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Mar 22, 2018
The album, Quote, from Suda Keina is very close to being a masterpiece.
Containing the three songs and music videos of Red, Cambell, and Amador, we are brought into a world of realizations: dreams will be dreams (Red), life is tragic (Cambel), and lies bring pain and distress (Amadore).
Avogado6 does a really wonderful job at portraying the rich lyrics of Suda Keina's work through animation.
With the help of the masterfully coloured objects in the animations, we are being told a story of a path one takes when experiencing these realizations. The art aligns perfectly with the lyrics of every song. The simplicity and representations of objects
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and concepts in the songs allow the expression of vivid emotions and states of mind that you will rarely see in other music videos.
This current only-200-member work of art is truly a gem to be discovered. It is the main reason I have written this review. Hope you spread the enjoyment!
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Mar 21, 2018
*Contains spoilers of the lyrics, for those of you that understand Japanese*
This song made by Kenshi Yonezu really has inspiring lyrics. It speaks of the love life between two which has ended, to which he compares it having gone back in time to before they met.
The meaning of the title, Metronome, is due to how their lives were always in sync until their tempos started growing apart, towards their inevitable separation. The singer sings of how he regrets not saying the things he's thought of and has hope of the two being back together. It is a beautifully hopeful yet sad story.
The art/animation was
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a bit lackluster for a music video. Not only does it feel like the singer should have been a woman (or the character a guy) to relate with the voice/character, but also there is not much going on. Because of the alternating images presented being replaced by other objects of the same forms, we are to believe we are living the memories of the woman the author loved.
There is a well made English cover done by ❀ rachie/れいち ❀ on YouTube, which I believe bonifies the meaning of the song by quite a bit.
Enjoy watching this sentimental piece.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Mar 21, 2018
To beging with, Nowisee, which is intended to be said as "Noise", is a Japanese band whose purpose is to be competitive with other popular bands without having to resort to appearances or identity. In fact, the people creating the music are unknown. The philosophy behind the band is that it is just noise being produced in order to create beautiful, meaningful music about the meaning of life and the meaning of the world itself.
This is a truly inspiring 24-episode series of music videos brought forth to us by this band, with a very particular structure in every piece. The slow, calm build-up in every
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song is soothing and then the emotions start bursting once the high cadence and voices start activating themselves for an exquisite harmony that tell the viewer/listener a story they are not soon to forget.
It's rare that I enjoy every piece of the same band to this extent and I am more than glad to share my view on this really good work of art that brings together many styles together.
The previews, at the time I'm writing this review, are all available on Youtube with the episode numbers clearly indicated. The full versions are all the more exciting and entertaining.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Mar 20, 2018
The story features two personalities of the same girl wondering what love is about (giving or taking). The art and animation are very well on par with the music's pacing and the use of DECO*27's Rock genre instruments fits the story really well.
Marina's singing is also done so in a very melodic voice, dragging the words and notes brilliantly to emphasize their meaning. She also matches her singing to the beat of the song.
The song also has a very catchy chorus which is repeated with a different intonation, which follows the emotions of the characters. The build up movement from the music is also
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very inspiring. I also found that the many breaks in the song for instrumental queues to be appropriately enjoyful.
Hope you enjoy or have enjoyed it as much as I did!
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jun 29, 2015
Kakukaku Shikajika (spoiler free review)
Wow, this story is exactly what manga is about, literally and in meaning.
I've always loved how close the relationship between author and viewer is, which is what ultimately made me adore manga so much... Is this my first time reading an autobiography? Maybe, my memory sucks. But wow, to be able to live this woman's life as days went by, with her present perspective on her past, her knowledge... It's truly magical; not much else to add (jk, ofc there's more).
What she put at the end of her last volume is especially original and I felt it was
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a necessity... Such a well done work of art, really.
It is the perfect length, art is kept simple and has a signification (/reason) being that way, characters are obviously real and extremely fun to follow... I mean, reading an autobiography is something very 'curious' to do (I'd be willing to use the term perverted here, even though it's nothing sexual - maybe it's more of a French term); it feels like spying into somebody's private / personal life, but on top of all of that, to be given permission to do it... Her time lapses and the timing she shifts gives the manga this very disorganized-cute 'oh I HAVE to mention THIS; oh and this too!!' type of feeling that just makes us bond more with the author.
Anyways, in case it wasn't clear enough, it felt great, and I can't not favorite this 'chef-d'oeuvre' by the clumsy, lazy, but straightforward and honest Akiko Hayashi. 10/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Mar 21, 2015
What a rollercoaster.
I am not writing this in order to review every aspect of the series. It is mostly an opiniated, subjective review of what I felt was missed, loved, or completely went wrong. Sorry in advance if I sound like I'm a hater, because that is not what I am. I enjoyed this series to a certain extent, but ... just read it if you want to know. :T
Let's start by my melodramatic rant of a series I had high expectations of at the first half and then let's go into what I liked. You could just skip to this part if you
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don't feel like listening to a blob whine about stuff you most likely enjoyed since I'm so weird.
Kids comforting each other - not legit : Since when do kids this age start up paragraphs of comfort when one feels down? Kids don't recognize this type of stuff. It'd be Tsubaki's parents telling Tsubaki to go see him - oh and don't forget an umbrella or you'll catch a cold! It's legit when you see videos of a kid caressing another in order to make it stop crying, because it just repeats what its own parents did for them in a similar situation... Starting to say complicated words of comfort and whatnot makes no sense in this situation.
Cat dying so randomly - could have been okay in a darker alternate reality where she dies, but Arima is depressed instead of elightened. Another life he would not have been able to save. It would later lead to him suiciding, or something dramatic as such (that's how I would have used the cat dying part, if needed to be inserted, so it could actually have an impact).
Naiveté with love. For Tsubaki it's okay, but for Arima it's not. He's suffering from the same cancer almost every main wuss male character suffers from in anime : obliviousity of girls loving them. 2-3 times it happens where she obviously blurts out she loves/likes him and then runs away (hitting him or not) and he just looks at her and thinks it's normal??? Then we expect him to do something about it, but it the scene just cuts and they pass on to another day... uhm... lame?
No motive Kaori-Arima : There should not really be a motive for Kaori to force this dude that didn't play a performance for 10 years over and over again. I watched the part with the letter. He got her motivated to get into the music department... at 5 years old? I don't know, I feel it wasn't executed well; I just can't get my hands on how to express it.
Arima is a drag. To everyone - even a little friking girl. This is a trait that contradicts other people's relations to him. He's a lame ass guy that doesn't do anything unless told and it makes no sense for people to get around him in this manner. Unless he had a mental disease, maybe.
Deserve praise? For all you did for me? I don't get these words said by both Tsubaki and Kaori towards Arima. What did he do for them? Perform for Kaori after she used up so much effort that even a sloth would act faster in order to get him to do it? Or for saying that Tsubaki was not an actual gorilla and a girl... Okay, so romantic for a 5 y-o.
Attention whore. Need I mention his name? He loves being cuddled and recomforted so hard, like a cat. Is he a cat? Is this done on purpose? It completely missed the mark for me. Praise him and he scratches back (btw I love cats, just not this depressed one).
Last minute resorts - shounen phenomenon. Why? Why does it have to be last second? It happens every time Arima is performing. Why can't it be that he feels this way BEFORE performing, instead of as he is currently in session? It makes it so much less realistic than it should be...
Didn't use her death properly. They should have made Kousei learn of her death after the performance he would have been glad of. It would have impacted him a lot more. After such a great performance just for her, he would hear about her condition and be seized by the news. Also, if not this situation and keeping the same scenario that happened, then it should have ended in her repeating the EXACT same motions she air-violin'ed on the hospital roof top while it was snowing; not to mention I felt he was sad instead of depressed to get her back in the end. I think depression would have matched his extreme piano playing more for that part of the song.
There should be no confusion nor bad guys, or so that's what the author wants the image to be, but the image that was portrayed to me was not this wanted one. What I mean by this is that Arima is a complete jerk, but none of the other side characters seemed to have felt this way, except for Tsubaki that mentions it, but I doubt she really means it. She sees him as a liar, because that's what he is, but it feels like nagging from an over compulsive childhood friend more than anything.
Eliminating competition is super convenient for this series. I feel like if eliminating Kaori was the only way for the final scene to exist, where we see that Tsubaki reconciles with Arima and happily live ever after.
Inconsistent character in Arima Kousei. Instead of being depressed over any little thing like he's been all this series, he's living without any worries anymore. Actually, this is the type of feelings he should have had throughout the whole series, but he's always been so lame and curled up over every little thing. Now that she's finally dead, he manned up? I don't buy it. Similar to when he went into the hospital room. I mean, of course he has to feel sad, but at the moment he sees her, in front of him, alive. After seemingly thinking she was dead, she is alive. You'd expect a bit more happiness. But he's not a happy man... until the end when she actually dies. Idk, makes sense somewhat, but not after all this series has made me feel towards Arima and how they built him.
Their comedic relief sucks. Hard. Limited to Kousei getting lifted upside down by his sensei, thrown stuff at by Kaori/Tsubaki, or just serving as a punching bag for any girl since he's a wuss.
Kaori makes this whole story. So naturally, me being pissed about Kousei Arima is not really an issue if you consider he's just a shitty secondary character. Kaori is the one that brought Kousei back on his feet (like 5 times), sacrificed herself for both his and Tsubaki's feelings (and it doesn't matter if Watari suffers, because nobody cares about him, right?), and gives this whole story a goal.
You may have noticed that a lot of this rant is about the last episodes. I think I've said enough, but for a bonus about the whole series, I really despised the repetitiveness of them reminding us he can't hear and he sucks, as well as the fact his mother died. That part was extremely boring and tilted the series to be a lot less interesting than I had found it to be originally.
Now, for the good stuff. Even I need to admit some stuff were really well made.
The letter at the end. It was extremely necessary for it to exist. Else, it would have given no meaning to her death, after that bad use of time lapse (crap, I forgot to mention it), avoiding any sort of complicated expressions every character would have felt. And I also really loved Arima's (wow, you liked something about him afterall?) expressions as he read it, because those felt real and good.
The parallel to the first opening as Arima was performing his last piece. OH YEAH. I totally felt that, it was extremely brilliant and epic, for someone that really digs music in anime. I have not seen many other series do this so well, so I was really surprised. I also really love their soundtrack. I mean, the music they play is flawless in the "concours" and it's weird to give the trophy to any contestant since it's literally the song itself without mistakes, but the OPs/EDs and the song called "Yuujin A-kun wo Watashi no Bansousha ni Ninmeishimasu" are used brilliantly. Not to mention how great the images they give us during the OPs and EDs are.
Kaori's tears and person. She's so strong and powerful. She deserves better and is passion in person. I really loved this bright character and without her this story would be a complete mash up of Arima's mistakes and messes. So much potential and originality with how much maturity she gives off.
The concept. Music! I long for more complex series that distance themselves from classical pieces, since we already had the popular Nodame Cantabile, but it was really used well. More classical discoveries to be made and this time in a more piano-focused fashion (although I really love violins much more). It truly takes a lot of effort to play at this level and they portrayed that effort very well.
The art was well and modern (not to mention colorful, but still conservative, which I like - no pink or green haired people). Use of CGI was not overdone, as it was to mostly direct fingers while playing violin or piano. I don't dig it, but it was not in vain.
Well, that's it for my review. I am mostly deceived about this series because I feel like it has let me down, but I have hopes that this series will bring forth even stronger ones, with great characters like Kaori.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Mar 8, 2014
Wow, I just went and checked the ratings and reviews on it on MAL, and everyone is being way too harsh on it. This has pushed me to write my own review to actually be informative instead of it being all about bitching about the series. It's your own faults for looking up anime from the synopsis only. Pupa is proof that the only way to know if the series is good or not is by checking it out yourself or asking others.
I will try spoiling as little as I can the storyline and contents of the episodes.
Since the synopsis is on this site,
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I won't resume it another time. The series progresses really quickly, from [u]episode to episode[/u] because of time lapse, except for one, which most people hate (I think 3 or 4, which looks like a sex scene between siblings [it's not]). It was the only really useless episode, considering I saw it in the censored version, so all you could [b]see[/b] were the noises... Yeah, I did that on purpose. Anyways, the story hooked me up still, so I plan on completing it, although most people are deceived by it. 7/10
The characters are not really attachable, It's not that type of emotional story. The story follows the progression of, let's call them, Big brother and Small sister, who both have the Pupa virus and lived a tough childhood. You understand that they only have each other. Aside from them, the other characters don't really look that interesting at all; the rest is all about people that want to harm or dissect them, like if they were a new species (which they have become). 3/10
As for the art, it's not all that bad. It's not the same type of art you'd experience in modern anime, but it's not something unbearable, or something that deserves to be treated as such. There really is only one problem (which is relatively big) : censorship. Why is it present? I've got no idea. It's very inconsistent and inappropriate most of the time and it breaks most ties you could develop with the series. What I mean by all that is that they might censor "A" at some point and a few seconds later they will show us "A". It was a shoe. That is how I felt about this censoring... (It's obviously an example.) 5/10
The sound is pretty mediocre, I feel as if the effects were done poorly; outside noises or sfx weren't realistic, I guess they were low on budget? It still manages, but yeah... As for the music, it's okay. The opening and ending are somewhat catchy, and it's interesting that they're also short. I think these two sort of save the other type of sounds in the series before being completely horrible in sounds overall. 4/10
If I were to rate my enjoyment, which is most important for me when judging series, I'd go with a 6 out of 10. Not much explanation to do here, it's very personal. I would have really loved it is they dropped the censoring though.
With all that said, on an unbiased (no hating for what people, including me, were expecting out of it before it even came out) scale from one to ten, I think it deserves a 5.5 at least. I think people should judge it for what it is, not for what they wanted it to be. It's a short 4 minutes per episode series, so it should be treated as one. I don't think they're doing such a bad job on it either. Had it not been about the censoring and that one episode, I think its score would average 7 (or something like 6.6) on MAL.
I will end up deliberating with a generous 6 (because I can't rate 5.5, but I still tend towards a 6 more than a 5). I would not recommend this series to anyone unless they are specifically looking for a short series both in terms of episodes and episode length. You could be against my score, but that is very low on my list. I was very surprised of the score here on MAL, since people hyped it up before it came out (which is the reason I gave it a try), but I believe it is also the reason for its abnormally low score.
Remember, it's only your own faults for trying to turn it into what it's never been.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Sep 6, 2013
Shikabane Hime : Kuro is the continuation of the series Shikabane Hime : Aka. There's not really a difference in time, it just continues like if it were the same series. My review will contain spoilers - the first part of this review is basically full of my emotions, whereas the second part is a bit more objective - hope you enjoy.
This is one of the best watches I've had in a LONG time. Action (GOOD action), DEATHS (YES), Horror, Drama, this shit is straight up awesome and really, the "unfinished ending" does not really bother, since the anime has everything pretty much covered
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up, except for the victor of that last fight, which the author of this masterpiece deemed not important for the story to stay epic! Of course, had the ending been complete, I wouldn't mind saying it's clearly a 10 for masterpiece, but I still think it's a magical series.
Really though, I am maybe biased, but AMAZING soundtrack, exemplary loyalty to angela for the opening and endings - anime series that stay attached to the same artist for their songs really get to me, since when I download angela's songs, I immediately recall all of the powerful memories and emotions I got from this anime series-, good fight scenes, amazing original seiyuus (Makina, Itsuki, and even Ouri, they have that particular accent I really liked - changes from your usual anime voice actors) and it's not your typical "nobody dies even when confronted to apparently life-threatening situations" anime.
To be honest with you guys, my only disappointment in this series is that I would have loved seeing Touma, Kanechika Umehara's second (or first) Shikabane Hime (she's not even in the character section of the anime... and Umehara has no description).
Alright, so now I'll try being more precise in my review :
Story :
This anime starts off and until Kuro, the main character, Kagami Ouri, is pretty much only an observer. He is involved very early with Shikabane (Corpse(s)) and Shikabane Hime (Corpse Princess(es)), due to his ability to subconsciously (or guided by the cat) sense Corpses. Shikabane Hime are supposedly required to slain 108 Corpses in order to ascend to Paradise, according to the Kongou organization, which consists of Contractor Priests and their Shikabane Hime, which they have contracted with. The Contracted Priests feed their Shikabane Hime their Run energy through a bond called En.
As for Kagami Ouri, despite being a bit useless in Aka, he starts becoming more important, after the death of his Brother, Tagami Keisei, and we learn that the Kongou is not necessarily a good organization. Something shady is going on, and many clues are given out to the audience through Akasha, the Betrayer Priest, who presumably killed his own Shikabane Hime, Hibiki. Also, Sadahiro and his Shikabane Hime, Akira Touka are acting separately from the Kongou and are even allowed to kill humans. In Kuro, the main goal is to fight off the Shichisei, the organization that forcefully turned Homura Makina into a Corpse Princess, and later on we discover the true identity of the Kongou organization.
Art :
The art is not necessarily the most impressive. However, I can't say that fight scenes are lacking; movements are fast, fluid, clear (not in darkness and barely visible), and we sense both emotion and messages the images are trying to send us. Although many people say this anime contains fan service, I'm obliged to say it's not the case. The most you'll have of fan service is one situation where Yamagami Itsuki is binded by her past high school friend that died and had become a Corpse and during the ending animations (yeah, those are intense and on purpose, but hey, what's wrong with that? C:). Aside from that, the parts of sideways butt flesh is especially present on Makina, but it's not like we consider naked panty-less butts to be fan service (as we often see on male anime characters), especially not from the angles presented in Shikabane Hime : Kuro or Aka (only from the sides, and mostly less than half of the butt - check the opening and that's pretty much the most you'll get). Instead, I did not really focus on those scenes, and I saw mostly Makina's intensely strong character.
Sound :
Hah, here it is. This anime has one of the most amazing hype type of opening and endings, angela is really a great motivation bringer to this series; heck, she doesn't even act in it and yet her presence is felt throughout it all - her voice is simply amazing, the emotions she gives off are perfectly in sync, hard to ask for more. The soundtrack is also very good, I've got nothing to add here.
Character :
All characters in this series become important, and all are very original and bring on their own colors. I only disliked Kagami Ouri's performance in Shikabane Hime : Aka, but in Kuro it's a whole different story, he mans up and gets it going for him again (with a bit of shounen traits), but I still found it was well orchestrated. As for Makina, how can one not like this kick-ass undead zombie-type of woman; she's strong, she's motivated, she's cute, she's coldblooded, she's athletic, her voice is AMAZING, and her resolution is unmatched. I think girls will like this character, because she's different from other female leads in anime, she isn't that old invulnerable shy girl that relies on the male lead, she's the one in charge and she won't let anyone get into her way.
As for the side characters, they're all pretty great, but I want to talk about the school characters. Nosume Kasuga was intense, she got me so attached to her, Hina, the little girl from the orphanage, Mizuki Inuhiko, the tomboy type of girl from the school; I really wasn't expecting such minor characters to have such a positive impact on the development of this story, and each and every character is very different from one another; it's a rare series that will make you actually remember otherwise unnecessary characters because of how original they are.
I also mentioned this earlier, but this is one of the key points I loved in this series; people DIE. Yes, people you might not expect to die actually do, even if it happens and you might have doubts they actually died, they most likely did. If you haven't caught up on who I'm talking about yet, I'm talking about Ruo Minai and her Contracted Priest. How epic. Had this been your regular shounen, Minai would have lived, being contracted by Kagami Ouri, but this was NOT the case. Making people die in anime series makes the series so much more realistic, powerful, emotional. It's sadistic to say it this way, but it's true. Cheers to authors that have the guts to erase characters with so much attachment potential.
Enjoyment :
Do I really need to write something here?
Anyways, I could add a lot more text, but I decided I'd stop here. Shikabane Hime is a truly colorful series, and I truly hope more of these come out in the future. For people wanting to watch a serie with similar, maybe even better hype for some, try Ga-Rei : Zero.
That is all, thank you for reading. Hope I changed your opinion on this anime!
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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