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Jun 14, 2016
Kurozuka was a potentially intriguing story that whiffed due to hollow characters, a stuffy atmosphere, and a confusing, labyrinthine story that attempts to provide you with food for thought that's mostly (unfortunately) made of rubber. I don't believe it's worth your time.
As is tradition, the art in this anime is pretty good, courtesy of Madhouse. The inclusion of CG is as close to flawless as possible, with one or two moments that stick out a little bit, but overall was very well done. The sound was pretty standard and did its job, although the use of the stormtrooper laser rifle sound during
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sword fights in a few later episodes was weird and threw me out for a bit. Together these create a fairly tense, serious atmosphere that may have become excellent if the story had the chops to match, but it doesn't; In fact, it reminds me quite a bit of Shigurui in that the atmosphere is almost too stuffy to let me comfortably enjoy the story. It was overdone, and loses points for the attempt.
The characters...I'm honestly not sure where to begin. Kurou is as bland as they come, and is supposed to be the generic-ish protagonist that allows us to jump into his shoes and suffer through the same confusion he does - to feel the same feelings of anger and frustration, love and longing, but most of the time he just feels like a disconnected zombie. Had we felt more of his struggle, love, yearning, desires, or past, it may have been possible to connect with him, but we received none. Kuromitsu is much the same - hollow - and the beginnings of their relationship in the first episode just lack a certain...connection. A relationship which lacks substance at its core doesn't allow the viewer to get attached to it, and is one of the main flaws of the series (and turned into a great disappointment for me, as I'm a huge fan of a love story). Had their flaws lined up to cover each other, or their stories met in the middle with a need or desire that fit perfectly, this could've been amazing...but none of that existed...so it wasn't. The supporting characters come and go with little impact other than being minor plot devices. The storyline(s) tend to jump back and forth, which is a bit confusing when you first encounter a new one, and it takes an episode to accept where you are and what's going on. That was exciting at first, but as it progresses it fails to fulfill on the fascinating premise it puts forth.
I've struggled quite a bit internally as to whether I should attempt to discuss the most interesting parts of the anime, but I really, really don't want to spoil anything for you. I would like to say, however, that as potentially interesting as they could've been, or should've been, or I would've liked them to have been, they don't meet expectations. They do not make this worth watching. The first four episodes or so left me interested, fascinated, yearning for more, and then as I watched more episodes, what I wanted just never showed up. The end arrived not with fanfare and revelation, or intrigue and shock, but like a scoop of icecream falling from your cone onto hot pavement. The icecream is your time. Don't let it melt away with this anime.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Apr 7, 2016
Macross Zero is very good, but not quite great. The series boasts well fleshed out characters, beautiful art and character design, quality sound and music, interesting storylines, and benefits from a rich universe decades in the making (though watching SDF Macross is unnecessary). It only falls flat at the end, failing to connect its numerous stories and themes in a way that fully satisfies its ambitions.
Zero is a story about the unification wars that took place before the completion of the SDF Macross, focusing on one pilot by the name of Shin, a loner with a painful past wrought from the fire
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of war. When Shin is shot down over a remote island and saved by a primitive tribe, he begins a slow process of self discovery and healing; unfortunately, a team of scientists looking for an ancient artifact crosses paths with this relatively untouched culture and bring the clash of modern nations to their doorstep.
The visuals are stunning: The island is portrayed in a spectrum of natural, vibrant colors - in stark contrast to the flat greys and garish paint applied to all things technological. The sounds capture machinery and remote island very well, the voice actors are superb, and the music has the ability to stir the heart. The characters are fairly well fleshed out, with the exception of completely whiffing on what could've been an insightful look into one of the icons of Macross - Roy Focker, but his character at least stayed true to his keywords. The pieces are all here, but the problem is trying to fit them together.
The themes here are fairly easy to see, and some are fascinating. Technology against nature, faith against science, corruption of innocence, the cycle of hatred and many more...all are interesting in their own way, but unfortunately there are scattered among too many storylines. The show would've benefited from cutting out a few unnecessary pieces and going deeper into fewer subjects.
Overall, Macross Zero was an interesting, heartfelt adventure that kept me glued to the screen, devouring episode after episode. The characters felt real and I cared for each of them, deeply for a select few. Had the show let its characters grow naturally to the end and make their own decisions instead of being uncharacteristically heavy handed, this show would've been amazing and a few steps up from where it is. Alas, here we are.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Mar 9, 2016
War in the Pocket is ok. I'll try not to spoil anything beyond the first episode, but I will say that the first half is somewhat boring. The second half is really where this series takes off, so if you're unsure halfway, push past it.
I decided to write this review because most of them are glowing and rate this short series highly, and I don't feel like there was an outsider's view (by outsider, I mean that I have never seen anything Gundam related before; I've seen various other mecha shows, but Gundam isn't one I'm familiar with). That being said, I
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don't believe I needed to know the background, but I do feel that knowing the background beforehand might have improved my opinion of the show.
The story of War in the Pocket is one we see from time to time, but it's more rare than not: The child's perspective. Children in war are typically nothing more than observers, as they are too small or weak to fight and too inexperienced to help in most other ways, so stories such as these are usually stories of innocence lost, and this is no exception. The protagonist is 10 year old Al, child of a separated family on a neutral colony ship who enjoys the concept of war (as many kids do), the big army machines, badges, guns, explosions, and everything "fun" that comes with an idealized, remote view of war. Some small bit of combat is brought to his colony, and Al happens to meet and befriend an enemy pilot. The premise is promising and the characters are somewhat well written - which makes it so much more disappointing when the backdrop of realism this show pretends to have falls short.
Unfortunately, something just didn't quite click for me with War in the Pocket. In the first episode, there's a small battle, and Al happily chases after an injured mech, which lands in a park. The disconnect between what should happen and what does happen in this early episode is never resolved, and for me it cheapened the story: No one ever comes to collect the enemy mech. No recovery teams haul it away, no engineering team clears it from the city, no search teams are sent after the pilot, the area is not cordoned off - the people in charge of the colony and the military just leave a semi-damaged mech where the public can get to it. This problem extends to characters as well. Military machinery is fun to look at from afar, but when you get close (even if it's just idling) reality sets in very quickly, as military hardware is large, loud, tough, and intimidating if you aren't accustomed to being around it on a regular basis...but Al seems to be completely immune to it. If you take a child to the gun range it won't take long for things to set in: shockwaves of air from every round fired hit your body, the noises from each shot pierce your eardrums, and it goes from being a game to being very real very quickly. These are things that most other stories about children in war seem to get right, but for War in the Pocket, it's a big whiff. Al doesn't get the dose of shock and reality that should change things for him, so the story - now toothless - falls flat.
The art is dated, but not painfully so. The sound is poor to average at best, good ol 80s. The characters are fairly well written, but don't react to situations realistically when it matters (specifically Al). The story was ok, but wasn't thought out quite enough. I enjoyed it for what it was, but I was never drawn in and ended up kinda forcing myself to watch the rest with the excuse "it's pretty short, so I can knock it out."
If you're a fan of Gundam I'd recommend you watch this as it should provide a different view than what you're used to, but if you aren't involved in the Gundam franchise at all, skip it. This is nothing special.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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