Back to Blackwing1963's Profile Blackwing1963's Profile

An original anime. And that is the downfall of this particular OVA, being original and having no framework to rely on when going forward with this story. It is basically supposed to be a hero's journey type piece where the boy is given a quest by his dying father to set things right in the world. What it becomes is an acid-induced nightmarish cluster F of different ideas from the story writer.
It's first like, let's make a fantasy world with a wide variety of creatures.
Then how about we throw in some mecha, yeah mecha robots shooting lasers.
Oh, lets go back and make the environment dangerous ... by throwing in a sea that is dangerous to cross, but we'll add a giant in there as well.
Oh, lets put some faeries in there in an imaginary realm where wishes come true.
Let's go to science fiction next with an ancient advanced city that is in a state of disrepair.
But now, lets escape all that and the whole time we've been in a dimensional plane created by a god like being we now have to destroy....
Yeah, it is just a jumble of ideas mish-mashed together and a poorly written mish-mash at that.

I'm not going to go into the story, plot points, and historical issues. You can read any of the reviews where the overall score is between a two and a five and they will sum up how I felt pretty much.

I will say, that for all its problems, Mappa did ok with the animation. But that was about the only high point of this series.

Beyond the obvious problems others stated, there was one glaring, and I mean GLARING problem. I normally watch anime that is subtitled. The subtitling, while ok for the spoken parts had a big problem where they wanted to describe everything you ... heard or saw. If someone gasped they had [gasps] in the subtitles. When there was the music they wrote a description for the music, When the music became louder, they subtitled that the music grows louder. I can see and hear what is going on for myself thank you very much. I don't need to be told what is going on in an anime other than what is being actually spoken. It really takes you out of the moment. And for that reason, you fail at anime NETFLIX.

The mind is like a book. It can be either open or closed. When the cover is opened, you can read, learn and experience all sorts of things. When closed, so are your chances for new experiences.
I will be honest, I have not yet read the manga. So when I watched TPN, I went in with an open mind, and just let myself enjoy the experience, and enjoy it I did. Was it perfect, no, by no means was it perfect.
Was it as terrible as many a review by the manga readers make it out to be? No, absolutely not. It was still very ... much enjoyable.
The animation artwork, the music, and voice acting are all top-notch. Was the story a bit muddled by being condensed into eleven episodes? Yeah, it was a bit condensed for my liking and that led to an odd sense of the pacing in the second season. I would have much preferred a twenty-four-episode season.
So why were there only eleven episodes? I think that can be summed up with one word - money. The producers of TPN are Aniplex and Shueisha. Aniplex is owned by Sony. Shueisha is owned by Hitotsubashi Group who happens to have Crunchyroll SAS as part of their group members. As many will know, Sony is in the process of trying to purchase Crunchyroll. So money could be the ultimate answer here in how much each company was willing to invest. And that can and will limit how many episodes a studio can produce.
Another factor, as many of the negative reviews, state that the mangas' later volumes decline in quality. Again, I have no bearing on how true that is, but I will take it at face value and assume it does.
So you have a limited budget and a manga that declines further on. As the producers, they would have to look at this and say "Do we want to make the anime as it is and either produce an anime that has a sub-par story for a third season, just run only one more season and then leave the anime audience hanging (We've all seen anime based on a manga do this all to often) or condense what will be the last season of the anime and give it an ending? And I believe they chose the last option. They chose to give us an ending rather than an anime that would end after two seasons with no continuation to a final conclusion to the anime. Could they, would they, should they have chosen a different direction, or chose different parts of the manga? Sure they could have. Should they have? Possibly, but for one, I am pleased with what they gave us. They gave us anime-only viewers a conclusion. Which is rare these days in seasonal anime.
I think, an expanded season being able to include more of the original material would have left the haters with less hate. Regardless though, haters are still going to hate and disagree with anyone else's view that differs from their own.
However, if you haven't read the manga, give the second season a try, I think you will be able to enjoy it. And if you need further convincing, look at the haters' anime list and see what they view as material worth a high score and compare that to your own tastes.

Black Bullet is one of those shows where you are best going into blind and open-minded. The anime first aired in the spring of 2014 and is based on a light novel series of which there are seven volumes.
Personally, I didn't get to the anime right away, and then after reading some reviews, I decided to place it on the back-burner as a result. I think many went into this anime expecting a sci-fi version of Shingeki no Kyojin, otherwise known as Attack on Titan. And I can understand why, as there are three distinct similarities, but they end after those three. Well, there is ... one more, but that is only because the lead voice actor in AoT for Eren, voices the lead in BB.
The three similarities are:
1. Humanity is driven to near extinction.
2. They now live behind some walled infrastructure.
3. Huge monstrosities are what created the extinction event and continue to plague humanity.
When I first read the reviews, the reason the show seemed so reviled was people viewing the use of young girls in the show as lolis. And while most usage of lolis in anime has some form of relationship tension as the subplot or sexual innuendos, this is not the case here overall. Ok, let me get to the story and explain why.

The story begins with an apocalyptic flashback of devastation as giant monsters attack. Cut forward ten years as our main protagonist Rentarou Satomi is hastily riding his bicycle in what appears to be a fairly revitalized city. He arrives on site and flashes his badge identifying him as Civil Security. People working in Civil Security are specially trained in eliminating Gastrea threats. Rentarou is a Promoter and his partner Enju is an Initiator. Each promoter is partnered with an initiator. But Enju is not with Rentarou at the moment and he is asked if he can handle the problem on his own. Rentarou acts confidently as he pulls out his handgun armed with Varanium bullets. Varanium is the only material that can apparently repel Gastrea and prevent them from regenerating if not killed outright. Sadly, the police had thought they could handle it on their own and a few officers rappelled down the building and entered before Rentarou. Rentarou charges in, only to find everyone dead, and our first look at whom would appear to be the show's antagonist and we witness our first confrontation. The assailant gets away with little effort.
We cut to Enju, who fell off the back of Rentarou's bike and is running forward. She comes across a guy asking for directions who appears completely addled in the head. Momentarily, his body starts to burst and mutate until he becomes a large spider-like monstrosity. My first reaction to this was "Oh no, not another Gibiate type anime" Yes, I watched this in the fall of 2020 after watching Gibiate a month or so earlier. Enju quickly and utterly dispatches the monster with ease and only received a slight cut to her arm.
That is our introduction to the two main characters of the story.
I feel that people went into this anime fully expecting an action series of man vs monster. And while that is the overall premise, in my impression is actually the subplot of the story. And let me explain why.

As I said earlier each promoter is partnered with an initiator. In a later episode, we find out that there are many Civil Security teams. Most of the promoters seem to be specialized with some form of weapon or skill set. Very much like a mercenary for hire, which is essentially what they are, as each works for one firm or another and get paid to deal with the Gastrea threats that pop up. The initiators though are all young girls, none older than the age of ten, hence where many get the loli image from. As it turns out, when a pregnant woman was infected prior to giving birth, some of the gastrea traits were passed along and slightly altered the genetics of the unborn child. This results in the child having untold strength, agility, and potentially some other subset of abilities depending on what type of gastrea inflicted the mother.

And here is where we get to the actual story behind Black Bullet. While there is a healthy amount of action, the whole story arc is really about how the gastrea have affected our culture. The story deals a lot with how the "Cursed Children" are treated in society. Most of society views the cursed children as monsters themselves, even though physically, they appear no different from any other ten year old. And yes, there must have been a lot of pregnant women afflicted during the first outbreak. And here is another note; while a person can be affected, until their body reaches a certain percentage of infection they appear and act normal. They just are a ticking time bomb and don't know it. And this can take place anywhere from days, months to years as with the children. So since the beginning of the Gastrea outbreak, it has only been ten years so there is no Initiator older than ten years of age. The children are viewed as monsters by most of society and thus are outcasts, living outside the protected areas or in the sewers. Scrounging for food and money, some resorting to stealing. Others, like many of the Promoters, view them simply as disposable tools and are conscripted into service. For some, like Enju, this service means a better life, education, a roof over her head etc. Most though are still just treated like outcasts.

Thus the show is about human nature, greed, and prejudice. An important lesson, especially during one episode is how children pick up the bad habits of adults, as Enju's friends at school do a 180 and treat her completely differently once she is outed as a "Cursed Child". These cursed children just want to be normal, lead normal lives. Have hopes and dreams for the future, though not knowing they can be ticking time bombs before their own infection goes above fifty percent.

Besides prejudice, the story focuses on business and politics where again, greed and pride are big subplot points. Mostly culminating in the final episode. Though a couple of unanswered points are not addressed at the end. One dealing with Takuto Yasuwaki last actions not being addressed nor who Ayn Rand (a nod to the author Ayn Rand no doubt) is and what they are planning. I figure those are resolved in the rest of the light novel chapters.

The animation artwork is fairly consistent with the mid-2010s. Nothing overly spectacular, but neither jarring or cheap looking. Decent overall. Occasionally, some of the digitally produced Gastrea don't blend as well as they could have. Luckily, those are few and far between.

The music is very good, especially the opening by Fripside and endings performed by Nagi Yanagi. I appreciated how the end credit music would start gently before the end of the episode animation. And Haru Yamada did a very good job as the sound director. I watched it subtitled, so I can not speak for any translated versions out there.

Overall it was an enjoyable show, but one you have to pay attention to all the small to little details to get the full and underlying story.

In a survivor style story, this one chooses to up the ante by having the participants selected (not totally at random) by a selection ballot where the person's name is written down on a form and mailed in. Apparently, for those who submitted the form, there is a large pay out. For those whose name was entered, they are shipped off to an island where a kill or be killed game will take place. From there, they throw in a bit of high tech with a chip embedded on the back of the left palm, that the participants need to acquire seven more in order ... to be able to leave the island. Along with a varied selection of high tech bombs or grenade-like devices, with each participant having a different type.

It is a good psychological story, which delves into the basest of human instincts. Does one trust the other players if they are to team up, and if so, for how long? Will you be betrayed by your team-mate at some given point. And in this type of story, it is not to be unexpected. It's more a matter of being prepared for when that moment arrives. This is where having a good situational awareness and decent dexterity are your best allies.

The overall story is good, but not great. It also lacks the amount of time given to only twelve episodes. It seemed apparent that they were anticipating a second season that never happened. And though the manga is only 26 chapters, either a movie or a couple of extended OVA's would have been nice to finish up the remainder of the anime to its conclusion. It would have been nice to see those who set up this game come to their own just desserts.

The art and sound are decent for the time the anime was produced. Again, good quality, but nothing outstanding.

Now the characters - here is where the story both shown and where it lacks. For the characters introduced during a certain episode, there was but the briefest of backstory. And while this kept the pacing of the episode moving along, so much more could have been done had the series had a longer run time of more episodes. It was what little character history we do get that the psychological elements come into play for why a person was chosen to participate. What drives them, what motivations (besides continuing to live) do they have.

It was an enjoyable series overall, I just wish that the anime had a conclusive ending that wraps everything up.

Hero Mask is one of those anime, heck even story in general, that is a slow burn.
We are quickly introduced to our protagonist James Blood (given that he is using some high tech contacts, bullets with tracers built-in, etc.) it would almost imply that he is supposed to be your James Bond type of character. A person who charges face-first into danger, even if that is going against direct orders.

While James is busy fishing his target out of the river from the auto chase, we meet up with Sarah (a prosecutor), our second main character of this first story arc who is going ... to meet her mentor and friend Monica who is walking across the street after a somewhat meeting. Halfway across the intersection, Monica mysteriously drops dead of a heart attack. And thus the mystery and conspiracy begin. What is it that the Live corporation is trying to cover up? Who runs the secret military organization?

The story builds gradually over the episodes, as we encounter the first direct antagonist in Grimm. A man who has this mysterious paper origami mask that allows him to change his appearance almost at a whim. What we do find out is that Grimm and James have some connection, as James arrested Grimm a few years back. But Grimm was supposed to have died while in prison. How is he alive, and how is he free?

And this is just the first few episodes of the first season. The story continues to grow from there as the investigation into what Monica was working on unfolds.

Just know that the first season will resolve the first story arc of Monica's death. There still will be some unanswered questions after the conclusion of season one.
While the first season will not resolve why the masks were created in the first place or how exactly, most questions are resolved to some degree. Some will argue (from reading others reviews) why did Harry leave the SSC. If you pay attention, the reason why was answered, if not exactly how. Some want all the background details on every character's backstory. That is like asking someone why did you have eggs for breakfast three weeks ago on Monday morning. Not all of the details are relevant to the current ongoing story. Just accept it that it happened.

The second season will offer more details on the creation of the masks and all who were involved. And at the end of season two, the overall story is completed. Sure there are a couple of loose plot threads left unfinished, but that is how life often works. Not everyone's character arc will see a complete conclusion, though we do see a few hints to it. This means to pay attention. Plus, stories like this will often leave a few such unfinished threads left open for the eventuality of a possible third season. Though given where it left off, I am fine with how it was resolved.

Overall it is a pretty good overall suspense/mystery drama that I would recommend viewing if you are into suspense and mystery. The while it is not high octane, the action isn't bad. The art and sound are decent. The character stories are intriguing. This makes for an enjoyable show overall. If you enjoy thought-provoking shows and don't have the attention span of a newt, then give this anime a try.

Kanojo, Okarishimasu aka Rent-A-Girlfriend is one of those shows where you seem to either love it or hate it, or possibly both at the same time.

The main premise is a beta by the name of Kazuya Kinoshita has recently been dumped by a girl he had just started going out with the month prior. Kazuya is a basic, single, horny, college student. So much so, they emphasize the box of tissue at the head of his bed. I will say no more of his repeated fantasies. But he does have a vivid imagination that he constantly allows to get the better of him as he ... jumps to conclusions time and again. To get himself out of the dumps, he resorts to going on an app and renting a girlfriend for an afternoon. And that is where the spiral begins.

He meets up with Chizuru Mizuhara and they go on a date. Along the way, he gets a phone call that his grandmother is in the hospital again. So Chizuru goes with him to the hospital, where (because she is working) introduces herself as Kazuya's girlfriend to his family. His family, especially his grandmother, thought he was a loser and would be single for the rest of his life. So seeing him with someone as outstanding as Chizuru amazes them. So he continues to rent her on a weekly basis to go visit his grandmother in the hospital. This is unfortunate as her grandmother is in the same hospital and is a friend of Kazuya's grandmother. So the ruse has to continue for both their sakes. And Chizuru insists on keeping the dates professional, so Kazuya's wallet keeps taking the hit.

Along the way his college buddies meet him with Chizuru and it just continues to spiral. His ex is at one of the gatherings and she tries to manipulate Kazuya as the story progresses. Seems like Mami (the ex) is the type who wants what she can't have, and has little care for what she does have.

Along comes Ruka, another rental girlfriend for one of Kazuya's friends, but she actually develops feelings for Kazuya.

This becomes a classic love triangle of everyone wanting the one person that they cannot possibly have. As the adage goes, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. But apparently, no one has any idea of that concept.

While the story has it's endearing moments, there is also so much cringe that for me, it lowers the story rating by a few points. The stalking parts are just so bad.... yeah, I know it is part of the story and how the character of Kazuya reacts to situations. But yeah, the stalking was completely cringe-worthy.

The art is nothing exceptional, but it is balanced. The character art works perfectly with the background art. All too often these days I see an anime with exceptionally highly detailed background art, only to have the character art look simple and un-detailed in comparison, and that throws the whole balance of the artwork off.

The sound is very good for the show. No complaints there.

I think I've spoken enough of Kazuya. Usually however one would see a show like this with a lot of character growth. And while Kazuya does grow slightly as a character, he is still pretty much essentially the same at the end of the last episode of the first season. I can only imagine they did so, in the thoughts that they can milk this show for another season of the same. If they do, I hope they at least decide to give the characters and show some closure at the end of that season. But pretty much each character is still pretty much the same by the end of the first season. About the only character to show any growth was Sumi, who was only around for one episode, but by the end of the episode, she began to come out of her shell.

So as far as enjoyment and the overall show, it is neither great nor terrible. But just borderline above being mediocre.

What do you get when you have game designers from the likes of Final Fantasy, Biohazard, and Resident Evil work on the same project along with a producer with no actual anime work to his name? You get Gibiate.

As the saying goes of too many cooks spoil the broth, too many game designers and producers with no anime or manga work spoil the anime.

It really felt like a mishmash of story elements that everyone envisioned of creating an anime for and they threw all the ideas into a soup pot and gave it a stir to see what came out.

There are mutant monsters (which ... just screams of Resident Evil), we have time travel as three warriors of the past are transported to the near future. There is a pandemic - very apropos given the current situation of the reality we are in right now. There are aliens... yes, you heard me right, aliens. Not the type from the movie of said name, but aliens from another world. There is a character that dresses and uses a gun almost like Jigen from Lupin III. And another character that would remind one almost of the Punisher from a certain comic line, complete with a black t-shirt with a skull on it (though a smaller skull). It is like they wanted to include every single favorite thing they liked in there.

I'm going to start with the artwork - which for the character design and the cell backgrounds is actually pretty decent. And on its own, I would give the artwork a seven on. What brings the artwork down to a four for me, is that it also includes really poor CGI for all the Gibiate monsters. And they just use multiples of each design stacked on the background, rather than handling each one separately. So they all move rather stiffly and all move the same way. It really drags the artwork and animation down. The CGI I would rate a one or two.

The sound I thought was pretty good overall. And I enjoyed the opening and ending music. Was it a great fit for the anime though - not too sure.

The characters are not too bad. The warriors three each have an interesting background. There was not a lot of character growth, however. Actually, most everyone is just character fodder - as in any apocalypse type show, the majority die.

Now onto the story.
So the basic premise is that there is an unusual viral pandemic that people have no idea of how it came about. But what happens, in this case, is that once infected, the virus re-writes the DNA of a person and causes rapid cell growth so they turn into varied monsters - all complete with a stinger so they can sting other humans and infect them so they too will change into an unintelligent monster. So instead of an undead zombie apocalypse aka Walking Dead, or Resident Evil, we get the monsters from the later parts of Resident evil. And no lie, some of them bear a striking resemblance to the ones in the last couple RE movies. There is also one mutation that looks an awful lot like a giant-sized Stitch from Lilo and Stitch. And like many monster movies, these things like to hunt primarily at night. Oddly, though the primary directive for the monsters is to replicate, they only do so by infecting others apparently. And even though there are a handful or two of different types of monsters that people change into, all the monsters seem to coexist with one another far better than present-day humans do.

But apparently, for all the military acumen and modern weaponry present day, it is all inferior in handling the monsters. Of course the way the even drew a pump shotgun was so wrong that no wonder modern-day weapons didn't work. A person could unload a fifty round magazine into one of these creatures and just barely damage if kill it. Or on the pump shotgun, there is a barrel and beneath that barrel is a reservoir tube for the extra shells. The reservoir tube needs to be the same diameter to hold the spare rounds, not half the diameter as it appeared on the screen. But along come the warriors three from the past, and using a garrot, a giant spiked club, and a katana and greatsword, they are far more effective at killing the beasts and saving the day. And wouldn't you know it, but they also just happen to find an exhibit that contains their own personal armaments from the past - how convenient.

What really chaffs my groin though is some of the stupidity of the shows overall story.
At the start of this, when the warriors three are brought to Japan in 2030, apparently this pandemic has already been going on for two years. So society as a whole has been shut down for two years. But in many of the areas, they go to, the building they enter still has power for the lights and computers. Global satellite and towers are still working for them to use the navigation on their smart devices. The satellites I could understand, but the required towers on the ground would need power. They are still easily able to get gasoline for their gas-guzzling RV that must also work like a Tardis on the inside.
They find store shelves stocked with cup-o-noodles, two years after the start of this. I don't know about you, but less than a month into our real pandemic, I could not find ramen or many other items initially. But then the same person who found the ramen, says that the components for making his bombs - mostly TnT, is very scarce and hard to find. My jaw hit the floor. Sorry, but the base material for simple TnT is black powder which is very easy to come up with the components for.
I swear, whoever wrote this did no due diligence in researching various aspects of their story. In this story, once you are stung, if the stinger had any venom in the stinger, the person is a lost cause. Yeah, I might be reaching here a little bit, but it is common knowledge that if a person is bitten by a venomous creature like a snake, that you can use a tourniquet to slow the poisons spread, or you can attempt to bleed out the wound of the poison, or worst case scenario - you amputate the infected limb or area. It would have made sense for them to at least have attempted such - especially one of the warriors three to think to try that. One of the characters is a nurse for god's sake. You'd think she would at least know that. But yes, she gets stung in the foot, so she wanders off on her own to await her own transformation.

And it comes down to the last two episodes. Throughout the show, the group has been followed by one particular beast that is higher functioning than the rest. It can go out in daylight. It can transform into other beasts at will. And it did not sting anyone when it had the chance. The lead scientist who is working on a cure referred to it by a direct name - Meteora. No one thought that was odd. I did. Each time, he didn't attempt to say anything or change their course of action when they tried to fight it. But in his interview with Kathleen he mentions his girlfriend. When Kathleen says she is sorry for his loss, he says he never said she was gone. Big clue.... Yup, they have another encounter with this Meteora and finally vanquish it. At this point the scientist gets upset as they just fought and killed his transformed girlfriend. Ummm, gee. You think he might have stated that earlier on perhaps. But noooo, he s now irate and beyond reasoning with. So he injects himself with the "cure" which actually transforms him into a Gibiate, but one that retains his intelligence. And he goes on to explain that he and his girlfriend are from another planet and that because his ship is controlled by thought waves when it flew too close to the sun (poor piloting there I guess) that it allowed Kathleen's thoughts to summon the warriors three from the past. Yeah, really bad exposition.

I really wanted to go into this liking it. But each episode it just kept sinking lower and lower into the quagmire that is was belched forth from.

You ever anticipate an upcoming show or movie expecting to be completely entertained? Well, this isn't that. It was merely OK.
The background work was great. But the character art felt flat to me. It looks like a lot of the current style of computer animation that for the sake of production speed, they sketch out the characters with minimalized details and then use a paint bucket tool to fill in the color. A stark contrast to the beautifully detailed background work.

The sound work was nicely done, no complaints there and the music blended in beautifully as well.

The problem is with the overall story. It ... felt like taking a twenty-four episode series season and condense it down into a one hour show. You learned only some bare basics about a couple of the characters and the rest are just chum for the water. And that is a huge problem as we have two lead characters with Noel and Ninny, two secondary characters with Balgo and Macy, a tertiary character with Billy, and an antagonist with Bruno. But we only learned a little about Ninny and Macy. And we learn that dragons are apparently attracted to Balgo who is the comic relief really.

Spoilers below







The initial premise (other than defending against dragons), is that a group puts a hit order out on Balgo. So the girls have to attempt to keep him alive. Meanwhile, Ninny's friend is dragged to Reverse London because she has a pet dragon. So Macy is dragged into the fight between the girls and Bruno, as her dragon transforms into an all-powerful dragon and starts destroying Reverse London. And just as the fight is going to have to come to a climax, Balgo somehow transforms his horn into an almightly looking sword. So you think that Balgo may end up being the hero. Nope, an energy blast from far away from one-shots the dragon, and the show gradually draws to a close with a bunch of little end sequences.

One of the worst ova series I have seen in recent years.
The artwork is mediocre, given that it came out in the mid 2000's I would have expected better. The CGI is also very mediocre but was probably good back then. It just doesn't blend well at all.
One of the first problems I had was the terminology. Now, I am not sure if the creator just thought they'd try and be "cool" by using what they thought was a futuristic term for the use of distance in this "Wired" virtual realm or if it was the result of some really bad translation in the ... subtitles. But they used the term parsec as a unit of measure. For those unaware, one parsec is approximately equal to 31 trillion kilometers (19 trillion miles), or 210,000 astronomical units, and equates to about 3.3 light-years. But they were using it for something which would visually appear to be a kilometer. That basically informed me right then and there that either the author or translator lacks intelligence.
The second issue, is how damage in this virtual world is related to the real world. If someone dies in this virtual world, their entire head explodes in a violent burst of blood and tissue in the real world. That made no sense at all.
From there, the problems just kept stacking up one after another.
By the way, the team that subtitled this apparently thinks that the word gambling is spelled gamboling.
Save your time and watch something else.