holydarkforce's Blog

Anime Relations: Blood Lad

I was hesitant to start watching this one. I thought, "There's no way i'll like this, i'll just watch one episode then never watch it again." But, like many times before, I was totally wrong.

This anime's greatest strength was the ever growing cast of really good characters. I remember seeing the opening for the first time and seeing all these characters and thinking "that's a lot of characters, are they all good guys? Is the an opening that doesn't spoil the big bad right from the start?" and it didn't, and with every character introduced in each consecutive episode, I thought they were a bad guy. But then you get to know them and they aren't actually bad guys at all. Oh, the teleportation girl isn't a bad guy, that's cool, oh, the wolf boy isn't a bad guy, he's just a bad ass, oh, the evil sister and even the evil brother aren't even the real bad guys. It was refreshing for each character to not be one-dimensional and totally figured out as soon as you lay eyes on them. But of course I wondered who the actual antagonist was in this story, and it was a character introduced for the first time more than half way through the series. Right when the plot was beginning to really start moving, right when things were really about to get exciting... The show just ends. 10 episodes is all that they made. And it ended on a cliffhanger too. Man why you gotta do this to me?

My biggest criticism is how most of the battle scenes were terribly choreographed and just plain boring, it definitely wasn't this show's strength at all, it was the characters' interactions that kept it interesting.

I'll definitely continue the story in reading the manga since the anime is five years old at this point and no second season is around so i'm guessing it was scrapped. Which sucks, because this show had a large cast of amusing characters, an interesting mirror world filled with demon people, and genuinely funny jokes and gags. This world felt like it was a lot deeper than what was being shown on screen and I really wanted to see more things like different types of demons, different cool powers like for example the teleportation and blood-bending, and more of the hierarchy of the demon world, with the king and the royals and the different sections of the world. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of this story, it's good enough that I actually want to know how it ends, and if that's not approval then I don't know what is.

Anime Relations: Kaiba

I'm going to make this one short, don;t feel like writing a whole lot.

This anime really surprised me. Firstly, the art-style was so different than anything else I've watched that it took a while to adjust to, frankly. Even by the end I can't really say I enjoyed the way it was done. It was colorful, trippy and surreal, and cartoony of course, and it really helped to tell the story in a uniquely visual way, but it just wasn't easy on my eyes. I guess I never really did like trippy and surreal things, they just make my head spin.

Apart from that, this anime had a really good story. The introduction was amazing, I had no idea where it were going next, or what to expect. It felt like a fresh world that had more to tell in the first episode than anything the art would've led me to believe. I suppose this anime is a lesson in not judging a book by it's cover, or in this case, art. The story continued on this wild ride of discovery across a cartoon universe filled with wacky planets and even wackier characters. Vanilla, the cop, was hands down my favourite character, every succeeding interaction showed just how pure and lovable and funny he really was, going through great lengths for love. The universe itself was really interesting, had some great settings like the thousands of memory eggs floating through space, the only things resembling stars in this universe, the planet separated into classes by amnesic clouds, the tiny lighthouse planet, the poverty planet, the memory planet, etc. All cool locations with cool stories to tell. I liked the journey of discovery as Kaiba learned more and more about his world through the people he met, and left behind. It set up a great insight into the problems of the world that he would be responsible to fix. I honestly wish that we saw more into these different planets and how their societies ran beyond the little look that we got. When Kaiba regained his memories again upon returning to his home planet, I feel the story took a downturn. The conflict between the terrorist society trying to take over the monarchy, and the different clones of Warp, along with the impending doom of the Kaiba superplant, just left a lot to be desired. So many weird interactions and decisions between characters along with some key elements that seemed to be thrown in last minute or barely explained at all really made me scratch my head. I just think I was dissapointed with the finale, it made sense, but I feel its something that needs a rewatch to perfectly understand it all, but then again the anime was short enough to rush alot of things that felt key to understanding, like Kaiba's story with his parents and brothers that was told in a quick flashback. Maybe too much happened in too little time and it felt really rushed. Beyond all that, the way that they used Kaiba's amnesia to introuduce us to the story, and to make us feel like we were discovering just as the main character was, was a great way to get this anime started, it had me so hooked. Once all the pieces were in place, it had a marginally satisfying conclusion.

One more thing to mention are the three parts that I thought were the most well done.
1. the backstory of the grandma and her family on the lighthouse planet. When Kaiba went into her mind and revealed a giant library of memories to help her remember her husband... It was a great moment.
2. The girl Chroniko's story, it was very sad and touching. She had to sell her body to help support her family, but she was betrayed and had her memories erased forever. Having her be an impetus for Kaiba's growth was really well done. Also, Vanilla's love for "Chroniko" was also really touching as well, and his back story to get a body for his mother, only for him to die, was really well done.
3. Kaiba, as Chroniko, and Neiro, as the giant muscular native man, first meeting on the memory planet and their relationship with each other as they each had their own different goals was really well done. You could tell that they had history, that they did love each other, but neither of them could remember. Them beginning to relearn that love was honestly shocked at how pure their love felt, I only wish it would've lasted longer, like many things in this anime.

Overall this anime was definitely enjoyable, it slightly dipped at the end for me, but beyond that it was great. The art was not to my liking, the music was good for the few parts that had it, the characters were the best part, and the story was pretty good. Not bad.

Anime Relations: Sora yori mo Tooi Basho

A Place Further than the Universe, a lovely title for a lovely anime. I admit that I don't watch a lot of shows that are all girl cast like K-on or Yuru Yuri etc. But I think I might start watching more after this show. When I first heard about this anime, two things stuck out to me. It's name, and that the only genre its listed under on Myanimelist is "Adventure." I thought, "If a show's only genre is adventure and nothing else, not comedy, drama, action, romance, school or any others, then it must be something that I'd really enjoy. I also really like the name of this anime. A Place Further than the Universe... someplace that reaches further than any tendril of your life, where you can be free of all your worldly problems and experience anything you can imagine, go on an adventure of a lifetime.

And that's exactly what occurs in this anime. Four girls are united by a common desire to go to a place further than their own universes, and create a new universe through their friendship and lust for adventure. What I love about this show is how heartfelt and optimistic it is, how each character has their own unique identity, their own character, their own wants, likes, dislikes and dreams. They all flow out of the screen into your heart and make you, the viewer, as well as the other characters, happy and filled with child-like wonder for the world. The characters aren't forced or melodramatic, they have life, meaning, and purpose. And they are written so well that you can't help but love them and feel for them, laugh with them, cry with them. This anime's a great example of quality character writing. And good characters are all that's needed for the show to work, the plot is not overly complex, its not crammed full of drama, it's just a slice of real life playing out in a heartfelt and daring way. It can be very funny at times, keeping a comedy that knows when to make you laugh, and excels at it thanks to the amazing character interactions. It's for the same reason that it can be just as sad, it flows through the ups and downs and the many moments between them, not afraid to expose the darkness in our hearts, but always brings us back to the light. It's the purity of the spirit of adventure that this show captures, nourishes, and lets bloom. It's a wonderful adventure and a journey out of a darker yesterday into a brighter tomorrow.

Its hard to find something to hate about A Place Further than the Universe. It wasn't annoying, but it also wasn't groundbreaking. It's a story of life, friendship and adventure that can be seen in any other show. But what sets this anime apart is how it breathes such optimism and light about our lives and makes us want to better ourselves, do something you've never done before, embark on a journey, and live life to the fullest. It does this with beautiful animation, backgrounds, music, characters, voices, and art. They took a good story and put all their love into every frame of it, and made it rise-even if only a little-above the rest. Well done.

Anime Relations: Mary to Majo no Hana

This movie had the look and feel that Studio Ghibli is known for. But I think that that Studio Ponoc played this one very safe. What I mean by that is that they told a very simple story, and focused on making it look as polished as possible. Maybe they weren't confident enough to do a very complex story. There are only a small number of main characters in this movie. Mary, her great-aunt Charlotte, her house-maid, her gardener, Peter, the Madame from the school and the Professor from the school, and the cats, Gib and Tib (I think are their names). A very small number of characters drive this plot, which made it feel very simple and brief. The plot was basic, the key elements that were necessary for an adventure story such as this were kept, but anything extra was omitted. That's my only real criticism of this movie. Its what was lacking from the plot that I feel could've made it much more incredible. But this movie is already fast-paced, and maybe Studio Ponoc wanted to keep it short and simple.

Putting that criticism aside, I think this movie is very enjoyable, but also a little underwhelming. I've seen a lot of movies, anime or not, that I feel could have been much more. I feel like the movie gave me hopes that it would amaze me, but falls short. I suppose I just have an unconscious hope that every movie I watch will be extraordinary. It's not a bad thing, but many times it sets me up for disappointment. Most of the times that this happens I can't properly explain exactly what I was hoping for, except for when a movie actually does meet or exceed my hopes. Then, I think to myself "of course, this is exactly/better than what I hoped for this movie, and it's awesome." But I can't fix an existing movie into a better one, I can only watch and hope that will make me feel wonder and amazement. This movie came close, and I enjoy it for not having having any annoyances that distracted my enjoyment.

This film was wonderfully animated, had interesting settings, a good backstory, and a simple and fun plot. But I can forgive it for being that way because it is an anime film made not be groundbreaking in storytelling for anime aficionados, but to be simple, fun, and enjoyable for all audiences. And it did that very well. I'm really looking forward to what Studio Ponoc does next, because I believe they have all the tools to make fantastic stories just as Studio Ghibli did, and maybe even surpass them.

Anime Relations: Dragon Ball Z Movie 15: Fukkatsu no "F"

I''ll go through this movie starting from its beginning and working my way to the end.

Starting with showing off the vast landscape of hell, and subsequently the bottom level of hell which is Frieza's, was really cool, I like it when these movies show different parts of the Dragon Ball world that you normally wouldn't see in the show due to whatever budget or time constraints. Frieza is such an iconic character and his revival on his ship was the most badass way to show just why he's the emperor of the universe. It's because he's intimidating, and evil as all hell. Shooting a lowly soldier and then blowing Tagoma out into space just for questioning him serves as a reminder as to just who Frieza really is. The introduction of Jaco into the story had my initial impression as just another funny guy who doesn't know anything. Which is kind of true, but he also has some great interactions with other characters. Being part of the Galactic Patrol, you can't tell if he's really bad at his job or actually really good at it. He takes it very seriously and always rambles about his duty or some paperwork he'll have to fill out later. He actually is a very funny character. But when the fighting started, I thought he would just be a weakling who'd run away and hide, but he actually seriously held his own against many of Frieza's soldiers, in his own fantastic way. Every guy he took out made me like him more and more. The first thing Frieza does when he gets to Earth is blow up South City. That's his way of knocking. Some of the best parts of the movie happen during Gohan, Master Roshi, Piccolo, Tien, Krillin, and Jaco fighting hundreds of Frieza's soldiers. Seeing them all get their chances to shine was really special, and also very well choreographed. Seeing Frieza stop Gohan's heart with one punch solidified just how out of their league he was. But when Goku and Vegeta got back to Earth, things took a bit of a nose dive. Goku fighting Frieza at base form was actually really epic, the fighting felt powerful. Seeing the side characters watching from the sidelines as booms go off in the sky is so cool to me, I love it when the shows do that. Then Goku and Frieza revealed their new forms.

To be honest, Goku going Super Saiyan Blue was underwhelming. It looked cool for sure, and it was interesting how the transformation was basically silent, but it really didn't have much impact beyond the cool yell and the cool animation. It didn't feel like Goku (or Frieza for that matter) got any stronger, they just continued fighting much the same way, if not less intense than before. Frieza's golden form was a bit better, being made to feel way more powerful, but still felt the same. After this point the fights felt weak, they had no power, no epicness. The movie went from serious threat to just another day for Goku. Vegeta's transformation somehow felt even cooler than Goku's, but it wasn't that hard to do that. Frieza's plan to have Sorbet shoot Goku was unexpected, and kind of cool, as was Frieza almost convincing Vegeta to be his subordinate. I didn't think he would play that card so it caught me by surprise. Vegeta's short fight against Frieza was almost better than the entirety of Goku's. For some reason the way Vegeta kicked Frieza's ass just felt so well choreographed. Frieza's final resort was destroying the Earth, and this moment, coupled with some sad choir music, honestly was really awesome. But it ended as soon as it began, with Whis turning back time and Goku getting the kill.

Overall, the movie was worse than Battle of Gods. The transformations were so lackluster. Goku going Super Saiyan God in Battle of Gods was much more epic. The final fight was lackluster, the ending was lackluster. But everything else was still pretty good. Seeing Krillin working as a cop, seeing Piccolo babysitting. Seeing Pilaf and his gang dealing with Sorbet and Tagoma and actually getting 1 million zeni was hilarious. The gang's fights against the soldiers reminded me of Bruce Lee in the way they actually used Martial Arts to take down the bad guys, instead of just blasting them in the face the whole time. If the final fight was more impactful, if the transformations were shown to actually change the way Goku or Frieza fought, instead of doing nothing except changing their colour, if Goku finished Frieza with something other than a basic Kamehameha, then this movie would have been much better. Not as good as Battle of Gods by any means, but almost getting there.

Anime Relations: Dragon Ball Z Movie 14: Kami to Kami

This is the best Dragon Ball Z movie I've seen yet. It blows every other one out of the water in terms of plot, storytelling, and even animation. Hell, it actually might be the best piece of Dragon Ball story I've ever seen.

After so many years since the last Dragon Ball series (which was GT), Toei Animation, Akira Toriyama, and Funimation came back with a bang. This movie really is the beginning of the return of Dragon Ball, and it did such a good job of expanding and continuing the universe. With the revelation of a whole new level of gods and other universes, as well as the ceiling of power levels being completely smashed open, this movie had me thinking one thing; "This is Dragon Ball back in action." Obviously by the time i'm writing this it's been 5 years since the release of this movie and about 5 minutes since I just watched it for the first time, so by now Dragon Ball is well into being back in the spotlight, and it's glorious. This movie was the trigger that restarted Dragon Ball and pushed it into a new era, and I'm so glad they did it.

The movie itself is so well paced, so well animated, so funny, so epic, that I literally had a smile on my face the whole time I watched it. Beerus and Whis were introduced so mystically and powerfully that they genuinely seemed scary at first. But as you get to know them they turn out to be really whimsical and funny, but at the same time they always kept that mysticism and intrigue. They felt so different from any other antagonists in the past and it felt so refreshing. They aren't malicious or evil, they just believe themselves above all others, but not through fake and empty words, but by their real actions and their mannerisms. The backdrop of Bulma's birthday party was a perfect way to bring all the main cast together for the conflict of this movie, which was Beerus' arrival. Several times did the plot pause for some silly antics or hilarious scenes, but it did not feel like it slowed down the movie at all, it reminded you that Dragon Ball can absolutely be intense and epic but at the same time still make you laugh. That's what I love about it so much, and this movie nailed it. The animation during the fights was absolutely unreal. I'm so thankful Toei made this return story as a movie because it allowed them the budget to go all-out on the epic scale of animation this movie needed, using CGI in a good way with epic 3D scenes and highly detailed backgrounds, as well as epic auras and energy blasts. It felt like I was right beside Goku as he was fighting and could feel through the sound of every punch. The character animation was well done , the music was energetic, and the characters were well-written. Funimation's English dub was so natural and well done I forgot half the time that this movie is originally in Japanese.

Everything about this movie was Dragon Ball at it's absolute best. It inspires wonder and awe about the world it takes place in, the fights are epic, and the gags are hilarious. Above all else this move just made me glad that Dragon Ball is still kicking after 30 years. From when I first played Bukodai Tenkaichi on my GameCube in 2005 to now, I've been very lucky to be able to enjoy Dragon Ball so much. Thanks, Akira Toriyama.

Anime Relations: Tonari no Yamada-kun

I was hesitant starting up this movie for multiple reasons. I didn't think that I'd enjoy this one all too well. I've enjoyed every other Ghibli movie to varying degrees, but this one just didn't seem my cup of tea... I was wrong. All Ghibli movies are my cup of tea, I'm again reminded of that. This movie is a collection of shorts about the comical Yamada family told in a very cartoonish, almost traditional Japanese painting and animation method. What I mean by that is that the all the drawings look like brush strokes and water colours, almost like old Japanese art. Another Ghibli movie that was done this way was The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, also directed by Isao Takahata. He must like doing movies like this because of the several different Ghibli movies that have it, even Only Yesterday did it with all the flashbacks. I honestly don't mind this style, it enhances the whimsical and comedic effect so prevalent in a lot of Ghibli films, and this one was no exception.

It was genuinely funny. The crazy antics the family subjected each other to, not necessarily out of malice, but of pure ignorance, was funny every time. That isn't to say the characters are dumb. No, they are actually show an incredible breadth of character. They don't just respond to every situation one-dimensionally. The family dynamic is strong whilst also feeling grounded, but also just crazy enough to stir up some hilarious moments. It wasn't annoying, boring, or eye-rolling. In 1 hour and 40 minutes I cared for the Yamada family as they were my own family. They did a really good job portraying them in a heartfelt way in just a collection of short plots. The overall message was one of trust in marriage, raising a family, and enduring through all of life's hardships together as a family. This film was much better than I thought it would be.

This is the last big Ghibli film that I've had on my watch list since first watching Princess Mononoke over a year ago (I think, it honestly felt a lot longer ago than last April.) After 22 movies, I'm honestly a little saddened that I've finally watched every film. Part of the reason I waited so long to watch this one was because after this, there really isn't that much else Ghibli for me to watch, except shorts, commercials and other smaller films they've made over the years. This is the last major motion picture of theirs that was left for me to see. Every single one of them has been an immense joy to watch, It's sad to know that this may be the last. Even after all this time, I still love Ghibli, Miyazaki, Takahata, and all the others that helped make these films just as much as the first time I watched one of them. What a journey.

Anime Relations: Another

A well-done, well-executed, gory as hell supernatural mystery thriller involving junior high kids and a deathly curse.

When I first started watching, I made my own predictions as to what the heck was going on in this class. My first thought was that they were all dead and didn't really know it, and the town was somewhere between this world and the next, stuck in Limbo. But the show quickly made me look like an idiot, and actually surprised me with its plot. It was interesting, and it wasn't obvious right off the bat what the truth was. In fact, it was done so well that I had no idea what to think until the show revealed it. But once the various truths were consecutively revealed, I didn't shake my head at any stupid plot points. Instead, I was happily surprised and intrigued by the unraveling plot. I understood a little bit more than the previous episode, but I had many more new questions that I craved an answer for. Even at the very very end there was still at least one unanswered question that I had. Maybe it was answered and I missed it, but the simple fact that the show kept on a questions-and-answers ride the whole way through even at the end made me immensely enjoy this show. It was better than I would have expected.

This anime was really well animated, one of the dream sequences for example had a character's skin peel off before his eyes twisted in his head and blood poured from every crevice until his body melted into bloody goop. It honestly some of the most fascinating animation I've seen in a while. It reminded me of Akira. It was so well done. Along with some dramatic and contextual music that actually really increased the drama and tension and some really well done backgrounds and moving backgrounds like the changing weather and sky, this anime fired off on all cylinders in the animation, art and music departments. With the plot and the writing being actually smart, even scaring me a couple of times because of how tense the atmosphere was, and the characters being surprisingly unique and sometimes really damn creepy, and sometimes incredibly heartfelt, this show left me with a really satisfied feeling. I can't really think of anything that is really worth mentioning as being bad or detracted from the enjoyment the show gave me.

To finish off, this story was incredibly entertaining, tense, and really kept my brain working. At all times I was asking myself questions about this character or that character or what would happen next or how it would happen. I really like shows that keep me engaged like that. It makes it feel like I wasn't just plainly sitting down staring at a screen for 6 hours straight, but was actually engaging my mind in a task that was exciting to contemplate and speculate about. Well done.

Anime Relations: Psycho-Pass

I don't feel like making this one really long right now. But, a few things I feel like writing down.

The team dynamic, the crime-solving, the mysteries behind the criminals, the world when little was known about it, was the coolest part of this show. This encompasses the first 12 episodes, culminating with the reveal of white-haired guy. After that point, the series seemed to lose focus on what exactly it wanted to portray. When the secret behind the system was revealed, I just felt underwhelmed. I was underwhelmed because the truth wasn't surprising, and felt like just a new way to introduce a new big bad in the form of the evil dystopian government minds. The detectives investigating the criminals was my favourite part of this show. Once the focus shifted to the people fighting the system it lost my interest, it wasn't as well executed as the crime and police. Maybe I'm just an old fashioned guy, but staying small perhaps could've helped the story, rather than instead going full out revealing all the secrets to their society, laying it all out for the viewer to judge. Because I found it just boring. The only conclusions I saw were either people revolted and changed the system (which will probably happen) or the system stays the same (which definitely won't happen). Once the mystery was revealed the story just became a "chase the final bad guy in a kind of cool final battle, then worry about dealing with the real big bads, the system, in the next series.

The most interesting part, the best part, was when I knew as little as possible about the constructs of this dystopian society but still watched honest people try to perform and live in such a all-powerful system. It provided a cool twist on common detective stories by making the detectives actions decided for them, even though they were still thinking for themselves. They had to perform in tense situations even when they disagreed with their all-powerful system. That was really cool to me. The tension between the people and the system only grew over the course of the series until it just faded away... more like dropped completely. The end of the series is exactly the same as the beginning, it makes it feel like the story changed nothing and didn't really matter. The psychos were still psychos, the system still ruled, and the inspectors were still inspectors. Maybe that is the whole point, that one single person cannot change the foundations of a society so easily.

I won't say this anime wasn't good, it kept my interest the entire time, it only started losing enjoyment after the big reveal. But the story started really, really great, and only got better up until it hit that turning point. The world was Akira, Ghost in the Shell, and Blade Runner (who they even referenced directly) all smashed together. In fact, I'm surprised I didn't like it more than I did (which was still a lot, despite the disappointing half-ending). The thing about these shows or books or whatever that have any element of mystery in them is that it's fantastic and exhilirating until the mystery ends. Then, once all the truth is laid out, it's either "Wow, so that's how it all works, that's really cool." or "Well, that's kinda disappointing, it was better when the mystery was there because my expectations were better than what I actually got." This story sadly falls into the latter category. Maybe my expectations are too high? I hate to think that my high expectations are killing my enjoyment of a show, but I base them on how I think a show should progress to be amazing in my eyes. Many anime have vastly exceeded my expectations in the past. But some fall a little short... sadly this one did. It had many great moments, particularly in the first half, but it tapered off at the end.

Small side notes; the dominator guns were AMAZINGLY COOL, the system that determined people's psycho-passes and hues was really interesting, the main characters all felt like total badasses, and the world was really cool if a little understandably flawed.

I may watch the second season but by my guess it'll only get worse. But, there's always the chance a show will break and exceed my expectations. I really hope so.

Anime Relations: Zankyou no Terror

I never know exactly where to start whenever I write one of these. I just finished binge-watching Zankyou no Terror and the impression it left on me was kind of... dull. When I try to think of what the whole point of the story was... as in, the two orphans bombing Tokyo, I'm left just scratching my giant head in confusion. They used their genius minds to become terrorists that cause explosions, all so that they could reveal to the world the program that enslaved them as children. They knew that this would bring forth someone that was smart enough to find out this truth, so detective Shibazaki is there to investigate, discover, and eventually release the truth about the program. Also, they stole plutonium and made a homemade nuke, and blew it up over the skies of Tokyo, so that the resulting EMP would destroy all electronics in Japan... for some reason. I think it was the final nail in the coffin that allowed people around the world to actually pay attention to their story, and it definitely worked, because who can ignore a nuke exploding over the capital of a country?

As for how it was possible that two seventeen year old boys stole plutonium from a high security facility, built a nuke by themselves, installed and blew up multiple bombs in public without getting caught, and evading the police and FBI for weeks on end and leading them on a wild goose chase... The answer that is given by the anime is that they are incredibly intelligent, possibly being savants. The whole plot stinks of "This would never ever happen in a million years in the real world." But this is anime, and if the writers say 17 year olds can build a homemade nuke and detonate it (among all the other retardedly impossible things they pulled off) then god dammit they're gonna do it.

There are two characters that I can't ignore writing about, and both of them are girls. In fact, they are the only two female main characters in this show, and they just may be two of the most useless characters I've ever witnessed in a show. First is Mishima Lisa. Her role in the story is to by destiny be at the right place at the right time, so that she joins along with Nine and Twelve (the boys) on their wacky bombing adventure. Except, she literally doesn't do anything but get caught, cry, say sorry, and cook. That's all I remember her counting for in the plot. Except for that one time she lit a flare in a women's stall. Her role was so pointless that multiple of her conversations are about how useless she is. I hate useless characters because they serve no purpose and try my patience while doing it. Why the writers thought that the show needed her character is a complete mystery to me. If i had to guess, maybe it was to serve as a grounded in reality type character? With all the crazy drama going on she did serve as a tether to reality for Nine and Twelve, and they ended up liking her, because they had nobody else that cared about them. But why was that necessary?
Character two is Five. She's the classic sociopathic crazy person who only talks in riddles and condescedingly hisses at all other normal characters, because she's crazy. In fact, she's so crazy that she goes out of her way to be an antagonist to the Nine and Twelve for literally shits and giggles. It's revealed at the end that she had no time left to live. So she just wanted to play a game with her two orphan buddies by chasing them, shooting them, bombing them, and anything to hinder their plans. Her character was just so basic. An antagonist was needed that was kind of on Nine and Twelve's level, so in comes this crazy Harley Quinn looking chick who would get laughed out of the room or taken down a notch by any of the sane police officer characters. The fact that grown men in the story took orders from her hurts my brain. It's such a cliche anime character in an otherwise unrealistic but still kind of realistic anime.

This anime's plot is so far out of reality. The whole motivation behind the terrorist plan is a head-scratcher for sure. But my favourite part of this anime was the detective Shibazaki, and all the policemen in this show. They were the most entertaining characters to watch. I wish the show was centered on Shibazaki and not Lisa, or even Nine and Twelve for that matter. Their characters felt like real men living in a strange world, where the American government hires crazy little girls for their Special Ops and the Japanese government abducts kids to try and make them smarter by scarring them for life physically and emotionally. The plot is stupid, that's for sure. But each and every policeman and detective character were amazing to watch, because they felt real, and they made sense, which is something this anime really lacked.

If Nine and Twelve weren't introduced in the beginning and focused on, and stayed mysterious in the background without being shown until the climax, and instead the story focusing only on Shibazaki trying to uncover the clues and find out the truth behind this terrorist plot... then I think this show would have been MUCH better. It could've been a very tense and dramatic crime thriller, but instead we got a stupid backstory, for some cliche and uninteresting characters to stir up drama, for a honestly unfullfilling climax. It just didn't leave any meaningful impression on me. The only really good part was when the nuke went off, and then the northern lights shone. Ignoring all the stupid reasoning behind it all, it was actually a great moment with some great music. The music, art, and animation were all really good.

The message this anime showed me (because it really didn't leave me with any real meaning or impact at all) was that if a show doesn't make me feel any emotions other than annoyance or confusion, it's not good. An anime plot is dumb and dull, it doesn't matter to me how good the music and art is. It just gets overshadowed by the bad plot.