main character notices that the sun is black and misty, and his cousin turned out to be a fake after some seductive and creepy words as she straddled him! At this time, the death threat mystery girl appears, and explains that the world around him was "created" by our main character Arata. Once Arata remembers that the real Hijiri vanished right before him, and the fake Hijiri informs him that the real Hijiri is still alive, he immediately is able to get into a Magic Academy because wants to become a mage so he can learn how to get his cousin back.
That's the jest of it, I left out some details but nothing you can't watch for yourself. It turns and twists, but I'll leave that for you guys to happen upon.


ART:
It combines a 3D environment, with 2D animation. I found this combination charming, and the inside of the Magic Academy to have interesting designs. But in some cases it was puzzling to look at. For example not in all cases but in some cases where the 2D Characters would walk along the 3D ground, it would make the 3D environment seem out of place. I quickly got used to it though, and it throw me off when action scenes came around.
The characters design seemed to try and give a unique look to people, but the people looked d a bit off at first. Such as an oval shape glare at the bottom of the eyes of all characters. It made me think that quite a few people were watery or teary eyed, but that was just part of the design.
I know how hard it is to apply something new to anime in regard to design, as viewers may want more of the same, so I commend the series for approaching art in its own way.
The animation never seemed to miss a beat. It surprisingly kept up with the frames of the opening themes animation. Great detail and attention their.
Surprisingly enough, the characters who were well endowed didn't have breasts, butts, or legs shining through clothing, or eating the clothing. The shining was saved and given in doses along side fanservice. I commend any anime who knows when to hold back on everything being oiled up for the sake of eye candy.


SOUND:


I loved the opening theme, but it took me sometime to get used to the closing themes. It's all good though, great choices in songs.
The regular music that played throughout the anime was refreshing and imersing. It had tracks that hinted techno, orchestra/piano/stringed instruments, or just a combination of the two. And I'm a sucker for classical music that plays well with animation.
It had interesting and cool sound effects for spells being cased and used, and great voice acting from memorable voices. I think I recognized Arata's voice actor as the same person who played as Kirito from SAO.
With pleasant surprises every, and good immersion, this anime isn't lacking in sound.


CHARACTER:


The first thing I noticed, is how our main character is very lively. He copes well with just about all situations and jokes from the characters around him, his voice actor made him instantly loveable and memorable. Just like the headmaster of the academy.
Not all the girls are fodder that fall in love for the main character after an episode or three, they have their own personalities, opinions, and reactions to the main character! I was floored by this, but not so much to not realize how generic some of them were, ok?
It's hard to not call them generic when there's the easily embarrassed sex symbol, the monotone girl who claims the main character as her husband, the big breasted Loli who claims the main character as her Onii-san, the TWINS with one who acts like the biggest fan/journalist and one showing off her tits and her intentions in the most sexual way she can, and the girl who's judgmental of the main character until she's forced to get to know him.
The only unique girls I came across, was the rare rough neck girl who's tall and strong enough to break walls, who makes jokes, and doesn't act seductively AT ALL.
And the seductive ninja girl who makes sexy jokes with only a few of the main girls, and the main character.
But with all this said, these characters make the anime fun and rewatchable.


ENJOYMENT:


There's hardly anything I didn't enjoy from the anime.

The bold main character who's a refreshing breeze in this anime world led by either either cry babies, accidental perverts who get their butts kicked left and right, or dopey goof-balls.
A harem that feels alive, and not slaves to the plot.
The fanservice, and action.
It's like an abridged parody, how hilarious this anime is.
But how generic, and lacking it is when it comes to story progression, is a painful blister that hurts when touched. Even if it only has 12 episodes to introduce 7 main characters to a MAIN-main character.


OVERALL:

With tough love, I give Trinity Seven:
A 6 out of 10.
It's a gosh darn waste! The story doesn't suck, it's just the fluff standing between me and meaningful story progression.
"I would get you there, but let's go here and work our way to where you want to be." "I'll give you the information you're looking for, but... listen to me sing on stage, then buy me a drink."
I don't like having to wait for the story to continue. I had a wonderful time getting to where I needed to be over time instead of just getting their quickly, I love your song and I don't mind buying you a drink, but I can only sit and take so many detours and listen to so many songs so many times before it feels like I'm playing a waiting game.
Maybe the series needed to save up in order to make a 24 episode series. Because it's not like I want things taken out of the anime. Instead, I wanted story progression added into it. Balance out the chocolate chips with the fluff and cream. Make a kick butt twinkie anime. A twinkie anime that's made with everything enriched, and not with something set aside to hail the mindless hordes only in it for the fanservice.
That said, this anime is a good buy. Granted the makers look up feed back, and improve any other work they put out. I'd love to go to find other people and talk about the anime, or look up fan art. Because the enjoyment is there, the anticipation is there, but not the overall anime.


And until it is, let's meet up at another review.

When I first saw the name "Rail Wars", I was thinking some futuristic style anime with fighting, action, lasers, cyber space settings, and all that! Luckily I ended up half right. There is fighting, action, and a cyber space animation paired up with the ending theme. But overall, it's an anime about trains and the troubles that come with the job of working with them. No laser shooting, space ship having, mecha fights for my rather active imagination this time around.

Let's jump right in.


STORY:

The story's about following our main character, Takayama Naoto, who wants to be a train driver. He went through a boot camp ... setting of which was breezed through a bit but showed key points to the training, made three friends along the way, and with a stroke of luck after graduation is reunited with said three friends as trainees in the Public Security Force.
After that, we get episodes involving some back story on everyone, interesting knowledge about trains, and renegade policemen-national security situations!! That's right! There's catching purse snatchers, bomb disposal, saving your friend's friend from drug dealers, gunplay, self-defense and hand to hand combat, VIP transport and protection-
All of this, wrapped up in a competitive-harem bow.

As you can see, it's a pretty simple story. But the story's strong points is how they go about the elements I listed, all the way to an ending that will make all who liked the anime, expect another season.
Some anime tend to teach us, the viewers, about its underlying or main theme. Chemistry here, games there, but over here it's trains. And it's presented the knowledge in a nice, natural, and comfortable pace. I never really knew about trains and their history or the measures that are taken to make sure both the trains and the passengers safety paired with the training necessary to support both the trains and the order on and off the trains, until watching the anime. It gave me something I'll remember if I ever hear about trains or take an actual train ride. Granted it doesn't get you ready to help the crew if something's wrong, so don't expect to be some train savior after watching the anime; it wasn't meant to make you that. It just gave those who didn't know about trains a refreshing and new view of them and the things the people who work on the trains have to deal with.


ART:

The first thing I thought about the art is how the characters designs, especially the faces, reminds me of SAO (Sword Art Online). But it takes SAO's detail to the naughty bits of women that appeared in subtle ways in SAO, and exaggerates them a whole heap on most of the female characters in Rail Wars. You'll get big round breasts, butts, and legs that can reflect light depending on if the scenes in the anime wants to express fanservice, and sometimes flesh seemingly at bursting point through clothing.

You may also like the attention to the environment. Whether in the city, through Japan's mountainous areas or when going across bridges. All that you'd usually enjoy when looking out a window of a train, is all here for your viewing pleasure.

They say trains are a mans romance, and I found that to be true by watching this anime and playing a video game that involved a train segment. The drawback however, is that I felt they could have shown me the inner workings of the relevant trains more often. And so my immersion into the world of trains that the anime displayed suffered a little because the characters would often talk about the workings and make of the train but sometimes not have enough segments showing me these features the train has.

There were two drawbacks in the opening animation.
The first is that at some point the opening tried to display trains and scenes or segments of the characters in the anime at the same time. And that worked as well as some of you may have expected: the trains and the ground they occupied annoyingly blocked out or covered the scenes and segments that I think hinted the characters personalities in the background. You know how an opening theme is supposed to show you what you'll expect? Well thanks to the opening I expected trains; you can be sure of that, but barely anything else when the trains were showcased! And it's not like the trains over throw or outshine the characters, or gave off vibes like "at the end of the day,it's all about the trains". It was a just poor design choice of that part of the anime opening. They could have either eliminated the ground the trains ran along, or made both the ground and trains outlined or transparent until the scenes of the characters were finished.
The second drawback of the opening, is that they showed clips or pictures of random places on and off the train station. Some of the places they showed, weren't really visited anytime during the anime. I feel they could have toned down these, and made use of showing off the characters more. However it did give me a good sense of the environment of a train station, so it's got an up and a downside.But aside from those parts of the opening, the rest of the opening was very engaging and did great in displaying what the characters and environment were like most of the time.

Another part that I might consider a drawback is how sometimes the action and stunts (be it acrobatics and combat) were exaggerated too much and space where everything was happening seemed to expand or detach away from the characters. But I figured this was meant to show that the anime is"over the top", funny, makes room for the characters to do their action scenes, has fanservice, and to inform the viewer what the character(s) will be capable of during the anime.


It has some 3DCGi, but it's rarely shown with the animated characters, and is only saved for when looking at the train from the outside as it travels and such. So it didn't stop me from enjoying the animations.

Overall the art and animation will give you a lot to enjoy. Just know that quality for both varies to set the mood, show relevance, or to give the fan service an edge.


SOUND:

Aside from the man works the speakers of just about every single train or station in most episodes who sounds weird, out-of-place, and sometimes not even like he's speaking through a speaker: everyone's voice actors fit the characters well enough. I don't know whether the person who worked the speakers was one of those automated voices, but he sounded bad and could have been replaced by someone with a better voice or made him fix his voice. They could have added more sound effects before, during, and after he spoke to make it sound like man was part of the intercom system and not like he was a narrator or sitting in the same room as you.

I don't feel there was any concerning drawbacks in the voice acting, nor any praises to be sang. I would have liked if it could have had more realism based on what was happening or had happened to the bodies of characters (like falling down because of being jumped off of or fell upon and getting into fights), but no real issues. In the end I think that's always been up to preference, as I know not all anime will stop to make the sounds real people would make in similar situations and not everyone will criticize or even look for the realism in an anime.

The OP and ED theme really sets the anime's tone to me. Both are filled with a sense of preparation for battle, struggle and longing, all in a sense of "this is how the world is" and "it's up to us to keep everyone safe", and I love that! Especially in a modern-day time! It makes me feel like this anime could have been the mecha, futuristic, war and battle ridden world that I assumed it was by the name! But I never said I was disappointed by what it was or wasn't, and it's still a nice choice for the anime.


CHARACTERS:

What we have is our standard harem setup, a surprisingly tough and reliable bro, and a mentor who starts to favor the main character almost as much as the harem members. A drawback I want to bring up first, is that you may find some of the harem candidates falling for the main character too quickly or taking interest in him for the littlest things. But since it's 12 episodes long, I guess the anime had to be fit all this love for the main character in sooner before later, as to make for cute and valid scenes throughout the anime.

Now to get into what I thought about the main character:

The main character had a child like fondness of trains and that appealed to me because I felt I could relate to him in terms of the things I like. No matter how much certain characters thought he went overboard or told him to shut up, he would always have something nice to say about the trains as well as the characters who got annoyed by his honesty sometimes.
His drawback is you may dislike how often he comes off as weak, and yet powered up in certain situations with no reason except to look cool, get opinions of him improved, or with explanations like, "I have a friend who toughened me up and they will never forgive me if that's all I could take". Characters like this are made to seem like they're improving as people as the anime goes on, so I can put up with him being weak for a while. Other than the drawback, I still found him to be a great person, way ahead of his time mentally, as he would often put the public's safety and comfort before himself.


Now for the main and extra harem members:
First up is Aoi Sakurai. She's the very aggressive type of tsundere who has a very bad and close-minded view of just about all men, and constantly hits and yells at the main character over accidents and the smallest of things. I cannot stand these kinds of tsundere characters! Even if her aggression, mean streak, and hitting of the main character tones down the more she hears his thoughts about certain matters or sees him in action during certain situations(casual and serious). Ultimately replacing this hate and poor opinion of the main character with teasing to get his attention or embarrassed love taps. She was so annoying at the beginning of the anime that her good looks and fanservice wouldn't have been enough to keep my opinion of her dropping for the rest of the anime.
But like I said, it gets toned down to acceptable levels. She gets a lot less annoying and a lot hotter and cuter, just in time to pay attention to her back story and withheld feelings for the main character. I began to like her and think better of her, so don't peg me as someone who hates tsundere characters in the reviews I make. It's just I can only take so much of a harem member whooping the main character's butt, until it gets played out and annoying.

Next is Haruka Kōmi, the big breasted intellectual who's very gentle and can be competitive in the harem sometimes. She can also be take-charge in regard to serious situations or when she's the most helpful. I'm not going to dig too deep into her as it'll spoil how she became a member of the harem. So I'll just say that it might annoy you(the viewer) at how frail she comes off sometimes and less likely to say what's on her mind. Especially when compared to the other members. She's the real "damsel in distress" type who's both resourceful and needs saving.

Next two characters bring the "standard harem" bit i said before, home.
First is the childhood friend who not only has a normal frame compared to EVERY member in the harem, but also has an edge over everyone else since she knows the most about the main character. She had a bit of a noble, "I'm not too worried about how I measure up to the other girls", demeanor to her. And I liked that about her.
Second is the pop idol who is revealed to be the most predatory and bold of all the harem members. She would have a tone that challenged the other members to make her stop clinging to the main character, and it would be a pleasant surprise to see her pop in after her introductory episode.

Now that I got the harem out of the way, the last character I'll talk to you about is the muscle headed character that had a great sense of honor, impressive strength and reliability (except for that one time...), and who ate a lot. He also appeared to be smart and have insight on certain things, for some reason was spared from Aoi Sakurai's hatred of men early in the anime, and was a fun guy to watch. You may find me a smudge forgettable, passing him off as the ox character who was there to round out and support the main cast, but I found him to be a great addition.

Everyone else, you should watch the anime to get to know about.


ENJOYMENT:

The parts I enjoyed about the anime, was the fanservice, action, over the top climaxes of action movies, learning about trains, and the harem.
While development and relationships of characters seem rushed, I felt it was because everyone needed to get closer to each other to make the rest of the episodes that followed more valid and possibly setup for a season two. That's just how I feel though. I don't know if there will be another season, but here's hoping.
It's highly rewatchable, and is a worth while experience.

If you don't like over-the-top and exaggerated action, acrobatics, and fanservice, you probably won't like the anime as much as I did. So keep this mind.
For the rest of us, we'll rewatch and probably even talk among ourselves as fans expecting more to come. Because we're suckers for action, butts and boobies, and the usual harem setup with fun interactions among both the characters and harem members.


OVERALL:

Now to close the review so you can see the anime for yourself.

I give Rail Wars!:

An 7 out of 10.

It is a good anime. A good buy and worthy of support for either more anime like it, or to show that you're a hopeful for a sequel.

It started out as a light novel that now has 9 books, a manga adaptation, and it almost had a game for the PSP Vita. I don't know about you but a game of this anime sounds like it would have been refreshing and fun to look into, had it not been delayed for some reason . So be sure to let the makers of the anime know that they made a good anime, and be on the look out for a possible video game.

Until then, let's meet up at a review of another anime!

I really like this anime~



I like the art, the music, the character's appearance/personalities, and the action! These are the things that'll bring me back to it for a nice watch while eating a pack of noodles, as it takes me through the rounds of its action and unique art style of the people! What I’ll sing and make jokes about to myself from time to time! "Yeah, kick some butt! Show me more scenes of honor and battle! Relate to how I like visual novels! Pour more “dolls” and mechas on me! A merging of zany characters, intelligent characters, and zany-Intelligent characters? Count me in!! ... This anime rocks!!!"



But you know, there are some things I didn't mention up there, right? Like the story or setting. Why aren't they up there? Does it fall short in the parts you may like that I didn't mention yet?



Let's jump right in and find out:









STORY:



The story/plot to me, felt rushed and vague at the beginning. Throughout but not unbearably a lot, it suffered from the "mentioning all these names, concepts, historical figures, events, etc. as if you(the viewer) already knew about them" syndrome. Syndrome might be too strong a word, but this isn't the first time I've seen this setup; I assume it's a pattern in some anime.



Once you grasp what the story is, it isn't bad. It takes this historical, futuristic style anime and adds a twist that I found unique and interesting. I approve and like this.



But here's what I dislike about the story:



There are two types of the aforementioned syndrome.

The kind where everything is explained or understood naturally and immediately or in time and the kind where everything is neither explained nor understood naturally but is mentioned here and there by the anime and how it ties into what will, has, or is currently happening.

This anime uses both of these types.

I wasn't annoyed by the former, but I had to turn my brain off for the latter, so I can focus on what's happening presently and not why it's happening or what led up to it.



For example:



You start off the first episode of the series with a scene of an elderly hand resting on a table with a feather pen and a big book in a candle lit room. That's it.



Then a scene of the world going to crap. That's it.



Then a bad camera angle of a girl in an area with what looks like cloth or red debris is flying in the same general direction, and the wind is picking up speed. This is probably setting the tone of what the people might be going through; I get it.



More of this world being destroyed.



And then finally, to an air ship of sorts where you see just another day with the main characters. A stray scene of sky scrapers in ruin with no explanation about why they look like that. At some point during the middle of the episode, several (not all) characters are mentioned by name or mention their own name. Even fewer mention how they have titles, both noble and political.



Pretty vague stuff right? No build up or segment of explaining the world, what you've just seen, and who these people are. No hints to any of it until later or not at all. Each part of explanation is few and far between throughout the series.



Where's the rushed part you might ask? During the first episode, it pops up a few times about how the people we see, the main characters, don't obey the “world's rules” because these rules suppress their rights. At the end of the episode, a narrator lays it down all at once:

Humanity who used to live the sky, lost their power. What power? Don't know. They lost this power because they sought conflict and destruction. Why? Don't know. And so fell to earth “again,” a place that is both dangerous and has areas you can't even live in for some reason. And then at some point, to get back the fame and glory they had, I guess this was back when they were in the sky, humanity rewrote the history they had and made copies. Since humanity was more fond of the rewriting of history than they were of the copies they made, humanity failed to rewrite history, and this caused the copies to be destroyed. How? Don't know. But because of the rewriting of history failing, many nations’ cultures suffered. So the rulers of these nations “reinforced” relations with warlords in the area. How did these warlords get there? When were these relations formed in the first place? Don't know. So now representatives of the "far east" area of earth and “other elite masters,” whoever they are, are getting together to rewrite an era of war that lasted for thirty years. Why? Don't know. And so the world's dispatched forces, whoever they are, are looking for new conflict.

What about the rules that's suppressing our main characters? Who made them?



Sure, some of this is probably setting the tone for the series, like how people are working behind the scenes, how the world has been damaged and how others are in intense situations in this world. Sure, you can learn about what's going on in the synopsis.



But that's just it. When the synopsis tells you more about the anime than the anime tells you about the anime, you messed up somewhere.



You'll somewhat feel that while watching the series, things aren't explained enough or at all. You'll quickly notice how you get information from conversations that you either don't have enough information to make sense of until later in the series, or you'll be stuck having no idea what the things they mention or the things they name are to begin with. Despite that, everyone's talking about it and reacting like the viewer already knows these things.



Where's the devices that help ME, the viewer, understand what's going on or what's brought up? Why make explanations so sparingly?



And what's worse is while you're in the grip of the how the anime knows about itself but you don't, is that there are intense, episode-long political and economical debates. That's right! They openly have full-on political drama about a world you know nothing about yet.





Is it just me where I like the world of the anime explained,in the anime? Like its terminology, phrases, names, titles, and positions? Because there are a lot those. Or how about why things are the way they are? Just a good grasp of what led up to the point the anime starts with all the good “why” questions answered? "Why do they live this way?"



You never need things explained until they aren't, I guess.



Again, though, it doesn't rob you of having a good time watching the anime. By overlooking the vagueness(to a degree), you can focus on the current situation or current events and understand what might happen in the near future.

Its humor, suspense, confrontations, and even fan service, are all very welcomed. Even if there are some parts that progress the story because of the girl with big boobies playing a part and her boobies triggering progression because of one of the main characters’ perverted personality. I felt each element supported or complimented both each other and the characters. Giving me entertaining surprises, and anticipation and expectations on what's to come.







ART:



The art is all nice and vibrant and detailed when it comes to body proportions, clothing, equipment, and settings to me. The style is nostalgic, simple, and cute with how the noses are somewhat missing the more the character faces the viewer(you) and how everyone has big eyes, irises, and pupils.



You may start to notice the base shape of most of the human characters’ heads, facial features, or bodies tend to look the same here and there(maybe because mostly everyone is wearing body suit uniforms), with different assortments based on personality, habits, and their affairs or professions(laborers, politicians, regular students, etc.), but that's not a problem. Everyone's pretty visually memorable in their own right. In fact, if you watched the anime, you probably didn't notice until I brought it up.





Now with all this in mind, the style may not get the anime the attention it deserves. As more realistic faces could lure more people to how serious the topics in the anime are, but everyone has more youthful, simple or cute faces. So you may expect everyone to act as though they were kids and less like people in charge of national affairs.

It's not uncommon how buff or manly guys do stupid and childish things or how the younger people had to mature faster, but it is common to judge anime by its cover art. Be careful of that.



I found that the art seemed to bleed breast color and texture through mostly all manners of clothing. How you'd see the color and light shining off breasts under different shirts can mess up your understanding of the texture and the making of certain clothing, so this is where things could have been adjusted. Save shiny and round boobies for the skin-tight body-suit uniforms and not a dry button down shirt.



The backgrounds and reality of the world:

The blend of future, past, and world collapse are all done very well in the backgrounds. There may be some issues of space relevant to characters or ships, but the artists and animators had a good eye kept on it and didn't sacrifice much detail or how believable everything was, based on distance or relevance. Pillars of light here and there standing out of a world overtaking ruined cities with forest and vegetation because of past devastation breaking apart the very clouds that float into them sometimes and how light streamed through openings of the trees that branched out above in the forest-like areas or wrapped around the edges of relevant objects and people makes me want to put myself into that world, so I can experience things for myself.

And while it did use 3D CGI at the beginning where it introduced the capital-country-ships’ size and depth and some of the mecha in the anime’s basic mecha movements, fights, and standing positions, it made sure to save it only for ships and not the mecha fights or “doll” against mecha fights, which I thought were really kick butt!

I feel if they had added 3D CGI more than what they had, it would devalue the action that I love about this anime. Instead, all of the fighting and just about all of the action scenes were well animated that showed realism and avoided unnecessary movements.





SOUND:



For the voice acting, it's something I’ll get into later in the review; keep an eye out for that.





Moving to the background and sound effects.

Very spot on. The wind jetting past though those who fly, the horses and carriages not missing effects, radio transmitters’ static not overly present, the clashing of weapons, landing of blows, and firing of firearms enriched the already great action animations.

The anime avoided playing its nice choice of classical, rock, or techno-pop(?) background music unless to set the mood or atmosphere. I thought this was a nice touch, as music has a way of speaking before words do. So if your BG is chattering at every turn or drop of a hat, that's bad news.



While the opening theme stayed the same and matched the intro animation, the ending theme was shuffled with a different song based on the mood or a main character's thoughts. While one ending theme was cheerful and fun(AiRI), another sounded emotional and longing(Stardust Melodia).





CHARACTERS:



Ah man, everyone's so cooool!

Usually, when you have more than one character playing a main character role and then switching to supporting character, giving them their own roles to play along side or slightly behind the main character, they tend to fade into the background, and you don't really care about them much, right?

But not here!

You get to pick your favorite characters, heroes, and villains and see a fair amount of what they can do! Sure you may want more, but what you get is good and filling. Making you cherish them and waiting for the next time they get screen time!

Now you may not like how some characters are more fleshed out than others, especially if they're your favorite characters, and you want to learn more about them. By then, hopefully, you made it past the vagueness issues I spoke to you about before in this review. So yeah, you'll be playing a waiting game. Learning about characters when you can, without them losing charm to the more story-dependent characters or the characters that keep the story rolling.

Not a bad one in the bunch, be them hero, supporting cast, or villain and their support, if you ask me.





SUBBED VS DUBBED



There's an English subbed and dubbed version. The dubbed series is called "Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere,” if you're interested in looking at it one day.

The voice acting in the Japanese dubbed/English subbed version, is fitting and precise with moods, personalities, and emotions of the characters. It feels believable and flows nicely. However, it has trouble relating to actions or atmosphere at times. No believable wincing or enduring of attacks and blows for example.

The English dubbed version on the other hand tickles me at how mixed and sometimes down right disagreeable the voices are at times, to the characters and when the characters are conversing with each other.

To me, the saving grace of this, in the English dubbed version, is that there are memorable and experienced voice actors whom you may remember hearing in different anime, mixed with voices that sound new to voice acting. You can notice and miss this by how the acting either has fitting pitches and tones in one instance or scene, and in another you can hear how blocky and stale pitches, tones, and English phrases are to the point that they were out of place or cheesy.

The more experienced and memorable voices suffer from the misfit tones of words and the cheesiness of phrases, too, but they know how to make it work somehow. It's okay for them to be cheesy I think.



They say voice acting is its own culture in Japan, but I'm sure we can get some better coaches for the English actors. That's probably all it really needed to rival the Japanese dubbed version in how it handles its tones, moods, and other factors.

Presently, I don't even think it's possible to say, "Oh, well, you'll like which ever you listen to first. That's how subs and dubs are,” and get away with it. That's no excuse for green voice actors not being trained in these elements. I'm sure after some experience and training, they'll be great voice actors.



And what we have to talk about is that the English dubbed version explains more of the story and setting than the English subbed version! It kicks to the side some of the vagueness issues I had with the subbed version and answers some of the why questions I had in detail?! What happened?!

Who knows, just pick your poison. Good voice acting but vague details, or mixed voice acting with more detail to what had happened, why it has happened, and what's going on now. The different video mirrors I've seen, don't show much of a difference in detail through the subtitles. So I can only assume either the translation's lacking or the writing is bad.



"Oh, Sensei, we're going to the Yakuza hide out? Why?"

Japanese dub: “Because she got into some trouble, and she wants to beat them up.”

English dub: “Because yesterday, she got into a fight with them because they broke into her house and kicked her out. Got in trouble for kicking their butts. Blames the Yakuza for her getting into trouble and blames them for the new trouble she got into by wrecking a wall out of anger at getting in trouble the first time.”



I know a few patterns in Japanese grammar. How you can make profound sentences with only a few words, but whom do I blame for robbing my experience of the anime? The translators who lacked in-depth translations or the Japanese writers who wrote the anime so vaguely? Never have I dreamed to depend on voice acting and scripting for a different language to tell me what's going on in an anime.





ENJOYMENT:



And now for how much I enjoyed the anime!



I can't say that I honestly foresee any fan clubs being made about this season of the anime. Even with the helpful dubbed version, clearing up the gaps in story and history. I just can’t, and it's sad because the action, animations, mythos, fantasy, replicating, and twisting of OUR( the viewers’) history into something futuristic and original, is FREAKING AWESOME!!!

I'd love to watch this anime again any time but sadly, it's something I'd do by myself. Because the way the anime carries and explains itself will make it hard to talk about and act like a fan over.

"Hi, remember that? How cool was that? Oh that was my favorite part, too!"

I can't do it. Even if it's the action and the political debates, I can only praise it so far.



I want more.



It's not something a remake can do for me because it doesn't need a remake. It needs a sequel with these problems shaved down, but that's for an entirely different review.





OVERALL:





Now to close this review, so I can rewatch the anime.



I give Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon, Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere:



An 8 out 10.



It is a very good anime. If they let you rent the first season, it's a must rent. A great buy if it's dubbed! A good poster buy to remember the time you spent watching it.



Know that your experience of the anime depends on if you watch the dubbed or subbed so if you can choke down your rule of thumb that subs are better than dubs or dubs are better than subs, you'll get a better experience of the anime in the dubbed series. Since I know some of you, same as me, like a good story. If the story isn't all that important to you and you can turn your brain off until you reach the juicy parts of the anime, watch the subbed version.





It's got a manga and visual novel, or should I say it was made from a Visual Novel and then had a manga so if you want, you can look into those. I don't feel like reading the manga or playing the visual novel yet, so I can't comment on them. Besides, saying something like "the manga is better than the anime,” is a whole different review in itself.





So until then, let's meet up at a review of another anime!