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Oct 4, 2014
This anime is disgustingly underrated. Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom is an adaption of the visual novel, Phantom of the Inferno by Gen Urobuchi. The show contains much of Gen’s dark and twisted depiction of reality. Characters are subjected to cruel fates, true despair, and most importantly the anime shows that "hope" is merely an elusive and fleeting illusion in our (in)humane world. The main focus of the anime is the idea of the perfect assassin. It is about crafting the mindset an assassin needs; how assassins are mere inhumane tools for psychopathic people. Requiem for the Phantom crafts a palpable sense of despair and
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anguish in people.
In our world, there are a plethora of gangs, mafias, and terrorist organizations. At the center of the story, the mysterious uprising organization, Inferno assassinates targets mercilessly with their invincible secret weapon, "Phantom". Inferno's goal? Bring forth a new era. What does that even mean?
The main character, Reiji Azuma (though it's never revealed if that's even his true name) wakes up in an unknown building in the middle of nowhere with absolutely no memory of anything, and out of nowhere gets attacked by an assassin. That's when his killer survival instinct kicks in, and he flashes potential as a legendary assassin. The mysterious assassin who's later revealed as "Ein", a emotionless teenage girl, and her mad scientist master, "Master Scythe", decide to brainwash and train Reiji into an assassin for their organization, Inferno. Given the name "Zwei," this once peaceful boy is now a puppet of Inferno. Drawn into a world of darkness, lies, deceit, and violence, Zwei must fight to survive, hopefully to one day regain his memories and escape from this world where he is constantly on the brink of death. As the plot thickens and darkens, Zwei and Ein seem to build a bond of love/friendship as they yearn for the truth of reality.
The character development in this anime started with unlimited potential, but later it became rather barren. At first, the shadows behind Inferno were interesting to look out for. What is their motif for murder? What's this "new era" that they envision? Then our main characters, Zwei and Ein... They are 2 of the greatest, ambiguous characters in all anime. What's their identity? Nobody remembers who they are, so do they truly exist? If they are killing others in order to survive, doesn't that make them evil? Throughout the entire anime, the dilemma presented here for Zwei and Ein, was intriguing and deep. They have absolutely no attachments to anything in the world but their own lives. If they do not comply with Inferno’s orders, they will be killed. If they fail at their duty, they will be killed. Their own survival instincts prevent them even from attempting suicide. So, it truly becomes a struggle for maintaining one’s humanity in the face of impossible odds. Unfortunately, not all characters got the development they should of gotten, and some VERY stupid "character" things happened. Lizzie (Reiji's boss) and Claudia, two members of Inferno, show up quite frequently in the anime, playing a role in Reiji's decisions on how to live. But, the anime never shows us their motif, what they personally want, and how they became who they are. In fact, Lizzie was completely dropped after a few episodes, she just disappears... Scythe Master shows up at the beginning of the anime as the main psychopathic antagonist of the anime. He is behind the creation of phantoms, and plotting of the ruthless murders other people. But, why is he doing this? We don't know. That is the biggest flaw. The main antagonist should have a back story and a motif, but nope; completely random. Another flaw that I really was upset about was the coming of age for Cal Devins, the 3rd main character in the anime. Cal was a little girl (looks like 8) that tried to hire Zwei thinking he was a killer for justice, by using money she had unknowingly stolen from Inferno. When Inferno tried to kill Cal, Zwei hid and protected her (humanistic side), but through tragic events, they were separated. Then there was a 3 year time-skip and suddenly Cal, who was a little innocent girl turned into a super smoking hot 18-year old chick that is the new Phantom of Inferno, after Zwei and Ein run away from the organization to live in peace and find their real identity. Furthermore, Cal got no background development, such a disappointment. Really in general, until the last about third of the anime, the main characters really didn't get much development at all, they could have done MUCH better.
The soundtrack in the anime was mediocre, BUT it fit the anime perfectly. All the soundtracks were sinister, and mysterious fitting in perfectly with the overall dark mood of the anime. Unfortunately for the lack of a variety of soundtracks, the anime seems to repeat the same soundtracks over and over... and over again, so it gets kind of repetitive and it loses it's suspense. I think in one episode, Canzone of Death (best soundtrack in anime) was repeated 4 times in a span of 15 minutes; that's how you ware out a song. Anyways, the opening and endings for Requiem for the Phantom were certainly unique and once again, fit in perfectly with the mood of the anime. The opening, Karma is such a neat piece of opening. The lyrics described the start and repetition of life, the aimless wanderings in search for the truth, bringing forth inner peace, and finally reaching the end. The art is same as any other dark anime really... Nothing special, but nothing bad about the art. I will mention that I liked the portayal of the precise, keen movements and senses of the Phantoms.
So, is Requiem for the Phantom worth watching? Look at the score; YES! Requiem for the Phantom stays true to itself until the very end the end. It does not opt out for any easy answers, or simplify the darkness of reality, and it manages to maintain a sense of class. The ending is truly of the saddest, most well-planned ending of all time. The ending was ambiguous, yet still had sense of finality to the work as a whole. I enjoyed it, I cried throughout, I felt a pinches of pain, and I learned a life lesson. Requiem for the Phantom is a meaningful anime, and certainly an anime that I'd recommend to anyone that can withstand watching an anime with no comedy relief, just pure darkness.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Oct 4, 2014
The #1 popular anime on this site, and perhaps in the world. But does Death Note deserve all that popularity and praise? People are entitled to their own opinions based off of how they perceived (if there were any) the themes in Death Note, and how much people individually enjoyed the anime. But this anime is definitely one that EVERYONE should watch and decide for themselves how much they like/dislike it. If you haven't seen Death Note yet, then I'd definitely recommend you to watch it, because in my own opinion, Death Note is the greatest anime made. Of course, I may have over-thought the
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"deep" concepts in Death Note that may not have been written to be interpreted that way, but I'll write in my review, facts and the way I personally interpreted Death Note.
First off the story was surprisingly simple, yet captivating, creative, and rather genius. The story is told not from the view of the 2 main characters, but from the view of a Shinigami (God of Death), named Ryuk. Ryuk's world, the Shinigami realm is boring and slowly rotting away, and so, seeking excitement and a way out of his boring, repeating daily routines, Ryuk drops his Death Note into our human world. On Earth, in Tokyo, Japan, a genius, bored and disgusted (of our world) high school teenager, Light Yagami picks up the Death Note. Out of curiosity to see if what he has in his possession is an actually a deadly mass-murder weapon, (Death Note: Any human whose name is written in this note shall die) Light writes down the name of a criminal that was on TV in the notebook. 40 seconds later, the criminal is confirmed to have been found dead. Finding out the true power of the Death Note, Light accepts his "role" in life, and vows to use this Death Note for justice; to cleanse out evil from the world and make the world a better/safer place. Light claims that he will become pure justice itself in the world. In society, some people see Light's actions as wrong, and some as right; the public names Light, "Kira" derived from the American world: Killer. Then there's the world's greatest detective L (Lawliet) who sees Kira's actions as morally wrong, and pure evil; and L believes that he is "righteous justice". L teams up with the Japanese Task Force Police in an attempt to capture this criminal murdering, "Kira" guy. And so, the epic, and intelligent Cat & Mouse game between Light and L begins. Justice Vs Justice. Who will win, and who is true justice?
Often in great literature, the main character is a morally ambiguous character who has a naive dream that eventually leads him to his downfall; teaching the viewers/readers a life-lesson. Such is the case with Death Note. Light's dream to kill all the criminals in society today, and then become the God (Ruler) of the world was very, very naive. First off, when a criminal dies, there'll be another criminal that takes his/her place, the cycle will never end: that's human nature, we're not made to be pure and perfect. Secondly, killing criminals is not the solution to creating a better world. Killing other humans, even if they are this so-called "evil", is just wrong to begin with. But what about pollution, rich, corrupt business men/government employees? This is our reality, there will never be a perfect world, and no human will ever be perfect. Light Yagami's dream of getting rid of criminals started out as pure and naive, but as the temptation of power and struggle for survival increases, the purity of his dream dies away. There's a famous saying, "Absolute power, corrupts absolutely." Light Yagami and his dream became corrupt as the story progressed, and he eventually gets overwhelmed by the immense greatness of his power/dream. Light had a bright future, and everything a teenage boy could want. He was accepted into the greatest college, as the top student, his family was financially stable, and he lots of friends/ and girls that like him. But because of a naive dream, he loses everything, his future, his happiness, and his innocence. I believe that the anime sends a message to the viewers about corruption, temptation, right/wrong, righteous/evil, and accepting reality. The apple was referred to as Ryuk's favorite fruit, and comes up quite often in the anime. Why do you think that is? It's because apple's are the symbol for temptation (Adam and Eve), and the Death Note in the anime is often connected to an apple (and when Light uses the Death Note, it's like he's taken a bite from the apple and gives into temptation). Is what Light did right? In my opinion, NO. Is Light evil? That's where he's morally ambiguous. Is Light's mindset evil, or is the power to kill (Death Note) the real evil? Moving onto L Lawliet's character: To me, L is a character that represents Jesus. He came, and served in order to protect the people, even those that didn't trust/like him. If you watch Death Note, then on episode 25 before an absolutely tragic climax, there's a scene that's the betrayal of Judas (to Jesus), which was represented by Light and L. Honestly, I may have over-thought things, but from my take of the anime, this is why I believe Death Note is a masterpiece, and perhaps the greatest anime I've ever seen.
The art and music in the anime were masterful. This anime was made almost 10 years ago, can you believe that? But the art still bests most of the art today, not in the sense of beauty, but in the sense of matching the mood of the anime and realism. I particularly liked the portrayal of Light and L. Light was portrayed as a very handsome teenager, who was bright and popular, while on the other hand, L was portrayed as an (not so good-looking), isolated, weirdo. I found that to be pretty symbolic actually. But enough with the symbolism, and onto the soundtracks. The soundtrack in Death Note is the best soundtrack in an anime, period. Not only are the music delightful to listen to, but they also fit the anime perfectly, and the soundtrack built up the suspense in every episode. Each character got their own theme song (all amazing), there were church chants (matched the mood of the anime perfectly), and EPIC songs (that made the anime so epic, despite there being no physical action). Well, deserved 10/10s.
I will not write about how much and why I enjoyed this anime, because then it would take up probably 10 pages of writing. I'll just say that this is (in my opinion and many other's) the greatest anime ever, and that everyone, no matter what genre you like, should AT LEAST give a watch. If you don't like it, then that's fine, everyone's entitled to their own opinions, but not giving Death Note a try, would be a mistake of a lifetime. Thanks for reading.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Oct 2, 2014
Oh dear Shingeki no Kyojin, where do I even begin. If you've talked with your friends about anime, then the couple anime that everyone talks about are Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, Dragon Ball, and... Shingeki no Kyojin. What's the difference between Shingeki and the rest? Shingeki only has 25 episodes so far yet it's on par in popularity with the other super long, Americanized anime. Why is it popular? Well that's simply because it's stunningly amazing. Those people that call Shingeki no Kyojin "overrated" may not have the same taste as me, and that's perfectly fine, but in my honest opinion, Shingeki no Kyojin is
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one of if not the greatest anime to be made. It's not popular for no reason.
The story is one of the most captivating stories I've ever seen. 100 years prior to the start of the anime, humanity has been on the bridge of extinction due to the monstrous humanoid Titans that devour humans. Now, present day in the anime, the remaining small population of mankind lives confined within 3 "heavenly" walls that are so tall and sturdy that even the titans can't break in. The most outward wall was named, Wall Maria, the middle wall was named Wall Rose, and the most outward wall named Wall Sina. Unfortunately for mankind, a colossal titan, one that is even bigger than the 50 meter heavenly walls, breaks Wall Maria, allowing the other titans to rampage the city, thus leading to another massacre of mankind. During this massacre, our main characters, Eren Yeager and Mikasa Ackerman watch in horror as a horrifying titan rips their mother's head off, then gobbles her up whole. Vowing that he'd one day avenge mankind and exterminate all the titans, Eren Yeager trains to become a survey corp, brave heroic soldiers who go outside the walls, into the plains in order to fight the titans. But we soon find out, that Eren is much more special than he seems, not only is he a brave warrior, but he's also something else that could be the key to humanity's survival, but could also be humanity's destruction.
My 3-word thoughts on the anime: Epic, Dynamic, Masterpiece. The suspense build-up was absolutely amazing, yet there was still room for improvement; that shows just how epic this anime can get. The anime not only includes epic fights, but lots of dialogue, and for those of you that hate dialogue, I feel sorry for you people whom only watch for action. The anime includes lots of other things as well: there's lots of half-hearted, hilarious scenes, as well as sad, tragic scenes. The anime certainly has a good amount of gore, and will break your heart frequently (if you get attached to the characters). Many characters end up getting gobbled up mercilessly while trying to protect humanity in ways that are quite *shivers*. Have I teared up in the anime? As a matter of fact, I have.
Characters was another area (alongside every area) that was Shingeki's strongpoint. There's a diverse variety of characters that fight for humanity for all different reasons. There's trust, friendship, along with betrayals, and pains. There's comedy relief among many characters, especially Sasha "Potato Girl" Blouse. There are characters that people can definitely relate with, such as Armin Arlert, who wants to do the right thing and protect his friends, but can't seem to do much because of fear. Fear is something that haunts us all, and prevents us from doing things in life. Another character that people can somewhat relate with is Annie Leonhardt, who fights alongside humanity, yet fights opposed to humanity. What does that mean? Watch the anime. Why is she doing this? Because of her past scars, "scars have the strange power to remind us that our past is real" (watch to find out more). There were too many characters to development fully, but certainly the main characters were developed to their max. Levi is certainly a fan-favorite character, because of the fact that he's cool, overpowered, badass, kind-in-the-heart, smart, straight-to-the-point, and most of all, hilarious with all his neat-freakiness. The main character, Eren Yeager is strong-hearted, and "special", but he's still not strong enough to defeat the titans. How he develops is one of the most interesting things, in this interesting-things-packed anime.
The art and music can be described in one word: WOW! The art drawings were absolutely stunning! From the characters/titans to the setting of the story to all the equipment used in battle. The characters all had a unique aspect to them. The settings of the anime were beautiful. The cities, and walls looked realistic, the plains that characters dreamed of seeing made me want to run outside to see for myself how beautiful nature really is, and how humans under appreciate the naturality of nature. The 3-D gear was something that really caught my eye, and will certainly catch other people's eyes as well. A new form of action that's never been seen before. The characters would literally fly from rooftop to rooftop slicing their swords at the titans at high-speeds that keep the viewers eyes locked onto the screen at all times. The soundtrack in the anime was epic as shit. The openings speak for themselves, they do the anime justice. The openings were epic and certainly set the mood of what was to come from the anime. "They're the prey, and we are the hunters!" The rest of the soundtrack in the anime was okayasgduyasgda AMAZING. How can one describe how amazing those German OSTs were. They fit in perfectly with the epicness of the anime, and certianly added tons of suspense to the 3-D maneuver gear action.
Of course, I may be over-thinking things, but the anime certainly included some themes while creating this masterpiece of an anime. The aspect of being confined in an area, doing the same daily routine every day. People seek to be free, and to seek adventure. Watch for this. Another theme that the anime incorporated was that of the cycle of life. Humans, we steal animals away from their families, we kill them, we eat them. What's so different from us, and the titans? The feelings of not being at the top of the food chain... Anyways, if you haven't already watched this anime and you're reading this review, then you've clearly been living under a rock all this time, and I definitely encourage you to watch this show even if it isn't your style of anime.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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