Sukamii's Profile - Reviews

Last OnlineMay 4, 6:25 AM
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BirthdayMay 9, 2000
JoinedMar 21, 2018

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Apr 28, 2024

Tenkuu Shinpan (Manga) add

Not Recommended

Spoiler

-I will be discussing spoilers throughout this review, and won't be tagging where. So be forewarned.-

Tenkuu Shinpan is a conflicting manga, it never particularly reaches into the realm of being particularly good but I was consistently entertaining up until it's final act; at which point the manga collapses in on itself due to it's very glaring issue of little planning towards the stories conclusion.
The manga's introduction was certainly interesting, it has a strong hook that immediately introduces several core mysteries to the story that, for the first good chunk of the manga, I think it does a decent job of increasing the intrigue around. ... Those mysteries being:
"What is this realm?"
"How did Yuri get here?"
"What are the masks?"
"How does she leave?"
Now, while Miura does continue to iterate and add layers onto these questions (continuing to add more like, what's that huge ass spire? what's going on with the rail gun? or blank masks? or...?), every time we get an answer to one of them; it's always rather unsatisfying due to how clumsily it's handled. The parameters around the masks are never particularly concrete, instead of the rules defining the behavior of the masks- and the characters have to work around them, there's always a rule added, or an ability unique to a character that's able to operate around them; WHICH wouldn't be an issue, if it was framed like they were actually finding exploits within the system and taking advantage of them, but instead it's merely convenience.
Granted, these issues aren't egregious, the real problems stem from the Administrator and Supervisor; one an antagonist introduced late in the game, kills off the only mildly interesting antagonist (setting up quite genuinely one of the worst antagonist reveals I've experienced, in Juo) and the latest stage asspull I've ever seen, introducing another Deity figure who actually REALLY rules over the system. While certainly being implied, seeing this entity was emblematic of the lack of narrative planning and cohesion. It's trying to be some sort of interesting death game scenario, with all of the potential commentary on life and existence, being overtaken by the dominant story of rebelling against the administrator and rules of the game. It COULD work, but it starts shifting into this narrative about becoming God to kill God, and how each of our tortured protagonists have to shoulder the burden of destroying this realm, or pass on their grandiose philosophy on what it means to change the world, or whatever. None of the characters philosophies are meaningful, they feel like shallower representations of genuine feelings- it comes off as comedic parody, and sometimes tries to frame it like that, but simultaneously tries to pain them as genuine and worth taking seriously. Again, something that COULD work if the writing was up to snuff, but it never is.
This extends into the character writing, they're all fairly flat- all changes are minor and immediate as they have to adjust to their new environments. Yuri Honjo's moral struggle is pretty immediately addressed, and done fairly well- and while it continues to posit that her belief in other people is wrong and continuously tries to frame her beliefs as being wrong, she never *really* suffers any consequences for her choosing mercy in this cruel world. It REALLY wants to, but nobody of real importance to Yuri dies, or is ever in legitimate danger (even in the hostage scenario, anyone reading it knew Aikawa planned on keeping Rika alive). Character developments are used as more of a joke, see Okihara becoming a comedic villain, or Yoshida's utterly embarrassing fumble near the end. Mayukos feelings for Yuri never get developed, there's a single moment where it attempts to address it and then instantly drops it- playing it off as yuri bait more than anything.
Time to bring up my least favorite part about this work, and it's going to be brief. Juo fucking sucks. He's introduced out of nowhere as the "real" ""final"" antagonist, gives several exposition dumps (and functions as a means to have some) has a mediocre fight that ends in a tie, gets kidnapped, and then kills himself out of spite to try and nail his philosophy in the coffin as being right, that his belief as humans being nothing but dirty, selfish, rotten evil beings that do nothing but self serve. And then he dies a truly forgettable death. Yippee.
Next is all the shit relating to the Admin and Supervisor, and honestly it's not that interesting. The admin wants to become God and thinks it's unfair he's the only one in the realm that's not allowed to, so he's been cheating this whole time and is looking for any justification to the Admin that *technically* everything he did was totally in the parameters, and is justified because he killed the person closest to becoming God (a phrase tossed around so much it means quite literally nothing) so he should become God. Despite the Admin blatantly interfering with the games, cheating constantly, and breaking rules; something explicitly stated that if the Admin were to ever be discovered doing, he'd be terminated, and obviously never was. Despite blatantly cheating. And in Yuri's case, someone who was cheating back (not really though, since every ability she acquired was something innate to the masks, but they just said "You can't use because house rules") and would solely target her over. A position where commentary could be done, obviously missed, and just kind of plays it off as "Yuri is an evil bitch and is ruining the game more than the admin is, and I don't really give a shit about the rules since the admin was cheating the entire game. Also if you lose to the cheating admin who is comedically evil he's going to win and turn the world into hell, but you're still more evil.".
And then it ends. Everyone is still stuck in the realm, the admin is dead, the supervisor has suspended the game until further notice and they're all stuck there. the end :)
Tenkuu Shinpan's only actual saving grace is the art. With it's mixture of super detailed firearms, expressive and entertaining combat and gunfights (before characters turn into Super Saiyans), and is able to express tension pretty well sometimes. The biggest draw is, obviously, the mask designs. They're fucking sick. Sniper kamen, Great kamen, Gambler Kamen, all of them are so cool looking. Their posture and posing always reflects their character, and displays an understanding of the character and subtle characterization. Even the emotionless masks stilted motions and neutral postures reflect this, and I think Oba did a really stellar job in this sense. I enjoyed most of the main casts look too, Yuri and Mayukos school girl motif contrasting the environments brutality is never an unappreciated inclusion, and I think they look pretty cool! Rika is slightly forgettable, but I think it works- with Kuons edging him out. The other human characters though all sorta blend into the forgettable. But the masks? They're edgy, they're slick, and they look sweet. The outfits are really stylized and reflect a lot of the characters personalities, their fighting style, etc. it's sort of an interesting observation ultimately, as I always found the masks to be far more interesting than the human characters. Whether it be personality, their expressiveness, or dialogue, they always carried more of an impact on the story than Yoshida, or Juo ever could. Even the Idol masks had more going on with them in the like three chapters they had, than the fifteen or so Juo got, or like 40 something Aikawa got.
The end result of Tenkuu Shinpan is a really messy, anemic work that hastily concludes it's story with a nothing-ending. You witness a series of flat, not particularly interesting characters murder-fest their way through a series of high-rises to be conflicted with shallow representations of a characters ideologies, kills them, and moves on. While some questions that get introduced, and iterated upon get answered- ultimately there's still so much that we don't actually know. Like, for instance, why the railgun? Like literally, what's he purpose? it's cool, but it gets used four times, one of which was the ACTUAL purpose of it, which was to receive a God's code. Which is just such a waste. The only other interesting time it's used is to deal with the Great Angel. It's posted as one of the most important things in the realm, but it's purpose ultimately gets reduced to "it's got a code on the bullet. That's the only reason it's here.". Tangent over, it's indicative of the entire story. I wouldn't recommend this manga, really at all. If you want something to turn your brain off, and flick pages through some brutal gore and sweet gunfights for a while, it's worth it. But there's little, if any reason to commit to the story- since I don't think the author did much either.

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Nov 6, 2023

Fate/kaleid liner Prisma☆Illya (Anime) add

Recommended

Spoiler

Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya, what a truly strange experience you are. As a concept, it's bizarre- like a pitch someone jokingly made while on a break, that transformed into an April fools joke that the staff got far too invested in making a genuinely decent work out of; crafting a chimera of two subjects I adore quite dearly, Fate and Mahou Shoujo. While this initial season isn't anything spectacular, like much of what I have come to expect out of the Fate franchise, I won't act like it did surpass the rather ambiguous expectations I had going into it. As a work itself, knowledge about ... it is predicated on having a relative familiarity with UBW, which isn't terribly surprising but after seeing episode 6 (which is also what I would call a turning point for the series) I was far more eager to continue watching, especially since it began to introduce more, and lean into it's parent work more (while adapting those original ideas into it's own spin off work). While I wouldn't say this season wasn't engaging before this point, as I was enjoying the time I spent with it, I had become far keener to see where this series was going to take me.
So, onto the more explicit review/discussion on the series:
The bones of this story are (obviously) built off the DNA of Fate/Stay Night, so all of the characters (barring newly introduced ones), like the servants and out leading protagonist Illya Von Einsbern are ones we already know, but since this show has now focused on Illya it gives a fairly entertaining lens on the series perspective from a character that (insofar as the anime adaptations of Fate/Stay) are concerned is quite fresh, and very entertaining. It feels very obviously like a "Post Madoka Magica" Mahou Shoujou work, and while still being fairly light hearted, there are moments that it very badly wants to be a darker work- but I don't know if it had the confidence to take those kind of steps into the realm of edge just quite yet, but within it's following seasons I wouldn't be surprised if that's the path it takes. It's overall story is nothing quite so bold or extravagant, and I would describe it as endearing and entertaining but not a whole lot more than that, as the story itself doesn't demand much of the viewer. It's an establishing work that needs to be built upon, and can't be wholly critiqued outside of what it is in this initial state. In the ladder portion of the season it does lean into this edgier, slightly darker dynamic while still being overwhelmingly balanced out by it's lighthearted elements, but the seeds are there.
So, this leaves us with the establishment of the characters and how they interact within the work itself; which I think does a perfectly adequate job. While Rin and Luvias back and forth can be fairly annoying, as it only feels like it's a rehashing of long-withstanding tropes, they are far from unbearable- especially since they are far more secondary to the dynamic of Miyu and Illya, which initially is the generic "you do not have a reason to fight like I do, so I will act coldly until you crack the ice in my heart with you warmth" trope (I'm not sure exactly what it's called but you know what I'm talking about) and it's good fun to watch, especially since it doesn't drag. They very quickly begin to cooperate and develop a friendship that makes for entertaining writing, up until the ladder half of the work. Miyus anger towards Ilya is a frustrating sight, not because it's undeserved but it feels like it's trying to force the story into pa specific manner instead of displaying it a manner that feels genuine. Miyu and Ilya are both children, so lets explicate Miyu a little bit. She's clearly meant to be the overly intelligent archetype of character, who believes they are capable of undertaking whatever needs to be done by themselves, thus pushing away those who attempt to get near to them due to their believed superiority that functions as a mask for their insecurities. I don't *dislike* this archetype of character, but like, she's meant to be an elementary schooler while embodying this archetype leading to this sort of forced dynamic between the two that needs to exist for the sake of the work. I'm not going to be overly critical of it until I see how it plays out through the end of the series (as I had mentioned beforehand, trying to review a fraction of a multi-season work doesn't allow for a complete understanding of the works breadth), but for what it is, it's *Not bad*.
Onto the things I'm far less knowledgeable about, animation, music and the general sound (shit like sound effects, and voice acting).
The VA performance was very good all the way through, with Ilya and Rin have their respective VA's reprising their roles for this work, and always bringing forth their quality work, but that's not to scoff at the remainder of the talent who worked on this. I don't really have *too* much to say about it, outside of the writing for these characters, and the directing done for their voice work was just great. Their performances were easily one of the standout elements of the work, with how easily they fit into their characters and conveyed believable characters.
Animation wise, it was good! It never felt under-animated, or like it was intentionally limiting it's animation talent; many of whome worked on highly acclaimed workslike the Mono franchise, The Bebop movie, some Gundam here and there, etc. and those are just the artists directly credited and linked to the work on MAL. These artists have a fantastic understanding of tone, and mood for settings (which I could probably accredit a lot of my enjoyment to, and especially the background art done). The animation itself, in high action scenes was also really enjoyable, with episode 6 being the most observable highlight. The CG work for Ruby and Sapphire was always consistently good, conveying emotions and expression for emoteless beings was done really well. Same with the general animation, character movements never felt stilted, always having a nice flow to them, and it's indicative of the unknowable effort that went into this work, for what (from all expectations of the pitch/concept alone) would've stayed on the cutting room floor.
Keleid Liner Prisma Illya was a work of passion that brought this silly series to life, and it's left me reasonably excited to see the remainder of the work. Even if it's an inherently goofy offshoot of the Fate series, it's entranced me with it's potential for being something very entertaining.

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Jun 15, 2023

Golden Boy (Anime) add

Recommended

Golden Boy is, at it's most bare roots, is a story about love- in an absolute sense, about being alive, and having the opportunity to seize everything imaginable from it. It's a question that the show answers at the end of every single episode. What is there to grasp from this life? Simply put, to study! But not simply in the scholarly sense, slaving away at your textbooks, carving into your mind memorized passages- but in experience. Kintaro values every field of work, he doesn't see any part-time job as being above or below him, as he knows there's an intrinsic value to everything in ... this life, something to gain via the experience of working slavish hours, to be forgotten by everyone barring the people who your work has touched the most. While Kintaro is this sort of Mary-sue character, exceedingly capable in any situation, with near limitless potential and ability; to a point where it's almost laughably silly. Accidentally deleted months work of programs? Simply write the entire code in less than a week after touching a computer for the first time. Racing against a Bimota tesi 1D? Simply defy any feasible law of physics and concern for yourself and ride your mountain bike off a sheer drop. But the more comedic aspects of the show aren't meant to undercut the genuine value that's to be found here, if anything it expands on them like an erupting volcano. Hell, despite being a sex comedy with an overtly perverted and lascivious main character, it always treats the women as not only incredibly capable entities, but respects their sexuality and never reduces them to mere parodies. Their only "short-coming" is that thy couldn't possibly predict the impact that Kintaro would bring forth in their lives, and by the time they've come to recognize just how unreal of a person Kintaro is- it's already too late, and they fruitlessly chase after him to the next unknowable location he'll wander off to; all in the pursuit of seizing the wonders of life.
It being a sex comedy entirely works to it's advantage. I believe that the more sexualized energy that the show adds allows for a lot of breadth for the writers to take advantage of the situations they not only put Kintaro in, but also the leading females in each episode. Allowing them to not only own their sexuality, but putting them into these relativistic positions of power, always being fairly accomplished, intelligent, or skilled in whatever position they're in- it gives the authors this opportunity to give them their own autonomy, but personality and sense of belonging in this show that's outside of just being there for Kintaro. While yes they all ultimately fall in love with him and would chase him to the ends of the earth, they're never reduced to just that. it's a sense of mutual respect that Kintaro and the leading women have for one another- something that gets crystalized in the final episode. Plus the show is just funny. there wasn't an episode that passed where I wasn't expressing this simultaneous mixture of smiling, laughing and cringing (in the best way possible) the whole way through.
At this point, I really want to talk about Kintaro as a character. This review was a serious challenge to start, because Golden Boy isn't really a show you can discuss without explicitly talking about it's characters, or really it's only main character- that being Kintaro Oe. I genuinely adore him, in all of his nonsensical and perverted ways. He's written to have such a profound respect for life in a way that I feel like I can only aspire to have, always willing to do any job because he KNOWS there's something to be gained from it, puttering around on his beloved crescent moon- it's like he embodies a more lascivious modern iteration of the drifter archetype. Going from place to place helping whoever he can, and expecting little to nothing but a paycheck from his employer. This is embodied in the final episode, where he calls upon all of the women he's encountered for a favor at his animation job, one that I think I adored the most (but being honest, I loved all of these episodes equally). his perverted nature only goes to display how easily people are willing to take a person at face value, instead of taking the time to know and understand who they truly are, even if Kintaro is frankly so horrifyingly horny that he's willing to near kill himself for the sake of impressing a woman, but by extension to genuinely learn something from them. It's a really fun framing device that causes Kintaro to be such an incredibly entertaining character, no matter how badly he might fuck up or be perceived as a spineless person, but in truth is the exact opposite of that.
Trying to review every episode of this show would honestly be a waste of time, if the concept of the show alone is interesting for you, I would recommend it in a heart beat- just don't watch this around your family. It's still a SEX comedy.
It really felt like the entire production teams love letter to the work that they do as animators, voice actors, directors, editors- all of them. To call this show passion fueled is an understatement, it feels like it emblazoned the ideal that Kintaro as a character represents into it's very core and brought out a truly phenomenal anime. Their incredibly diligence and hard work created one of the most memorable, funny, and frankly heartwarming anime I've ever watched.
(Also as a real final side-note, this anime is GORGEOUS. I'm an absolute sucker for cel based anime, and the mid-late 90's era of anime and this is no exception. The women are drop dead gorgeous, Kintaros outfits, mannerisms, and expressions are so full of energy. It's able to casually flip between this incredibly intense, heavy black and sharp stroked intensity to really soft humanizing frames, punctuated by extreme comedy that brought out the same feeling of joy and timing that I feel when watching Monogatari. It's a stunningly rafted work of art.)

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May 9, 2023

Canaan (Anime) add

Recommended

Spoiler

(This review is going to be fairly scattered in structure and focus, apologies in advance for its structure)
The term to "see" something, while most commonly referred to that of merely using your eyes to view an image, akin to that of a camera capturing stills of the world around you can also be meant in a different- albeit similar sense; in that of truly understanding something, to perceive it in it's entirety, and ultimately acquire a greater insight, thus one comes to truly see. This concept is woven tightly into the identity of Canaan, whether it be in the more thematic sense on its notes ... about Human nature and our choices to ignore cruelty of the realities around us, or in a more direct sense in that of the Synesthesia. While a real life neurological and sensational phenom in which, to paraphrase its definition, when one sense of perception or cognition is stimulated causes other aforementioned pathways to be involuntarily activated; in a sense it unconsciously activates multiple aspects of cognition or "sense" to a near overwhelming degree in the same instance. In reality it's effects are that of projective, seeing abstractions like colors, shapes, or symbols in response to simulation, and that of associative, when the the sense has an overpowering relation to the stimuli that triggers it; and in relation to Canaan, while loosely adapting this concept by way of seeing it as an extreme sense of advanced perception allowing for a perfected subject of Synesthesia to have an extremely enhanced senses and perception, does display the opposite end, in which one suffering from Synesthesia has such an overpowering reaction to the stimuli that their body is simply incapable of parsing the stimuli overload and causes the individuals body to cease functioning in an excruciating manner. Conceptually and execution wise, while obviously requiring a necessary degree of suspension of disbelief, was done in a fascinating way. It lifts a real world neurological phenomenon and adapts into its own fiction, weaving an interesting story with it. While it can easily be seen in an ableist manner, I don't think that was the intent and merely looked at this divergence in the brain and thought of a means of crafting a narrative around how its being weaponized to create some sort of super-soldier type of weapon.
Canaan in the Judeo-Christian faith is that of the proverbial land of "milk and honey", as in it's the promised land that the Israelites would chart across the desert for forty years in desperate search of finding, and was the first thing I came to notice about this story, and before watching had been the most alluring aspect of this show, barring the character designs from the prolific Takashi Takeuchi, most well known for being the original character designer for the Fate series, Kara-no-Kyoukai, and Tsukihime (ie, one of my favorite illustrators and character designers!). It was this combination of concept and design that drew me in with a fervent desire to see exactly what this show is about. As a symbol in the show the name Canaan was a little bit forced, as she is meant to represent Siams' hope, then Alphards despair, and ultimately the hope of the people she cares about (thus reclaiming her name), it was ever so slightly corny and in the not great way. It played less with the mythology and symbols it was drawing upon and instead tried to implement them in a means that left a hollowed feeling where something far more interesting could have been.
Overall I really liked the narrative being woven in Canaan, the intrigue that grows with each passing episode builds further and further. What is the Synesthesia? How deep has Snake burrowed its way into global politics and control? What exactly is "the factory" and what happened to that village? However the answers to many of these questions are unsatisfying or outright uninteresting. For a show that wants to ask questions about human connections, and the emotions that we build with one another the characters that are meant to explore those ideas fall really flat for me. Lang-Qi was just annoying, being driven to obsession of killing Canaan- to the point that she perceives herself as Canaan was, while kind of cute in a dramatic irony sense, had no pay off for what it was trying to do for the audience. This juxtaposed with Alphard also having a similar obsession with Canaan, and the past they both shared with Siam resulted in a sub-par conclusion; with it being alluded that Alphard will never be freed from his ghost and being locked in a sort of eternal struggle with one another, as Canaan freed herself from the cycle of vengeance and Alphard being bound to it. On paper it sounds great, but the way it was handled in the show was unsatisfactory. It's the same thing with Marias character, although I feel like she was done the dirtiest of everyone. She has this bizarre crisis of faith of her relationship with Canaan, desiring to walk alongside her despite having no capability to defend herself from the world around her, and having to rely on Canaan to protect her. So instead of trying to cope with the relationship they CAN have with one another, being able to support and care for Canaan in a way that nobody else could suffice- she choses to blow herself up, a choice that would utterly break Canaan and send her down an emotional spiral she would never recover from. I understand that she was alluded to being a selfish and deceptive character throughout the show, but her choice in that moment felt more like her trying to harm Canaan more than it was to help her. It was just bizarre. I did enjoy nearly every other character though, even in those flawed moments I mentioned I still find much of the buildup to those events, and the way the story would progress via them to still maintain a grip on me and cause me to watch another episode. The side characters ranged from good, either comedically or just well written (Santana, Minoru, Cummings, and Yun-Yun) or bland and incomplete (Hakko is really the only one, I just couldn't bring myself to care for her in the slightest)
Canaan plays into my sense of humor in anime to a fairly ridiculous sense, it feels like it draws influence from Hong Kong/Mainland Chinese action flicks from the likes of John Wu and Johnnie To- backed up by some truly stellar action directing; lead by the brilliant and skilled Kanami Sekiguchi. But this portion isn't about the animation and is meant to be more focused on the comedy, which I think was blended really well into the actual writing. it was never forced, and never caused the viewer (me) to be taken out of the scene, and when it did (like in episode 2 with the taxi driver who was cranking idol music during a high-octane car chase through the streets of shang-hai) it wasn't distracting and instead just made me adore this show. It never stops taking itself seriously, but knows to not take it so seriously that I can't relax and have fun. Its my favorite style of writing, blending humor and intensity into its core without the humor becoming a frustrating and overbearing aspect; as it understands that it's telling a fairly absurd story, and to be honest any good story has a fair splash of humor in it to add some degree of levity, and humanize the characters, at least in my opinion.
The animation quality was honestly quite good, and I think the action, gunfights and more tender moments between characters were all handled with a degree of serious passion and skill. All of Canaans sequences display a bombasticity of someone who has near total control of the battlefield, and when her senses are stripped from her (only to be returned frustratingly soon after) they reflect that feeling of fighting in the dark. I don't really remember much of the music as I right this review but I do know I enjoyed it a lot.
My ultimate feelings and tldc for Canaan is it's good, honestly really good. The first 3/4s are incredibly solid in all regards, with the final three or four episodes hitting some really frustrating pacing, a lack of cohesion and direction, alluding to far more going on, and a conclusion that we just aren't allowed to see. We've taken a singular look into the stories of these characters, during what may be the most important segment of their stories, but not the one that would leave us with any real conclusions. It's definitely a recommendation from me if you want an interesting action adventure, with some depth to its characters, but just know that it comes up short and by the end it leaves a somewhat bitter, incomplete taste.

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Apr 28, 2023

Top wo Nerae! Gunbuster (Anime) add

Recommended

Spoiler

(Some definite spoilers for this OVA, not covering every plot beat but I dive into a lot of spoiler territory)
Top Wo Nerae! Gunbuster is a (to me) decidedly magnanimous OVA; while it isn't as complex as the other works, whether it be animation wise, character writing, or narratively as Annos latter works it's clear to see how this work would go on to shape the future of Annos directing- taking stylistic elements from this work and later refining them to a razors edge in his seminal piece Evangelion. Every aspect of this OVA felt like some of the most important building blocks for Eva, in ... a similar means as to how Anno would take express influence from major works of pop-culture in the East and the West (something that becomes blatantly obvious by episode 5, with the posters of Totoro and Van Halen being brazenly displayed to the audience), and adapting them into his own creations. But that's enough about Evangelion, and Anno explicitly, as this work is neither that, nor was it solely created by one person.
Gunbusters animation is stunningly beautiful, it really knows how to best implement color to set mood and tone for every single scene, warm yellow sunsets that define the brilliant and bright future that Takaya has, or the dismal and near hopeless shift to Black and White of the final episode. It conveys such a strong sense of emotion that poignantly bleeds through every single frame. Character emotions and profiles are delivered by their own pallets when inside the cockpits of their Mobile Suits.
Another note on the animation, it's incredibly well done. it's choice of style- whether it be of the character designs, with the women usually having very soft and rounded features, and the men having far more blocky and rigid designs, feels like it perfectly exhibits the interstice between the transition of the popular styles of animation between the late 80s and early 90s, but its still able to remain wholly unique and incredibly expressive. While the designs for several characters are fairly generic, the likes of Jung Freud (possibly the most brazenly named character in any of Annos works), Oota, and Amanos silhouettes not being terribly *unique* they still remain identifiable and memorable. The way each character holds themselves, and the way they express emotion are all done with a degree of intimacy that gives each character their own arcs and development.
While the OVA is at a relatively short length of 6-episodes, I feel like it was able to flesh out the stories of each character quite well; but definitely left a good amount to be desired from some of these characters. The relationships between Amano and Oota, while somewhat expected, felt fairly rushed and was relegated to the background of the shows runtime, and same wit Jungs adoration of Oota (and her subsequently moving past those feelings). But the spotlight was, and always would be on Takaya. Her story remains front and center in this story, and given its short runtime it makes sense that it would spend the vast majority of its time on its only true main character. By the halfway mark she's struggled through, and in part had overcome or had become to overcome the extreme traumas of extreme bullying, the hope that her father may still be alive and the utter desolation she's left in when not only she realizes that he's been long since dead, but one of the only people who showed her kindness, and sparked her desire for romance would be tragically killed by the "Space Monsters" on their only mission together; leaving Takaya in an emotionally devastated state that she's able to reconcile with, and overcome leading to exponential growth and self confidence in her ability, but accepts her own limitations and failures. These traumas lead to her struggling with letting go of her mission and Atlas-esque responsibility to defend the earth, and are only truly resolved after a near ultimate sacrifice and the passing of 12,000 years.
I think the story and its pacing were very well handled, as the frequent usage of extreme time skips via ultra-distance light speed travel allows for a lot of freedom in what they're able to advance while the story of our characters progresses. It leads to the story being fairly brief, but not having such an extreme brevity that it becomes breakneck and unenjoyable.
To return to the animation of Gunbuster, a segment where I'll also discuss the music, it knew exactly when to hold back (but still retain its soft style, and high quality) and when to lean so far into its budget that its animation becomes utterly breathtaking. This is in tandem with the designs of the mobile suits, the Gunbuster, and the Space Monsters, which are all so phenomenally drawn and animated that it was almost hard to believe what I was watching. The Space Monsters carry this aesthetic of creatures from the very depths of space, maintaining an incomprehensible physiognomy and biology that leaves them feeling haunting but simultaneously sick as fuck. While they're mostly relegated to large space craft types that drift lethargically across nebulas, they're so enticingly crafted that I could only beg on my hands and knees that I would be able to see more of them; and they eye-catchingly beautiful ways they would be obliterated at their seams. The fights between Gunbuster in the final two episodes contain some truly spectacular animation that evoke imagery of Asukas final stand (sorry for the constant Eva references, I can't help myself!).
This is where the music comes to the forefront, it blends a use of very poppy synthetic 80s style music with dramatic string and classical esque arrangements that are brilliantly composed alongside their respective animation. While the more synthy-music is a little jarring when it emerges from nearly out of nowhere during intense moments, they never feel out of place given the shows general aesthetics and inspirations. the string instruments however always accentuate and never distract from the moment, unless you let them which I frequently did merely because I was enjoying them so much. But regardless of my distractible nature they never detract from their given scene, only ever elevating it the way that perfectly placed music is supposed to.
Despite all of my praises, the show isn't perfect; and I'd have to say it's greatest point of detraction (which in all honesty wasn't *thaaat* bad) was how fanservicey this show was. While the moments it was placed in aren't necessarily dissonant with what would be going on, there was a near excessive focus on accentuating and showing off the female cast of characters to an unnecessary degree. It's hard exactly for me to put into words, but you know it when you see it. It always felt very intentionally done for reasons that are far beyond me, as the show was perfectly fine without them; and would arguably have been better without them.
All in all, Top wo Nerae! Gunbuster is a wonderful anime, that despite some obvious flaws, is such a memorable work of art; whehter it be in Annos own catalogue of directorial work, or in my own viewing experience it's an absolute standout that I wholeheartedly recommend!

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Apr 27, 2023

Bungou Stray Dogs (Anime) add

Not Recommended

Bungou Stray Dogs desperately attempts to be a quirky anime that tries to tell a "dark" and "gritty" story about organized crime, detectives and their interplay with a little bit of magic sprinkled in. However, the writing, whether it be the main characters, or any of the antagonists, or even the beats of the entire plot are at best generic (not inherently a bad thing) and at worst (which is the majority of the time) pedantically annoying and annoyingly melodramatic. It so badly wants you to empathize with the main character that every 2-3 episodes it flashes back to our protagonist Atsushis backstory, to the ... point it becomes overplayed and hard to care about. There's no nuance or subtlety with the character or how his tragic upbringing really affected him outside of these flashbacks, and a moment early in the season that feels empty due to its immediate resolution. It feels like a surface level justification that has little to do with the characters growth, struggles and life. For a show that's about detectives, psychology, and understanding the human being- its delivers nothing but shallow analysis and conclusions. It's boring and unentertaining.
Speaking of boring and unentertaining, the "Gifted" systems implementation feels like a half baked idea to me. On one hand, I totally understand the desire to add some degree of a power system to a story like this as it has some noteworthy potential- but this suffers from a similar issue as to what I felt like the Imperial Relics from Akame ga Kill did- there's no real cohesion with what's being chosen for gifts. It's just a power system but for detectives, with some having interesting implementations, with strengths and notable weaknesses like Kunikidas- and others feeling entirely haphazard like Akutagawa or Nakajimas. They don't seem to fit in the overall narrative cohesion of the story, and are more akin to "cool superpowers that we wanted to include" with there being no real precedent for what being "Gifted" actually is outside of apparently being magic that is somehow extremely prevalent but simultaneously not relevant in the public sphere.
A note about the characters, their designs, etc. While this may be more of a personal preference, I don't think any of their designs were all that interesting or memorable. It's a situation where each of the characters were meant to fill a specific aesthetic, but also be designed in a way that they reflect their personalities but often come off as strangely uninspired and uninteresting. I feel like I've seen all of them in another anime, whether it be the archetypes and rolls they fill, their personality, and even their powers- each one of them feels so bland I don't really expect to remember them outside of the names of the authors they stem from. Which is another fairly strong point of contention I have in regards to one character.
Osamu Dazai, the pen name for the author Shūji Tsushima, was a Japanese author who died in a double suicide via drowning in 1938. How does this anime interpret the tragic death of a real human being? By relegating much of the characters dialogue, and near every single one of his gags, to be how badly he wants to participate in a double suicide with a pretty woman. His character was first introduced attempting to kill himself via drowning in a river. It's so unabashedly tasteless, and frankly speaking its gross and was a horrible note to begin this series off with- and it set the precedent for the standard of humor and overall writing this show was to present.
Much of the show persists on an episodic format, introducing characters steadily that have a mild influence or importance to the story on the whole, and are relegated to importance later on- which I can only assume to be in its following seasons. If a character is introduced in an episode, then its more likely than not their arc will be concluded in that same episode. there's nothing inherently wrong with an episodic format, some of the greatest stories ever told have been done so in this medium. Stray Dogs, however, doesn't tell any interesting stories, or build the mystique of the world through this format. It wants to leave little crumbs of information that build towards a grander narrative, but that narrative is paper thin and I just don't think its good.
So far as positives I think the animation quality is fine, same with the directing of action sequences (however the lows for the action scenes are just rock bottom, like the gunfight in early episode 11). They're plenty punchy and tight, with the comedy scenes (while I don't think there's much humor to be found in the show) do a plenty fine job at conveying the attempts at humor and stylization that befits them- but that's not enough to carry the show, or even really do enough to help overcome the shows weaknesses.
Bungou Stray Dogs really doesn't care about its story or its characters, or even the real people they draw their names from. It's embarrassingly unfunny, bland, uninspired, and a slog to watch through. It was a struggle to force myself to watch this show, which is an utter shame as the premise was interesting- I wouldn't have considered it if there wasn't something I thought was worth my time. But the execution of the already struggling story results in a bad season. I'll more likely than not give the subsequent seasons a shot to see if they were able to redeem itself, but my hopes for what follows have plummeted.

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Apr 27, 2023

Kino no Tabi: The Beautiful World (Anime) add

Recommended

What makes something beautiful? It's a nuanced subjective concept, its something that each individual needs to explore to try and understand for themselves- to decide what is and isn't beautiful in this world; and ultimately to decide if this world is a beautiful one- or not. That, in a sense, is the core idea of Kino Tabi. While it frontloads the viewer with it's belief that yes this world is indeed a beautiful one, it's something that still required Kino to explore and come to those decisions herself.
The nature of a traveler is that of a lonely one. Each person has their own reasons for ... exploring the world, experiencing other countries, their customs, but they can't expressly pass judgment or become involved within them; as they are merely drifters moving from one place to the next on their journey for purpose.
Kinos process of only staying in each individual country for three days so she can experience all a country has to offer is more-so as a means to understand the kinds of people that live within the country, as to what it's like to stay there for an extended period of time and become enveloped in the countries customs. She only has the time to take a peek inside of the life of the people, but for her that's enough- especially so she doesn't get too attached to the ways of life in these countries and gives up on her aimless journey to experience the world.
Kino Tabi is a beautifully crafted work of art, directed by Nakamura Ryuutaro (most well known for his work on Serial Experiments Lain) really adds this dissonant flair through his episode directing. The title cards, and random mid episode cards(?) that cut that almost feel like a glance into the mind of Kino, or at the very least are akin to the world of Kino Tabi speaking to the viewer- as well as our prolific main character. That isn't to say the Nakamura is the only one responsible for Kino, as every member of the crew came together to make a really incredible work of art. It leverages this pastoral aesthetic, juxtaposed by the occasional high tech but aesthetically coherent visuals, to deliver a very relaxing work. that's not to say that there isn't any tension or action in Kino Tabi, but the grand majority of the anime has a more explicit focus on character interactions, looking at human behavior and some fairly light critique of it, and just telling unique micro-stories.
The format for episodes is usually a heavy focus on one country, or broken up into multiple exposé's of a variety of countries, or the inhabitants of them. It's an easily digestible watch, as there's very little layover between the stories that take place between each episode, but when it does it's always done so in a meaningful way. In a way it's almost reminiscent of Mushi-shi with some high action gunslinging thrown in when the situation calls for it, letting the viewer being strapped into the figurative sidecar of Hermes, Kinos reliable talking motorcycle (and arguably my favorite character of the show). Each of the individual stories is fairly impactful, and while I do believe some are stronger than others- with the Colosseum segment being probably my least favorite, and "The Land of Visible Pain", "The Land of Mages", and the final episode "A Kind Land" being my favorites (honorable mention to "The Land of Books")- but to be honest every episode is so strong individually that its almost unfair to pick a singular favorite. They each have a fairly unique structure that benefits all of them, predominantly from the perspective of Kino- each episode finds a unique means of conveying her experiences, her struggles, and her journey in a way that feels fairly fitting to that one.
I won't spend really any time discussing the actual story elements of Kino Tabi, as it's a show that really should just be watched instead of discussed with a fine tooth comb- but it'd also be kind of difficult to do so, as the overarching story is portrayed in an episodic means with little crumbs of Kinos past being dotted throughout it. The payoff of watching Kinos journey is merely just experiencing it with her, and coming to your own conclusions about the countries she experiences.
I'll take a quick moment to discuss aesthetics, the title of the show, and the visual elements that I briefly mentioned earlier. I think Kino Tabi is a beautiful anime, it's sense of style is seriously poignant. Every single episode, barring one that intentionally doesn't match, has a strong aesthetic cohesion to it. It retains this soft pastoral journey through the woods for the predomination of the shows run, all of the technology (whether it be the firearms, vehicles, or buildings) fits very neatly into the visual elements of the world. So many of the frames are just individually pretty, and I could find myself getting lost in them as I was ushered alongside the pacing of the show, only having but a moment to gaze upon this world for the first time. Kinos design is relatively soft, being adorned in darker more neutral colors- she always fits into, and even blends into the imagery of a scene, but when compared to the garbs that are worn by the inhabitants of other countries you can always tell that she's an outsider; someone who doesn't fit into the country, but is capable of blending in and staying in the background while she observes.
For all the anime I have watched, and especially amongst everything I have reviewed, Kino Tabi: The Beautiful World is an absolute must watch- and I recommend it wholeheartedly for everyone to watch. While it's pacing, structure, and action may be "slow" by comparison to vastly more popular anime, that doesn't detract (and frankly is to the benefit of the show and its identity) in the slightest. It's a truly beautiful show.

This world is not beautiful, even still- there is something beautiful about it.

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Apr 25, 2023

Akame ga Kill! (Anime) add

Mixed Feelings

Spoiler

(This review contains spoilers for, if not the entire series then absolutely its ending)
Akame ga Kill is an anime that leaves extremely conflicting and fairly complex feelings about a number of the aspects about it's choices involving characters, the plot, and ultimately it's resolution. Akame ga Kill is arguably most known for it's commitment to killing the characters that comprise it's cast, something that I feel is hardly a spoiler for any potential viewer- but I think a fair bit of criticism can be levied onto that choice. In part because of how it commits to that notion to a fault, but in my opinion ...

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Apr 3, 2023

Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka IV: Fuka Shou - Yakusai-hen (Anime) add

Recommended

Spoiler

It's been eight years that DanMachi has been involved in my life. As more time passes, the more this series means to me. And yet, I feel like an absolutely crazy person whenever I think about this show. For this review I'll be talking really broadly about the anime up until this point, and then focus on the dual part seasons as a single entity since they're essentially one XL season that can't be discussed individually (IMO).
At first glance, DanMachi is a harem-baity series that edges the ever expansive cast of female characters along a one sided love story with the dashing protagonist Bell ... Cranel. it's not that he's necessarily oblivious to their love of him, but he is never actually cued in to what his adoring femme cast feel about him; with this double season having one of the most egregious examples of that in Marie, telling him that she is in love with Bell mere minutes after meeting him for the first time. It's a flaw of the series that feels like it's never going to dissipate because at first glance, it's the series bread and butter. Beautiful women falling head over heels for a dashing adventurer who throws himself into danger just to save a single life, no matter how small, no matter who it is. It's gotten to the point that it's even a joke in the series where Bell is made fun of for getting himself involved in extremely dangerous situations that could destroy everything he's worked for, the entire familias reputation, because a pretty girl was in harms way.
But I can't lie, I'm a sucker for it.
Characters that are selfless to a fault that they would risk near death to protect the people they care about, to do whatever they possibly can, whether it be to defy all sense of logic and fate themselves just to protect another persons life is a killer archetype, but by this point in the series its begun to feel more meaningful and deserved than ever. bells sheer determination to despite every odd at play has me white knuckling my desk chair, on the edge of my seat and tearing up like an absolute fool when I saw him (spoiler) coming to save Ryuu in the colosseum. The heart touching moments he has with her as they're stuck in the lower dungeons, forced to rely on each other to a level unseen in the story because of the sheer overwhelming danger of the situation they're in makes the trust, and emotions evoked (in the characters, and me) feel earned.
The Juggernaut is sick as hell. it's design is killer, the plot weight is palpable and makes it an antagonist gives it a real edge. Juxtaposed with the previous season incredible finale fight scene, it's causing the lower levels of the dungeon to become not only a legitimate threat, but something I grow ever more excited for- especially with the tantalizing morsel we get of the lower 30s.
Ryuu and Bell have a great chemistry, I was all in as the psychological burden of having to duo some of the most dangerous floors of the dungeon was an incredible experience. I really don't have much to say because I don't really know what to put into words without just verbatim repeating the events that happened. But to be a slight hypocrite, their final confrontation with the beast that defies reason is just too good. the emotional depth brought out by two characters that have near lost their lives, have relied on each other, and fight with one another is brought out to their extremes. The coordination the two have after undergoing their death defying feat culminates in a final showdown that gives Ryuu closure for wound that has festered within her heart for so long, that the only way she believes that she can repent is with her own death. Yet Bells refusal to let her die, encapsulating the idea as to what this series believes a true Hero is (that being someone who is able to overcome the odds, to make their vision of better world come to be) this in full swing. Bell leaving Ryuu at the end to fight the Juggernaut, only for her to awaken from her moribund dream to join him, (BIG spoiler) and take the final blow on the beast that slaughtered her entire Familia, to see them all one last time before accepting the damage she's done and undergone, and seriously striving neither to let go of the past or be enchained by it, but to continue living with her sins and moving forward and living with them is just... chefs kiss, byootiful.
The Hestia families battle with a Floor Boss is, as absolutely fucking corny as it sounds, was awesome. Call me biased? Unquestionably. But to watch this group of characters defy death via sheer will time and time again has been their Modus Operandi since the get go. While a few of them outright cheat death in a manner that does weigh down the impact it could have had, and would msot definitely sour the experience for another viewer, it didn't for me. The fight scene itself was really well animated (same with the Juggernaut, and the first halves ultimate fight with the Minotaur being the best this series has had yet) is just the icing on the cake for me.
Watching a series thats become so ingrained in my anime viewing experience hit a brisk and confident stride is an emotion that feels hard to encapsulate. It's struggled a lot in getting to this point, spending more time than I personally enjoyed outside of the dungeon with a heavy emphasis on character drama, but all of this has been set-up for what's to come, and this season embodies that to a T. It's a refreshing return to form being a classic dungeon crawling experience with a heavy enough pinch of character drama to add some solid emotional weight to it. By no means is DanMachi an excellent story; it's got more than enough flaws to go around that can be picked out just by watching it. yet I adore it like no other show. While my rating might come off as kind of jarring (being a 7/10) with how much I've sung the praises of the series, that doesn't mean I'm blinded by the definite issues that are lying on the surface of the show. But by looking just a little bit deeper there's a real pearl sitting there, slowly building it's shine and size as it layers season atop season.

Also for my personal take on rating, a 7 is still really quite good, and is well worth the watch. I don't really like rating individual seasons since its far too a micro approach for what is currently an incomplete piece of art, I still really wanted to review this season and capture some of the emotions and thoughts I've had about the series as a whole so far, and this season in particular since it's the best of what's come out so far.

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Apr 3, 2023

Vigilante: Boku no Hero Academia Illegals (Manga) add

Recommended

Spoiler

My hero Vigilante is a phenomenal manga the majority of the way through, with the only real flaw I find with the series is that in it's final act- and it's conclusion feeling like it's trying too hard to be like it's parent story. To preface, I adore My Hero; it's an incredibly frustrating series that has steadily cemented itself as a fairly important series in my life, and my experience in watching and reading manga. For every phenomenal chunk, incredible fight scene, touching character moment, etc. it gets outweighed by seriously frustrating decisions and writing that weighs down on the entire experience- bogged down ... with a massive cast of characters that get sidelined until they become semi-relevant to a far more important characters development. To talk about Vigilante I think it's sort of difficult to not address it's point of origin, it's flaws and strengths- because Vigilante (for the bulk majority of its chapters) circumvents the pitfalls that My Hero standard seems to fall into. It has a very tight knit cast, it knows when and where to use it's supporting cast to it's benefit and doesn't commodify them into being forgettable pieces that are involved in far more important characters growths. Minor characters are never forced into importance, they merely live their lives as if they were normal people in a superhuman world.
In comes our protagonist, just a normal guy who's priority is getting finished with college and settling into a fairly normal life- but goes out of his way to be a good guy and help out his neighborhood deal with low stakes tasks, picking up garbage, giving people directions, and getting involved in fights that more often than not cause him to get his face beaten in, but it diffuses the situation and at the end of the day nobody really gets hurt. Real low stakes stuff, upstanding kind of citizen steadily getting involved in situations that are way out of his depth- but he can't just ignore them because it involves the people he cares about, innocent people that deserve to live their every day lives, or the place he calls his home. The steady ramping up of the danger feels in line with the characters actions, always putting others well before his own safety, not even considering the potential harm that could come his way; which makes the arc he experiences feel genuine, as by the end of the story Koichi really hasn't changed all too much as a person (which isn't a bad thing btw). He was written really solid, average dude doing above average things that fall through the cracks. He never feels like he's too important, never on the center stage of the world (up until the very end) which in all honesty is really refreshing. He never feels like he isn't important to the story, we watch his story play out and it near always feels earned, believable and all. I also love his quirk, slide and glide on its own is a really cool quirk; and its evolution being how Koichis character develops (functioning as an expression as his characters growth, becoming more bold but not stupid, growing more confident but always remains down to earth and himself, etc etc) really works for his character.
However
This all comes to ahead with my two real gripes with this manga, which by no means ruin or detract two heavily from the manga on the whole but can be really frustrating. That being Makoto, and the final arc.
Makoto being (shocking spoiler) kind of in love with Koichi feels kind of forced to me, like it's only reason to be included was to dunk on Kazuhos feelings and set up for her final arc. Which kinda sucks, since thats not even something we're able to get serious closure on, by the end of the series their relationships are left really vague; Kazuho still clearly being in love with Kouichi, Makoto (probably) still wanting to be with him, and Kouichi never actually resolving those feelings- DESPITE almost definitely having romantic feelings towards Kazuho. It leaves a our taste in your mouth when that final chapter hits with (serious spoiler) Kouichi being blacklisted from Japan and going to America to clean up his image in a sort of Captain Celebrity double moment. Imo it's something that needed to be cleared up since it's the main reason why Kazuho even gets temporary-villainified. She gets no closure and is really the only character that gets used as a plot device for Kouichi, despite their being a very definitive set up for this conlusion being set up for the characters when Kazuho goes missing. It kinda sucks, and with the ending of the series being what it is- I really don't think we're ever going to get an answer to that.
Second grips, and this is a major one.
Kouichi becoming seriously, and I mean GENUINELY overpowered in the finale. It's honestly kind of flabbergasting to read as it's happening. While (sort of) thematically consonant with the entire story, that being through Koichis struggles, letting villains beating the shit out of him, and overcoming tribulations that no ordinary human should be capable of doing (but is in all reality entirely capable of doing so) he's achieved a mastery over his quirk that compares to some of the most powerful heroes on the planet- to the point that his potential is even compared to All Might (insofar as the threat he represents, and his near limitless potential)- which is ultimately dissonant with the story. It just hits you out of nowhere when Kouichi is going toe to toe with a villain that would (and does) give professional heroes serious trouble. Making Kouichi a real hero, license and all, feels incredibly forced. Sure, he was always going to keep helping people in need regardless of the situation, no matter the danger, but he just sorta becomes a pro-hero and is far too capable. Dude safely lands a jet in the Hudson bay by the end of the story, when not even 15 chapters before he would (at most) be able to go toe to toe with low level pro-heroes. His power boost is insane, and it's justification (that being he's subconsciously become an expert at avoiding combat and countering because most of his hero work has resulted in him getting his ass beat) only goes so far when he's no longer dodging punches or physical attacks to plumes of fire cascading across city blocks. It makes Kouichi far too important for a story that never had such high stakes.
-Some other gropes I sorta forgot while writing but I want to include:
-There's a really weird pace breaking micro-arc near the end that is sorta important but is placed in a weird spot and doesnt really need to be there especially because of how short it is, but is sort of important because it helps tie back into the main series; which outside of this one moment I think it does REALLY well
-The main villain is really good, but this scene that's meant to mimic Deku being really nice to other people mixed in with sorta stealing Fujimotos snowball flow, once again, feels kinda forced. Ultimately it's sorta redeemed with le villains conclusion, but another slight sower note to be finishing this series out on
(I honestly have no idea why this series final arc ended up the way it did since it feels nothing like the remaining 90% fo the read. Could've been pressure from publishers to be more like it's parent ip, could've just run outta ideas to conclude the series. IDK and not sure if we'll ever get an answer, but there's no changing it)

But all in all, those are really my only issues in the whole read. yeah, kind major issues I know- but the ride the whole way through, and even the final arc is just so much fun. The tonal whiplash is a little much, but its well worth the reading, and the 100 chapter run up until it's relatively disappointing final arc is fantastic. it's able to cram three years worth of character growth, relationships, and life into a tight 130 something chapters. The pacing for the vast majority is super solid, the art is similar enough to Horikoshis that it feels in-universe, but unique enough that you can tell it was crafted by an incredibly skilled artist, and it honestly keeps getting better with time. There are some really great double spreads throughout the manga, but in its last third I feel like it uses them to their full potential. If you like My Hero, you really should read this. And if you don't like My Hero, I absolutely recommend you read this; the vast majority of the story feels different enough that it's not bogged down by My Heroes flaws, I honestly adore most all of the characters, and the fights are super fun. More than well worth the time it took to re-read it, and finally get around to finishing it off.

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