Note that I'll use [] to put something that could be an spoiler, though I won't reveal major plot parts.
This was, actually, my favourite show from its year... for the wrong reasons.
I'm not even kidding.
███STORY ███
To make it short, the story is full of good ideas, but the execution is awful. Everytime Hamatora manages to do something right, making you hope that the show will become good, it screw up EVERYTHING the next episode. An example of this are those episodes where a character dies. Is pretty obvious that the director has no idea about how to handle drama, because:
1-His drama is stupid.
2-Does a good drama and then fills the screen with jokes, so the sadness that you're supposed to feel disappears.
I swear I was really mad after that episode where X character dies. I was truly heartbroken, and then, the next episode they gave me a BEACH FILLER. WHY? The characters didn't even discuss that X died. They just went to beach. Mr. Director, are you sure you know what are you doing? I guess no since you didn't do this once, but twice.
Talking further about this death topic, every death is terribly handled. It tries hard to be something shocking, but it barely is because no character actually dies when killed. And when someone finally manages to die, the death is so forced that you end complaining about how unnecessary that was.
Relating other problems, this show tries too hard to develop its characters, but fails at the matter. Uses flashback totally out of places, introducing cliches situation to force you to sympathize the characters but... it doesn't work. It's not like the characters are annoying (they're not likable either), but everytime they tried to show me the story of a character I felt like something was missing.
Now, let's talk about the cringeworthy writting. God, I really had a good time with it.
I know that friendship is something, but seriously. If my best friend is constantly trying to kill me, then he stop being my best friend at the second. Like really, Nice has the worst friends in the story of Earth.
And characters constantly contradict themselves with what they want. Let's see an example:
[Character Z wants to kill character X. Character Y knows it, and KNOWING it notices that he actually hates X and sympathizes with Z, so he wants to join him now.
Y: Dude, I feel you. Let me join your cause.
Z: Great! I'm going to kill X.
Y: What? You can't kill X. I quit this shit!
Then Y beats the shit out of Z because the latter wants to kill X. The end.
(After this, Y hating X was never mentioned again. In fact, they endend as close friends).]
And how can we forget that time when A went to drink tea with B, KNOWING that B killed his best friend? Obviously, everything had a bad end.
And let's not talk about plot devices and Deus Ex Machina. They're everywhere.
But let me say something positive about the story. The equality stuff was really insteresting and fun to watch. Too bad it wasn't handled correctly, because a few episodes were pretty good by they own. Is sad to see such potential wasted.
███CHARACTERS ███
Nice: our main character. He's actually the most powerful Minimun Holder out there and beat the shit out of every villain with no effort. Has no relevants imperfections, and to be honest, he's a bordeline Gary Stu. At the end of season 1, the urge to punch him in the face was so strong that I was actually happy with that ending. Seriously, his speech about how people without minimuns shouldn't envy the one with powers almost made me vomit. Of course you wouldn't know nothing about envy because you're almost perfect, you piece of shit.
Luckily, he stops being a bordeline Gary Stu in Season 2 and becomes more likable. But his amount of plot armor is really annoying.
Art: actually a character you can sympathize with. Contrary to Nice, his Minimun skills were totally shit, so everything he gained so far was thanks to his efforts. Even so, he still feels bad for no having a minimun, which is pretty relatable. The fact that he was a normal human doing useful stuff in a world filled with superpowers made him likable. He was even husbando tier.
Then Season 2 happened...
Art started as a good anti-villain, clearly avoiding unnecessary killing and the sort, following the pattern of a nice dude that must do something bad for a hidden good reason. Sadly, Seiji Kishi liked the character so much that thought that EVERYTHING in the show has to be related to him. Seriously, he stole all the screen for himself in an annoying way. Everytime something relevant happened Art appeared, did something cool and then disappeared, because that's what badass characters do. When he became a Jesus rip-off (like seriously, I'm not even kidding) I knew that the character already went to shit.
In the end, he became the bordeline Gary Stu of season 2, competing with Nice for who has the biggest plot armor.
Moral: he was the main villain in S1, so he deserves a spotlight in this review. I'll make it short: HE'S SHIT. Cheesy as hell and looks like a fusion between Makishima (Psycho Pass) and Ukyo (Amnesia). He's the most generic villain I've seen in a chinese cartoon, and has an obsession with Nice, probably because he masturbates thinking of him every night. Nothing else to say, Hamatora is better without him.
Every other character is irrelevant. Too one dimensional to even care.
███ART (Insert pun related to the character here)███
It's bad in Season 1, full of quality and that filter is atrocious. Animation is decent at its best.
Season 2 is a little better, but not remarkable.
Music is not remarkable either, but the OPs and ED are good. The ost of the episodes is not very memorable, though. I'm unable to recall any song.
███ENJOYMENT ███
Where this shines. This show made laugh, rage, cringe and many other emotions that I'm expecting to have while watching a chinese cartoon. I was truly eagerly waiting every Tuesday for another episode. Yeah, everything happening in the screen was a mess, but an enjoyable mess. I gladly watch this again a second (or third time).
The best trainwreck of its year.
███OVERALL ███
Only watch this if you like to turn off your brain to enjoy a show of the "so bad it's good" type.
