Monochrome Factor

If this show were a video game it would be terrible. Thank your Wii's it's not. Basically the story revolves around a typical guy, Akira, as he and his friends try to stop the onslaught of "Kokuchi" or shadow monsters from invading Japan and ultimately the world. As you can guess, it can get pretty repetitive. That's not to say, however, that you won't enjoy it, as humor seems to substitute for plot most of the time, which, in this case was a good thing.

Story- 4

Let me first say the pacing of this anime was awful. As a ... common rule enemies are supposed to get stronger as the show goes on, but halfway through it I realized that nothing was going to change- thus my video game analogy. Sure, there's plenty of action to go around if you're okay with transformation sequences longer than the actual battle. There were a few interesting battles scenes though the enemies were very, very generic.

Like I said humor plays a very big role. Expect to laugh even when Akira is slicing and dicing some Kokuchi. Unfortunately, the humor does nothing to further the plot of the anime, though it does make up for it. You would hardly guess that it was time for the finale to come around because of an utterly humorous go-lucky ending from the episode before it, which again is due to horrible pacing. Luckily, the story, when it finally did pick up, was pretty satisfying and DIDN'T have me thinking "I waited twenty-somethn' episodes for this?"

Art- 6

Nothing special. Kind of generic. There isn't a lot of blood and the effects are mostly an embellished digital. I found some of the transformations laughable, but for the most part the art is consistent and mostly simple. The character designs are okay, though you really have to decide for yourself if some characters are really that beautiful or if you're okay with Akira's mullet (IMO- I just wanted to chop it off!).

Sound- 6

Hits and misses. Some pieces seemed like they belonged in the 90s while others conveyed the scene very well through piano.

Characters- 7

A very enjoyable bunch of character, albeit, shallow. The basic characters are here: the bossy girl, the dumb blond, the ambiguous guy, the badass, the genius kid, the guy who can do everything, I could go on. If you're annoyed by ditzy horny and/or violent women with high pitched voices you shouldn't watch this- but then again you're an anime fan so it's like you practically signed up for that kind of stuff anyway. Still, the characters try their hardest with chibi scenes to put a smile on your face, so you can live with them.

The series is also very ambiguous with relationships. They had it all almost- shounen-ai, shoujo-ai and even shota. Though none of them were expounded upon a great deal most of them had something to do with the plot, which can't be said for many other anime with these types of relationships.

Enjoyment- 9

Chances are you'll either be bothered by the pace or the character's antics, but that's exactly what makes this show fun to watch. It's a fun little ride for fans of the actions genre (and doubly fun for those who squee at shounen-ai). I found myself fully enjoying it and in the end humor won over the weak story. That can't really be done for most action anime which take themselves too seriously, so consider this a rare treat- at least where enjoyment is concerned. Overall, it's a fair 6 for me.

It's my first time writing a review so i apologize if it's vague and not of help to you. :|

Story (6):
The story has got two main characters that is somewhat like loveless; Akira and Shirogane, sharing a bond to fight off evil and with Shirogane carrying unconditional love for Akira. Both of them, together with Akira's peers, fights to defeat darkness which are mostly in the form of kokuchis. However, It's somewhat predictable as to what might happen in the first 15 episodes of this anime?
[spoiler]A character will appear in that particular episode. Wallow in sadness for their whichever reasons. And suddenly, taking ... advantage of their situation, someone will appear and plant kokuchi(s) in their body hence, making them transform into a monster. However, they'll definitely transform back to normal with the help of Akira and Gang.
There was a twist to the story but unfortunately, the most exciting part of the story came to an abrupt halt at the final episode. It kind of leaves you hanging there. Perhaps, there might be a second season to this. [/spoiler]

Characters (6.5):
Don't get me wrong that the characters are boring. The reason as to why I'd give the characters a 6~7 score is because i felt that there was a lack of development in relationship between Akira and Shirogane. If you're a yaoi/shounen-ai fan like me, you will most probably be disappointed by this anime. Yes, I'm here because I'm into shounen-ai/yaoi and therefore, I'm here to warn of those who might be cheated to watch this anime cause of its genre.

The main character, Akira, is surrounded by a group of friends that's got extremely interesting personalities. They've got really laughable actions that gives this a Humour level of (7) to me. Watch this anime not for the un-promising shounen-ai genre but more for the foolish things that these group of youths will do and how they will save the world from "darkness". (-. -) I felt that the bond between all of them as friends were much stronger than that of ShiroXAkira. As for the Antogonists, there was only a small amount of them. Therefore, I was hoping for them to posess more powers. I was also looking forward to more actions and less setting up of booby traps (kokuchis. kokuchis. kokuchis.) to defeat Akira and gang.

Overall (6.5)
I'd give it a 6.5 in overall for the humorous studs & cranky female characters and the drawings of the character. The sound was okay - nothing amazing in particular. If you're those that's for light-BL anime, you can go for it. Don't expect too much of this anime but just enjoy the humor and see how this group of friends come together to save the day from being engulfed by darkness.

Honestly, what a disappointment. I had high hopes for Monochrome Factor when I read the synopsis, but unfortunately the experience turned out to be mediocre at best.

The story was weak and predictable. It had all of the elements it needed to succeed, but anything they could have developed and used to their benefit, they completely ignored. Above all though, what destroyed this show can be narrowed down to one horrible mistake.

The comic relief. And really, it can't even be called relief, because they never left it to begin with. Seriously, I can't be the only one who thought it was excessive, annoying, out of place ... and down right shameless. There were times when I literally screamed at my computer screen.

Oh God, stop it! It's not funny! Can you people be serious for just one episode? One, that's all I ask. No, he just got kidnapped. We're not laughing. No, somebody just betrayed you. We're not FUCKING laughing. I don't want to see Kengo whining about "Akira-kuuuuun!" or Aya smacking somebody in the head with her kendo stick. For God's sake people, you're supposed to be distraught. At least pretend you give a damn that the world as you know it is collapsing around you. I'm not asking you to be serious all the time, but occasionally would be nice.

This show can't go five minutes without cracking cheep jokes, or doing random 'funny' chibi scenes where the characters laugh and beat the shit out of each other. Seriously, what the fuck? Comedy is entertaining if used in moderation, even in a serious show with a sophisticated plot, but if you're doing it every two minutes, you're going to completely ruin any attempt you make at being serious, not that you did much of that anyway.

If you don't take your show seriously, why should I? Apparently the producers of this anime wouldn't know tone if it punched them in the face. I certainly hope the manga isn't like this too, because if so, what the hell.

Anyway, this one is a hit or miss. The theme song was catchy. I guess that's something.

*NOTE* I know some of you may enjoy Shounen-Ai, and I have nothing against you, but I hated seeing one of my favorite mangas of all time reduced to this... shit.
Story (7) : Like I said I totally LOVED the original plot. Fighting kokochis to save the world from darkness? Check. Akira being pissed at Shirogane? Check. Oh and let's not forget Akira falling in love with Shirogane, even though they pretty much despise each other, and Haruka. WTF?! That ain't in the manga. And they COMPLETELY MISSED RYUUKO AND HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH SHIROGANE!!! That was my favorite part of the manga and they completely ... THREW IT OUT THE FUCKING WINDOW. Oh sure, Ryuuko appears at the end, but for those who didn't read the manga, they don't even know why the fuck he's there. The plot was killed once they met Haruka, no, maybe even before that. Maybe the kiss scene? AGH.
Art (7) : Well I don't have too many complaints here. I just put a 7 cuz I just like the manga style better. The chibis are especially funny and the other scenes... well their okay.
Sound (3) : Alright, I may be wrong here, cuz of my suckish headphones, but the sound is so... mechanical, and it sounds like robots.
Character (5) : Now I have a fight to pick here. Haruka. WHO THE FUCK IS HARUKA?! He is a crybaby rich boy who doesn't do ANYTHING except whine and drag the plot down. HE'S NOT EVEN IN THE MANGA. Also, Ryuuko didn't have much time to shine, and you don't even hear his name! >:T Akira hates Shirogane, then in the end kisses him. WTFAREWRONGWITHANIMATIONCOMPANIESTODAY?!
Ahem. Furthermore, there is no develops for the side characters. They're just... there.
Enjoyment (2) : I hated seeing my favorite action and drama packed manga being reduced to shounen-ai monster of the week shit. I am sorry. I just hated this so much. I only completed it to see if it would get better. (and also to see Ryuuko animated ;3)
Overall: 5. 5. 5. 5. 5. 5. 5. That's all there is to it. I give it a 5. And that's being generous!
I apologize for my language in this review, but if your about to watch this, this is children's play. If you have time to waste on this shitty anime, read the manga or find help. Trust me. This just ain't worth 12 hours of your life.

This series was just ok. The story had potential, but it ended up being very repetitive throughout the majority of the series. Most of the battles were the same, and while exciting in the beginning got boring quickly. This anime's strong suit would be comedy though. It was quite funny most of the time, and the characters were pretty good. Plenty of bishonen to oogle at too, but that's where the positives end. I don't regret watching it but it definitely wasn't the best series I've seen.

Monochrome Factor

I decided to give this series a try considering the amount of perfect 10 given by other reviewers, and after finishing all 24 eps I'm wondering if I even watched the same anime as those reviewers who gave this a perfect score -_-

STORY = 5
The premise of Monochrome Factor isn't exactly anything new. Good v Evil, Light v Dark, MC must prevent the impending destruction of the world. Nothing exactly groundbreaking and easy to swallow. However this show fails massively with the pacing of the story. Monochrome Factor is a 24 episode anime however if you actually look in detail only really about 8 ... of the 24 eps actually move the story forward and the rest are filler eps. The filler eps follow a generic pattern of the MC encountering an issue for the first half of the episode then have the other half fighting monsters. There ARE so many eps which you could've missed all together and not missed anything important story wise -_-

Also if you're watching for the shounen-ai aspect, don't bother with Monochrome Factor unless you're like really desperate. You'll get jokes about it, but the actual Shounen ai is very very light.

ART = 7
Monochrome Factor actually has nice character design. There are a lot of characters in this anime so you do see a lot of well drawn characters. The artwork for the background are nice as well and there are a lot of different settings which is nice. There are a lot of comical scenes and they are really done well with the art style in Monochrome Factor

SOUND = 6
Nothing really that special, quite a generic soundtrack. Fast paced dramatic music for action sequences and comedic music for the more comical scenes.

CHARACTER = 8
This was actually a strong point of Monochrome Factor. The characters you are introduced in Monochrome Factor are fun and lighthearted. You have the Tsundere like MC, the tomboyish girl of the group, the idiotic best friend, the mysterious cool guy, the hot guy and of course the kid genius. The characters interact really well together and the voice acting of the characters is quite good. As I mentioned before the series is 24 eps so you do meet a large variety of other characters and some of these characters are more well written than others but still great in their own way.

ENJOYMENT = 6
I love to watch anime and I love to marathon many episodes in one night, however in the case of Monochrome Factor I could not. It actually took me more than 2 weeks to finish Monochrome Factor. After watching 2 filler episodes I had to take a break and watch something else. It was simply too boring and repetitive. The final few eps did capture my attention and I did watching in suspense so the story did have it strong point at time.. The comedic scenes are another saving grace of this series, they do make you laugh and are genuinely funny.

OVERALL = 6
Overall this anime IMO is disappointing. I did have high hopes considering the amount of perfect 10 I saw before but for me this show did not deliver. The amount of filler eps really threw off and did not make this series enjoyable for me.

Monochrome Factor sends a group of teenagers into battle between beings of light (Rei) and beings of shadow (Shin). The anime shares this basis of action and supernatural elements with the manga. Unfortunately, the adaptation differs considerably in many ways from the manga by Sorano, Kaili.

Story: Poor pacing, too focused on comedy and the plot is often unnecessarily stretched (4/10)
The student Akira loves to get through his school day relaxed. But fate already has other plans for him. The fact that his classmate Aya teases him with lectures and uses him as a bodyguard for a night-time visit to the school is rather harmless. However, ... with the arrival of Shirogane-sama, his life suddenly becomes more turbulent. The balance between light and shadow seems to be out of whack. The lower beings from the shadow realm (Kokuchi) increasingly threaten the people. So a small group gathers around the two protagonists and takes on the fight against the shadows. Unfortunately, the deviations from the original are not very beneficial for the anime. The first episodes are exciting and even the ending can be called satisfactory. But the entire middle section, roughly 16-17 episodes, is quite boring due to predictability, and even some good and subtle jokes and comedy can't mitigate that. The plot and the anime as a whole lacks a good balance. The comedy almost comes across as self-deprecating due to its preponderance and the plot only manages to build up tension as a counterpoint at the beginning and towards the end. The manga is passably average and for fans perhaps a little more. The anime adaptation, on the other hand, is simply badly written, as it takes over and even reinforces negative aspects of the manga, especially plot holes. In addition, a lot of time is wasted on superfluous things and as a result the characters' portrayals suffer. As is so often the case, the end is a matter of opinion. There are arguments that call it both appropriate and unsatisfactory. However, the latter tends to prevail in the context of the overall impression.

Characters: Good at first, but lacking background & substance given the number of episodes (4/10).
The cast is more extensive than in the original. Since the story was changed, something had to be added. The characters are typical of the genre and basically not bad, but the villains in particular lack the depth one might expect from 24 episodes.
Nikaido Akira:
Actually a gifted teenager but he prefers to relax on what he thinks is a boring day at school. Therefore, he takes every opportunity to play hooky and avoids getting involved in anything whenever possible. His cool "it's none of my business" mentality, however, is severely disrupted when a mysterious man enters his life.
Shirogane-sama:
Cool character somewhat mysterious, eloquent and likeable. The little exchanges with Akira, when Shirogane-sama teases the young man eloquently, refreshingly direct and yet charming, are an entertaining and successful part of the comedy. Since it stays with allusions, it is basically too little to classify as "yaoi" or "shounen-ai", it remains more funny than serious. However, this part of the comedy is sure to put off many viewers.
Suzuno Aya:
She is the head of the school disciplinary committee and tends to use a kendo sword to emphasise her sense of justice. She is believable with the katana, but her character portrayal and development suffers because her role is overloaded with comedy elements.
Asamura Kengo:
Kengo's story has been revised. In the manga, he had a background and a twist that made him interesting. In the anime, however, he's sadly degraded to the usual comedy goof.
Wagatsuma Shūichi (Master):
The "Still Bar" (or "Aging Bar" for the manga readers) is the realm of the Master. Shūichi is the bartender and a very pleasant character (appearance and behaviour are very reminiscent of Sasakura Ryuu from the anime Bartender). He is friendly, helpful and his special abilities make him the healer of the small group. Unfortunately, his background is poorly sketched in the adaptation, so the manga is preferable in this regard as well.
Kujō Haruka:
Haruka was added for the realisation of the anime adaptation. His character is not a complete disappointment and fits well into the changed plot. Regardless, anyone familiar with the manga is right to wonder why the story was changed and this character added.
Nanaya:
Not the most colourful Shin, but not bad at all as a villain!
LuLu:
Cute but a bit colourless.
Homurabi:
A villain with style, unfortunately with too little screen time.

Visuals: Art is okay, the animation is not, so overall not good enough to improve the rating (6/10)
The drawing style of mangaka Sorano Kaili was well adopted by Suga Shigeyuki in the character design of the anime. However, due to the changes in the plot, some visual changes have been made. An example of this is the character design of Shirogane. His appearance and especially the facial features have been made slimmer and more feminine through various accents. This added beauty and attractiveness, also combined with the character's behaviour, certainly appeals to a larger female audience, but causes resentment like "shounen-ai or yaoi" among other parts of the fan base. The overall design of the characters is good and nice to look at, although I personally prefer the design in the manga.
However, the animation by Studio A.C.G.T does not impress me. The animation is not bad in principle, the colour palette and the light and shadow effects are good for an anime from 2008, but several aspects lower the overall rating. On the one hand, the blurring as a frequently used technique is disturbing, especially in the action sequences. On the other hand, the constant super-deformation is distracting because it is simply used too often. Personally, I found the fights somewhat monotonous overall.

Sound: BGM & OP are good, but the EDs are not, so overall only average (5/10)
The background music was composed by Abo Takeshi and is well adapted to the plot. Unfortunately, this is precisely why the music is hardly perceived positively and therefore cannot improve the overall rating despite a good performance.
The OP "Metamorphosis" by the indie metal band Asriel is a cool musical arrangement, the first bars calm and then continue with great rock sound and the beautiful voice of KOKOMI. This track was the breakthrough for the band, consisting of composer Kurose Keisuke and singer KOKOMI. The track is accompanied by a decent animation, matching the music! Unfortunately, the only bright spot.
"Awake - my everything" by the seiyū Ono Daisuke & Kamiya Hiroshi is used as ED in episodes 1-12 and 24. The animation is well done in black and white, but the sound is just too "easy listening music" and doesn't impress me at all.
The second ED in episodes 13 to 23 is "Kakusei - Light and Dark", sung by the other two Seiyū Suwabe Junichi & Konishi Katsuyuki and is overall no better than the first ED.
As always, I would like to conclude the sound section by talking a little about the seiyū, especially the second row. Among the male voice actors, I noticed Okiayu, Ryoutarou, who voices Homurabi. He has a great versatile voice, which he has already shown impressively in many anime. As an example, the role of Akio Furukawa in the anime Clannad immediately comes to mind.
Among the female dubbing actors, I particularly enjoyed the voice of the charakter Aya Suzuno, who is spoken by Asano Masumi. She has a clear and direct pronunciation that suits the role well, and yet you don't miss the feminine charm. All in all, a very good performance.

The anime has its moments, but the many plot holes lead to confusion. Furthermore, the content shown is simply dragged out too much by a multitude of fillers and superfluous chibi comedy. If you are looking for good or at least passable entertainment, you will surely be disappointed by this anime. Nevertheless, if you like the idea and the character design, I would recommend the manga, which is not excellent but better than the anime.

As always, thanks for reading.

The main idea with the light/darkness theme was okay but there was very little development. It could have been much more complex and diverse.

The characters didn't have a real purpose or were undertaken random changes. Especially the main character Akira lacked a certain motivation for why he was fighting and randomly accepted things as they are, or at least only questioned things for a short time. Strange was the other side to Shirogane, which was introduced in the center of the story but it was never really picked up again. There weren't any significant development within any of the characters (maybe except for one). ...

Overall, the anime wasn't very enjoyable. It lacked suspense and the plot seemed to be somewhat made up on the way. If you've got better things to do, don't waste your time watching it. If you're really bored, it's fine to watch it.

You want a happy ending? Try Junjou Romantica, Haru wo Daite Ita, or Ikoku Irokoi Romantan.

If you’re more into intriguing endings (for better or worse), try Mirage of Blaze (+OVA) or Ai no Kusabi (1992).

And if you’re into tear-jerkers, I couldn’t recommend Fuyu no Semi more, which haunted me enough to watch Haru wo Daite Ita.
But for the love of god, don’t get your hopes up with this thing.

STORY: 5/10. Really nice, really interesting, really. The idea of working together to restore balance to light and darkness (of which kokuchi reside) was nice—but what would have given it more merit is if the execution ... was better. Really. The pace at first was fast, introducing Shirogane in this mystic, borderline creepy way. He pops up in convenient moments wherever the main (bratty) character, Akira, is, and thrusts him into a pretty dangerous situation with a gentle smile and some flowery words about trusting him. But it quickly becomes formulaic, and with the lack of Shirogane/Akira moments, I quickly found myself skipping to the last episode, sadly.

Which, although there was ONE new face, the ending was pretty much as unsatisfying as I feared. Which, I’d accept that from Loveless, given that there were 13 episodes or so, and the manga isn’t even complete. This thing had twice the number of episodes to get it right. Instead, it filled up the series with these episodic fillers that added absolutely nothing to the story and the real villain. All we had was his lackey who had—to varying degrees—the same song-and-dance every few episodes. But I get it. The manga didn’t finish until 2011, and this series was from 2008.

The biggest offense was probably too-tsundere-for-my-shirt’s unnecessary magical transformation. Even if it’s just 15 seconds each episode…just why.

CHARACTERS: 3/10. I smell 00s antics with this. Almost everyone fits into some stereotype. The brashly innocent-yet-unnecessarily-violent-almost-but-not-quite tsundere who feels the need to beat up anyone who either insults or embarrasses her, the ditzy-drunk too boy-crazy for her own good, the hapless guy who is almost always the butt of every joke and is the first to get taken advantage of, beaten, or otherwise incapacitated, the rich kid who knows nothing and wants to know more about the world, and the badazz MC with his devil-may-care attitude. Even the antagonists fit into some box, and just…it drags.

The only character of interest to me was Shirogane, who played a balancing act between flirting and teasing Akira and remaining the only one dedicated to actually saving the world. Of course, when your allies are a bunch of high school kids, they can have only so much maturity, I suppose… (Although, that didn’t stop Ichigo from becoming a proper Shinigami in his own right, but anyways.)

I’d love to include the bartender, but his role was strictly supportive. And, unfortunately, the shenanigans in the beginning of each episode were an excuse to fill him up on the latest ongoings. Which was more of a waste of precious space. Sigh.

ART: 6/10. Probably this anime’s most redeeming quality, other than Daisuke Ono having a lead role. For the time period it was in, it wasn’t bad. (Of course, I’ve seen better (Case in point: 07-Ghost, Serial Experiments Lain, Read or Die, see above for BL), but there’s consistency, and the characters aren’t poorly drawn. They move nicely, and when it comes to Shirogane especially, the fine detail between the shimmer when he’s a “ghost” and the lack of shimmer when viewed in the company of spiritually attuned people is a nice touch. Still, it’s about average for early 00s anime.

MUSIC: 5/10. Nothing to write home to grandma about. There might have been a moment or two when the OST stuck out at me, but it mostly blended with the episode. It also didn’t retract (or clash), which is a plus. The OP brought nostalgia, but I wouldn’t want to go out listening to it on Spotify.

Overall: 5/10. Despite my harsh critic, it isn’t bad per se, it’s just…really, really not good. There’s a few moments where I felt satisfied or was startled into laughing, but as the series dragged on, so did my patience. Had the ending had some incredible development, or if Shirogane and Akira’s relationship grew stronger and/or more complicated, I would have gladly recommended it even if the plot didn’t progress much. But well.

Let’s put it this way: it’s a good time waster. I’ve been trying to dip into the pool of nostalgia and watch all the BL animes from my childhood. So if you want to watch an anime for watching it’s sake and maybe get a little B-rated BL entertainment, this anime fits the bill perfectly. Just—don’t get your hopes up.