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Jan 25, 2024
Appearance over substance.
Bungou Stray Dogs has the perfect mix to make it a landmark anime: Gorgeous art direction, original setting, sophisticated plot and colourful characters. Many will agree it is in fact a masterpiece and their arguments may be perfectly valid.
However, the issue with the show lies in its obsessive search for sophistication, only to end up taking itself too seriously. BSD constantly seems to be seeking the mature viewers' approval, only to look self conscious and aware.
Every scene, dialogue and characters ' reactions pursue the purpose of showing their elegance, maturity or wittiness. However, such aspects should always be self explanatory thanks to
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clever writing and direction, not explicit triggers.
As a consequence, by wanting to appear edgy or deep, BSD ends up being often goofy and superficial.
The characters suffer from this approach and turn out to be quite one dimensional. Rather than being created for the purpose of the story, they seem to exist to fill out preexisting roles around which the plot was only built afterwards.
Moreover, they keep the obnoxious habit of serving vague and philosophical monologs without getting to a specific point. Characters seem to be listening to themselves and trying to appear as tragic as possible rather than advancing the story.
The result is a mountain of clichés served at every sauce depending on the character's uprising.
The production keeps stressing the viewers about how sorry they should feel for the character. This approach is very reminiscent of a Shrek scene where the executioner tells the crowd how to react with a signboard.
Nevertheless, Bungou Stray Dogs remains a quality show. Such critic is worth because of its potential and undeniable quality. The art is a feast for the eyes, the pace is excellent, the plot is clever and its OP & ED are some of the best in the industry.
This only increases the frustration of witnessing a show trying too hard to achieve a certain image or effect.
BSD would have gained to trust itself more and go fully onward without any compromise. The lasting impression is of a show which found an original idea but could not completely let go of certain codes and tools.
This glass ceiling separates great animes from legendary ones. BSD is an interesting anime, possibly a hidden gem. But as a diamond in the rough, it now needs to be polished. Its narration ironically lacks the sophistication it desperately seeks.
BSD need to understand it will only get this image through a thoughtful and patient story telling.
There is elegance in simplicity, it may not be too late to level dialogues and characters and leave them more freedom. It could offer a nice contrast with the already complexed and well written plot.
As it is BSD have solid foundations and obvious passion poured in its story. It is already a promising start.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Oct 12, 2023
There are a few shows I will claim to be proud of watching. In/ Spectre is one of them, as I am happy of
not having let its poor ratings stand in the way of giving it a chance.
In/ Spectre is not an underrated anime, it is a misunderstood one. It seems it was expected to follow the trend of spectacular demons fights in the line of other recent successful shonen.
However In/ Spectre has a very elegant and original take on the yokai theme, one not explored yet. Not the fighting approach mentioned above, nor the emotional one tackled in other acclaimed animes.
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Indeed, In/ Spectre focuses on helping yokai by solving mysteries with the sheer power of logic and deduction.
As such, poorly written characters would have been unfit to carry the sophisticated themes tackled. Starting with a simple but important step: their age. Do not expect for the usual colourful or overemotional teenagers, but rather mature young adults capable of thinking over acting. It may be a trivial detail, but it sets the level of complexity to be expected from these characters. Each one of them has his or her personal baggage which are linked to the plot. Past relationships and trauma define their way to tackle the existence of yokai and solving their mysteries by the same occasion.
The role of detective and main character is brilliantly fulfilled by Kotoko Iwanaga. Behind her youthful looks and clingy girlfriend tendencies are in fact hidden overwhelming intellect and maturity due to her role and respected status within the yokai community. On the opposite, the older and seemingly more composed Saki, already working as a police officer, actually hides an unresolved lack of confidence and acceptance towards the existence of yokai. These two female characters, both revolving around the main male character Kuro, are the perfect illustrations that people are not what they seem.
Finally, Kuro is probably the most mysterious character alongside Rikka, the antagonist. This make perfect sense since they both got the closest encounters and trauma experiences with yokai during their childhood, deeply affecting them more than any other characters. As such, their closeness with the unexplainable logically make them both unpredictable and hard to read through our normal human eyes.
These complexed characters are of all satisfyingly tied with personal relationships. Saki is Kuro's former girlfriend, Kotoko is his current love interest and Rikka, with whom he share the same past trauma and doom fate, his eternal childhool love but nemesis. Well written characters all tied up together with an emotional background. The simple but difficult combination, In/ Spectre managed to achieve it thanks to a clever and thoughtful writing.
The art is one of my favourite. The characters are beautifully drawn with finesse, reminding me a lot of the Chinese animes. Generally speaking, it is clean and elegant. Although I was a bit disappointed with the yokai designs, which turned out to be a bit childish and overly simplistic. A bit more thoughts in their designs would have been welcomed and on pair with the show's complexity. However, since spectacular fights are not the point of the anime, spectacular designs for the yokai were hardly the priority.
Finally, the writing has to be put under the spotlight. In/ Spectre decided to go for the detective solving mystery approach, which is already an original take for a story centered around the supernatural. However, the approach itself is original, since In/ Spectre applies a reversed logic. Indeed, the purpose is to demystify a legend with an even bigger lie in order for the Yokai to be left alone and live in peace. Such method requires of course to find the truth, but only as a mean to build a logical and relatable tale to erase the previous but more dangerous one. The supernatural feeds on rumours and folklore, the purpose is then to build a harmless one over the dangerous preexisting one.
I find this storytelling fascinating as it implements a logic and common sense specific to the Yokai world. The supernatural has its own logical foundations, opposite and hardly understandable to the livings. They need to be taken into consideration for the characters to succeed and get closer to the truth.
Final note, the first season has the classical are dragging role of introducing us to the world and the story's structure. The complicated above mentioned elements do not make it any easier to understand and enjoy the show. However, getting past these adjustments will enable to experience an intellectually challenging story, likeable characters and clean designs. I only hope the producers and viewers will be patient enough to make it possible for the anime to get following seasons. In/ Spectre has undeniable quality, it would be a pity to not see it through now the most difficult part is behind.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Sep 29, 2023
A class of its own.
There is the big 3. Naruto and Bleach had their share of the spotlights. Now One Piece seems to be sailing under the sun.
And then there is Gintama. Unrankable, incomparable, unpredictable, hilarious, timeless Gintama. Gintama takes the best of all animes. Comedy, parody, slice of life, drama, period, science-fiction, tragedy and even romance... Gintama is truly a jack of all trades. Only this time master of all.
As an anime lover, Gintama is a must-watch. It is not part of the big 3, it is far more than that. It truly is, the
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greatest anime of all time.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Aug 3, 2023
This review applies to the rest of the series.
The Monogotari series may be one of the best supernatural anime entertainment to be experienced. Few other shows will make folklore appear so alive.
However, Monogotari with its first season “Bake” suffers from a slow start and requires time to adjust to its particular nature. However, once the viewer gets in tune with it, the series will only get better to a point of addiction.
Narration. This one word seems to sum up the essence of the series. What seem like a bundle of random stories and excruciating long dialogues at first reveal
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themselves as carefully placed pieces on a giant puzzle to be unfolded later on. Nothing is left to hasard, not a single dialogue doesn’t serve a purpose. The plot will reveal itself little by little, season by season, gradually making shocking sense of what seemed like utter non sense at first.
If narration is the core of Monogotari, characters are its body. As his name almost suggests it, Araragi is a quirky main character. Both naive and cynic, innocent and pervert, kind and wicked. This mix of opposites contributes to a relatable and believable character rather than a scripted one. Thus, when he eventually ends up “doing the right thing” and putting his life on the line, it doesn’t feel annoyingly unrelatable.
Despite all of his quirks, the MC has the necessary bland personality to avoid stealing the spotlight and enable the side characters to shine through his eyes. Quite literally. Each one one of them, who is purposely a female one, has been carefully written with a unique backstory. Not one of them is predictable, making each interaction a unique and memorable exchange. Monogotari has made romantic ships an essential component of its nature and doesn’t try to shy away from it. Any ship the viewer may fancy has a good chance to be canon or at least be presented as a possibility.
As a result, every single female character is indeed a possible love interest. In terms of execution, Monogotari doesn’t hesitate to push the boundaries of these relationships, often creating supernatural situations flirting with taboo concepts. However it is never achieved in a crude way, but rather always with a lightly insane poetic ton.
Unique storytelling and intriguing characters can only make for a memorable story. A story which only appears as a quirky slice of life at first. Monogotari isn’t clueless and pointless as it appears, it has a true story to share, an epic tale of modern mythology where Araragi will play the role of the contemporary Hercules or Thor. As mystery is a key element for the plot, it wouldn’t be serving the viewers’ best interest to share anything in that regards.
To sum it up in an inelegant manner, Monogotari is more than a anime about the supernatural, it is a supernatural anime.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Jun 10, 2023
A masterpiece of randomness.
Arakawa Under the Bridge is hard to grasp at first. The storytelling and the plot are quite original. But looking past them, or rather learning to enjoy them, Arakawa quickly becomes one of these feel good comforting shows.
The strength of the anime is in its characters. A bunch of society rejects living under a bridge with top tier voice acting. Each character is unique, unpredictable, well written and inevitably hilarious. Each one has unique quirks, an interesting past and is completely detached to anything with a sense of logic. The voice actors help a lot with a few coming from Gintama.
The
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result is an absolutely non-sense but hilarious show. We see these characters' madness through the MC's eye, Rec. A rational and logical corporate genius whose motto in life is to never be indebted to anyone. Because his life was saved by a girl named Nino, he needs to repay her by joining her and the inhabitants under the bridge. Therefore he has the boring but essential role of being the voice of reason highlighting the other characters' traits brilliantly.
Which leads us to the romance part. The romance plays a secondary role and is therefore very light. By the end of the show, there is no doubt there is strong romance, but it will be hard to point out a defining moment. And that's the brilliance of it. It does not feel scripted, but rather follows the natural pace of life under the bridge.
In the role of the romantic interest, Nino is probably one of the most lovable character out there. Easily distracted, easy going and never unfazed by anything, she's a breath of fresh air. As for Rec, discovering life in Arakawa and slowly letting its inhabitants grow on him also take priority over the romance. It's always there but never overwhelming.
Through its complete lack of sense of reality, Arakawa is ironically one of the most realistic rom-com anime. A true hidden gem.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Aug 27, 2022
No need for superpowers, Baseball is already epic enough.
Ace No Diamond achieved the subtle performance of remaining technical and grounded without losing the viewers attention. We don't feel like we are being treated like idiots and rather enjoy becoming Baseball experts throughout the show. One of DNA's strengh is they keep the story very realistic. Which makes it very difficult to predict whether the MC will deliver or not. He eventually will (I presume), it is a sport shonen after all. But the storytelling is efficient to a point of rendering his progress unpredictable.
Since I mentionned the MC, let's have a closer look at
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him. At first glance Sawamura may seem like the regular loud generic shonen underdog. Which he kind of is. However, his abilities as a pitcher aiming to become the Ace are what make him more complexed than he seems. As the spectators are often taken aback and can't really put a finger on Sawamura's talent, so are we. After completing almost 3 seasons, I am still unable to tell exactly what makes Sawamura such a good pitcher. But I know he is, we can just feel how special he is. Which makes us even more eager to see how his progress will unfold.
Sawamura's complexities in his game make a very funny contrast with his rather simpled minded and straighforward personnality. Which is the opposite of his rival competing for the same position. Furuya is an overpowerfull and straighforward pitcher acclaimed by the whole country. And yet he has the social skills of a toddler and suffers with the immense pressure overtalented players put on themselves. These few examples just show how well written and complexed the characters are, giving a very realistic insight on what Baseball highschoolers in Japan may go through. The final product is a very relatable team we almost forget is fictional and meant to serve the plot. It almost feels like one of these Netflix documentories in the dailylife of a sports team.
Finally I must emphasise the show's secret weapon: an absolute smashing banging soundtrack. I have not experienced such an epic soundtrack since Naruto. Even though the playlist is pretty limited, the music is just too good. Its timing during a game to make Sawamura's moments pure adrenaline shots are the show's trademark. Nothing original, but perfectly delivered. Sometimes, it is best not trying to invent something and rather do simple things right. DNA understood it perfectly.
As it is a sports anime, it is difficult to give it the maxium note. It eventually ends up being repetitive with the game after game format. The show sometimes pays its realism by throwing too much intel, dedicating sometimes a whole episode about a game between teams we don't care about. Which leads me to DNA's main weakness. As a baseball anime, it ironically has almost too much baseball. As an anime viewer, a few moments of breathers between games to dive in the character's lives and struggles could have been well needed to catch a break. We are limited to baseball pitches, training grounds and sometimes the highschool corridors and classrooms, which sometimes feels a bit frustrating.
These few setbacks are the price DNA decided to pay to keep the anime away from any non sense and treat us to some quality Baseball actions. Besides, Sawamura's goal is so crystal clear, it will quickly become the only thing you care about. In its genre, DNA nailed every aspect making a sports anime a great enjoyement. I can only recommend it, especially if you don't know a hoot about Baseball.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Feb 21, 2022
Do not get mistaken by the suprisingly low rating. This is a 5 stars anime. For the simple reason that Bai Yao Pu did simples things right: Clean art, a setting which makes sense, good pacing, attention given to every single episode and authentic characters.
Bai Yao Pu isn't action packed nor does it have a general arc. However it doesn't need to since it tells stories so well it will leave you craving for the next episode. It may give you an athmosphere similar to "Violet Evergarden" . With a very different female MC but equally likable.
Usually I am not a fan of the episodical
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arcs format. But the last scene may gives us something for season 2. If it doesn't I do not care too much. If the quality matches this season I will be very glad.
I prefer taking a break between 2 seasons and watch a different genre. But not this time. I gave it a 10 because I do not find the overall rating reflects the quality of this anime. So far it is the show I've enjoyed the most in 2022.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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