- Last OnlineJul 29, 2017 10:24 AM
- GenderMale
- LocationThe Edge of the Universe
- JoinedOct 18, 2016
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Jun 17, 2017
12 of 12 episodes seen
|
96
people found this review helpful
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| Overall |
3 |
| Story |
2 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
5 |
| Character |
2 |
| Enjoyment |
3 |
King’s Avatar is a show that made a wave before its actual first episode aired, solely because it was chinese, it looked good and it got people nostalgic about the old days of SAO craziness.
To me, the characters were dull, the story was close to nothing and the aesthetic and sound of it were above average but not amazing.
The story of King’s Avatar is straightforward, having no “tricky” plot twists or high stakes to get the viewers riled up and praying for the characters.
The story takes place in a world where people look up to and give great importance to pro gamers.
It revolves around the 30-ish pro gamer,Xiu Ye, who gets fired from his pro gaming team although he is considered the best player out there. After suffering this great injustice, Xiu Ye vows to make a come back, by working his way up the latest server of the incredibly popular “Glory” game, and making a name for himself. The story presents Xiu Ye’s everyday life and struggles as he shoots to become the best player… again.
To start off, I’ve seen numerous viewers drawing parallels between Sword Art Online and the King’ Avatar, but these two shows are only similar in their premise, they both feature an MMORPG and an OP main character.
As for dissimilarities, they are everywhere, starting with the goddamn plot: in King’s Avatar we have Xiu Ye getting kicked out of his Esports pro gaming team and vowing to make a comeback within a year, by working his way up the new Glory 10 game server, while in SAO we have a large number of gamers who are trapped in a virtual game and can die at any moment. Besides the word “game” and its word palette, are there any similarities? Nope.
As I watched the first episode and saw how the show portayed the “friendship” and “loyalty” within the gamer team, I thought it was gonna be a nice experience and an overall nice show, but I was wrong. Following Xiu Ye’s departure, the story took a drastic dive into nothingness in my opinion. It started showing Xiu Ye playing Glory on the computer, for the entire duration of the episode, and that was just incredibly boring.
The protagonist goes to different worlds (or whatever they’re called, I’m not a gamer), assembles a specific team with the purpose of beating the time record for clearing that world of monsters, then proceeds to clear that world, sometimes mostly by himself.
Another big issue I had with the show is that it did not explore any of those in-game worlds, it didn’t explain anything about what tactics the game allowed or even how the game worked. It was all a mess.
To me, the plot felt segmented and disjointed. Every new episode consists of Xiu Ye travelling to a new in-game world and beating the time record. The world is not explored, there is no emphasis put on the characters and there is no clear connection between the episodes, they don’t add up to make a series, they are just puzzle pieces forced together. You could easily watch the episodes, except for the first and last ones, in whatever order you pleased, and you wouldn't feel any difference.
With Ye Qiu’s background as the former freaking best pro gamer, even as a low-level player he had absolutely no problems defeating any obstacles the game or other players put in his way, he just defeated everything.
And because the protagonist can defeat anything the show throws at him, any potential tension there was left, dissipated into utter nothingness, therefore all the flashy fight scenes served no purpose and held no meaning any longer, other than proving how awesome the protagonist was.
What really bothered me was the lack of any stakes, there is nothing that the protagonist will lose if he loses in the game. And because of that, and his insane gaming skills, I wasn’t engaged, felt not tension or suspense and overall didn’t care for the show.
As for the characters, they are just for decor, shallow tropes, generic, one-dimensional characters lacking any shadow of personality, except for the protagonist who’s only trait is being good at playing on the computer.
To be honest, none of the characters have any sort of life or goals other than getting better in the game. They don’t interact with each other, they don’t develop and they seem to have no private life or any kind of life outside the game, no jobs, no worries, no nothing. They aren’t even worth mentioning, not even the protagonist.
As for the animation of the show that so many people praise, I personally disliked it. It mixed CGI with regular animation which made the characters look out of place and move in an oddly manner, but I agree that the fight scenes were well done, and a few other more scenes I really liked.
The sound is mediocre, with a pretty good opening theme, an ending theme I don’t remember listening and quite the bland soundtrack, the sound really is nothing memorable or to brag about.
I almost forgot, now I fully know and understand why some people dislike chinese anime, the voice actors are just awful and the language itself is quite unappealing.
Did I hate the show? I can’t say I hated this show but it definitely wasn’t a pleasant or remotely nice watching experience, just boring. Sure, the fight scenes were nice but they held no substance and had no build up so they ended up being just something I fast forwarded over. I can safely say that I would rather start playing on my computer than watch another show like this.
In conclusion, I would not recommend spending your time with this show, it’s just not worth it, but maybe if you are a gamer you will think otherwise, so be sure to check out the first episode or two.
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Jun 17, 2017
12 of 12 episodes seen
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254
people found this review helpful
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| Overall |
4 |
| Story |
5 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Character |
2 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
Attack on titan needs no further introductions, we all know about it… there are some people who put it on a pedestal, and there are some people who denigrate it. I choose to be honest and interpret the facts as fairly as I possibly can, and not write a verbose review.
In my opinion, Attack on Titan is one of those shows that even though it does not shine quality-wise, meaning it doesn’t have “great” characters or “epic” twists, it is amazingly entertaining to watch.
The story is fairly simple and straightforward, but thicker than my expectations based on the previous season, it is
decently paced and has enough twists and “spice” to keep the viewers engaged and maybe draw the attention away from the lack of gravity on the characters’ side.
The premise and setting of the series is something I always found intriguing: the last traces of humanity trapped in an apocalyptic/dystopian world, giving their all to survive the man-eating monsters and live another day to fight. It sounds great, right? Hell yes!... but the execution of this great premise is lacking in many ways, or rather could have been done better.
For starters, some viewers, myself included, may find the pacing somewhat of a problem. I sometimes felt the show was dragging on, being laggard and just covering as little manga content in as much screentime as possible, ending up with a bunch of episodes and little story progression… but this pace issue frequently got clouded by fighting, so it wasn’t that big a deal., unless you particularly looked for it.
Of Course, the pacing of the show most probably is part of some dilatory tactics on the director's side, but that only makes things worse.
There is no “great” or memorable conflict to mention, no depth to the show and the story doesn’t have a clear direction.
The story of AoT got an awful lot more “messy” compared to the first season. In the previous season, the show had somewhat of a clear direction given by Erren’s aspiration to “kill all titans!!!”(as cliche as that may sound), his quest to find what’s in his father’s basement and Anne throwing sticks in his wheels, but this season, nothing about his father’s basement is mentioned, Anne is old history and her shoes have been filled by pretty weak characters, and Eren has way less intense scenes to get me hyped up, but that’s not to say other characters didn’t have some badass scenes.
As a side note, the random characters flashbacks were awful, the out of nowhere “Hey bro, I’m the armored titan” plot twist was deplorably executed, and throwing a bunch of Humanoid Titans in the mix did no good either, just made the show feel a lot more “random”. At every new human titan presented I sarcastically said “Oh, really? They’re titans too?”.
As I’ve already said, the story is fairly simple and highly predictable. I expected and wished the show would contain more subplots that would deepen the main plot and make it more interesting, not that it was necessary.
Subplots, they can be used to reveal important aspects about characters’ personalities and make them more appealing, or to present the story from different perspectives and give it a twist, or a bunch more other desired results, imminently making the story more complex, which is a good thing. What I wanted the writers to use subplots for mostly has to do with the conflicts in the series, which I’ll mention next.
When we think about the word “conflict” we immediately jump to violence, physical altercations, political matters, etcetera. Well, when it comes to stories, there are many, many types of “conflicts”, such as character versus self; character versus nature; character against fate; human nature; (etc.) that will never get old and can make a show so much better.
While I agree AoT employs various conflicts and I’ve witnessed some self-exploration, a lot of fighting against nature (portrayed by Titans) and a bit of human nature exploration, I don’t think enough emphasis was put on them.
Getting back to subplots. Amongst other reasons, I wanted the writers to use more subplots as a way to fluidly introduce and combine different kinds of story conflicts within a single narrative, so that tension would be generated by varied sources. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen, but it ain’t the end of the world, so… moving on.
All in all, nothing was particularly well done, or deplorably done regarding the story. Both the story and the execution of it, was tolerable, most of the times I found it decent but sometimes annoying. I have to give credit where it’s due: the show has no plot armor (except for Mikasa) and little plot conveniences, but it’s got nothing else going for it.
I consider the character side of AoT to be what’s really crippling the show. The characters miserably failed to make any sort of good, or remotely good, impression on me.
The characters - They’re like white crayon on white paper. Sure, the characters run around and they do stuff and say lines but none of it has anything to do with character and has everything to do with plot — as if the characters are just another mechanism to get to the next action sequence or the next plot point, and that is why AoT failed constructing and developing its characters.
The cast is composed of a large number of characters, but most if not all of them are just for decor, bodies in the background, lacking any vigor or personality and aren’t even worth mentioning. Considering the show focused the first half of its episodes on side characters and completely erased the main cast from the screen, not being able to develop those side characters is quite pathetic in my humble opinion.
The “main” characters aren’t much better, they are one dimensional, cliche stereotypes, lacking any interesting features or depth and frankly, they are boring and irritating.
I believe that in a good story, the main character, Eren in this case, should win or lose at least partly on his own strength and not just be rescued by someone else or some fortunate “random” event, and in the end, the protagonist learns and grows as he tries to solve his problems and face his actions.
Events that happen to the characters have to in some way affect them. Things cannot be the same at the end as they were in the beginning.
As you can probably guess, I am disappointed with Erren. He is a hard headed, hot blooded, impulsive, titan-hating young man who lacks self-restraint and the mind to see what his actions may lead to, and he is prefigured to try and yell his way through any situation, later getting his ass handed to him.
He oftens loses confidence in his powers and capabilities, later on regaining it (as seen when he almost defeated the Armored Titan). He is your typical avenging main character, he has nothing else to offer, he goes in half-cocked, panics, screams, gets his ass whooped, gets saved my Mikasa and then repeats, learning nothing from what has happened.
Besides those “amazing” and “awe inspiring” traits, Eren’s development goes no further than whatever he received in the first season, he is just like a large rock, be it winter or summer, snowing or sunny, the rock stays the same.
His character is so stagnant to the point it irritates me, the events he goes through and actions he takes affect his nature in no way, and that is just poor writing for the sake of poor writing.
As for the rest of the main cast, Armin and Mikasa, should they even be considered as main characters for this season? I think not, since they received so little screentime, held no important role the show couldn't have done without and had no great influence over the progression of the story. Anyway, I’ve barely seen Armin this season, and from what I’ve witnessed, he is the same as before, the tiny guy with the big ideas.
Mikasa, almost nothing changed about her either, she is as poorly constructed as ever. She is described as a goddess of 3D Maneuvers and overall combat skills, she has no flaws, and ironically, that is a flaw in itself. But, this season she turns into some sort of yandere girl, going on about “noone stand between me and Eren”, and that is just laughable.
As far as aesthetics and sound go, this season felt a weaker than before. The animation was fluid, consistent and overall pretty good, even the CG, but certainly poorer than what the first season had to offer.
With a mediocre opening theme and an ending theme I don’t remember listening to, the sound is nothing memorable, but the OST does the trick and facilitates the “hype” mood to set in. I consider the sound to also be inferior to what the previous season featured.
As for enjoyment. Oh, maaan... AoT was a highly entertaining watching experience, it got me engaged and hyped up for 80% of its duration, saw some very nice and juicy titan fight scenes and that’s exactly what I was looking for. Long story short, I had A BLAST watching this series, really did.
Although I had a lot of fun with the show, something felt missing while watching this season, but I’m not sure what. The music is still there, the visuals are still there, the gruesome, bloody deaths are still there and yet, it doesn’t feel the same as before. The atmosphere and vibe of the show changed, and not for the better.
To be honest, I’m not sure what the point of this season was and why the creators decided to do it. It’s clear the budget wasn’t that great so they weren’t expecting the show to bring in huge profits and it’s clear they don’t want to progress the story because they keep dragging things for episodes and episodes.
I guess the point of it was to revitalize or reignite the hype for the show, so it wouldn’t loose all it’s fans and end up forgotten like some old rock band from the ‘80, or maybe the purpose of it was to get people to buy and read the manga. Afterall, someone has to do it, just not me.
In conclusion, AoT is a decent show quality wise, it has a fairly good story that is, unfortunately, dragged down by poorly constructed characters, all coming in a package with good animation and sound. It is definitely not a bad show but nor the masterpiece or revolutionary, one-of-a-kind series people make it out to be.
To put it bluntly, AoT is the equivalent of a summer blockbuster: you watch it, you really enjoy it, you finish it and then you forget about it, or at least that would be the case if it weren’t for the fanboys constantly mentioning it.
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Apr 10, 2017
22 of 22 episodes seen
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133
people found this review helpful
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| Overall |
6 |
| Story |
5 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Character |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
4 |
My opinion:
To be honest, I’ve always found reviewing slice of life series to be difficult and unpleasant, doing it is just tedious.
In recent years the anime production standards have steadily dropped culminating with the winter 2017 season which is filled with generic otaku-targeted shows, and thus 3-gatsu no Lion distinguished itself by having a more “serious” tone and being better, compared to the vast number of shitty series that aired at the same time.
I usually avoid watching slice of life because, in most cases, the story is nothing special and the pacing is slow, leaving me unsatisfied and on the brink of falling asleep in
front of the screen. Unfortunately that perfectly applies to 3-gatsu no Lion’s case.
Story: 5/10
3-gatsu no Lion revolves around Rei Kiriyama and his everyday life, portraying Rei’s struggles with his past as well as the difficulties he encounters as a professional Shogi player.
With the show being part of the SoL genre, one can anticipate the story being dull with a fundamentally slow pacing that gradually tests your patience for the duration of the 22 episodes, and that it does.
The story is simple, not original or engaging in any particular way, it holds no hidden messages or deep meanings and develops at a pace so slow that sometimes makes you doze-off in front of the screen. Well, to be honest, the show does hold a few "hidden messages" about family, life and such.
The show’s plot just plods along, inducing a comatose state that is very difficult to recover from.
To my pleasant surprise, 3-gatsu no Lion contains some drama as well as comedy having a few entertaining and gripping moments, covering and merging multiple tones, alternating introspective and dark scenes with lively and funny moments, features which helped progress the story in a more fluid way while the show did a fairly decent job explaining the Shogi game in a way that anyone can understand.
The short flashbacks to Rei’s past were some of the very few things I liked about the execution of this show, execution that was tedious except for a few exceptions to the rule.
Characters: 7/10
Although 3-gatsu no Lion is a character-focused show I was not impressed with its performance in this category, not even in the slightest.
The characters are decently built also being decently developed but at the same time they are stagnant and ultimately feel bland. I personally did not find the characters to be likeable or relatable to nor particularly deep or intriguing.
Rei Kiriyama is a 17-year-old boy who had a harsh childhood during which he faced many difficulties and sad moments. The difficulties he experienced as a child traumatized him and drove him to become an introvert who spends most of his time alone, studying Shogi, game which is his “passion”.
By meeting the Kawamoto family, the changes in Rei’s behavior and personality are put into motion, he slowly meets and starts to interact with more people while exploring his own emotions and getting to better know himself.
Rei’s parents passed away due to a car accident when he was just a child, leaving him alone in a world he did not know or fully understand. After the loss of his family, Rei secluded himself in the Shogi game, considering he had nothing left aside from that game. No relatives were willing to care for him but fortunately, one of his father’s close friends was kind enough to welcome Rei in his home and treat him like part of the family, but in that man’s home Rei will continue to face difficulties and sadness, being resented by the other two children.
While trying to escape from that pressure, Rei decides to live alone in Tokyo and work as a professional Shogi player in order to pay for his expenses.
As the story develops so does Rei's character.
Kyouko Kouda, Rei’s older adoptive sister, is a self-centered and egoistic young woman who has no real worries other than her relationship with Gotou (the bad guy), a married older man who also happens to be a professional Shogi player.
Kyouko has no issues standing and watching Rei getting beaten by Gotou and when in need of help she has no issues going to Rei’s house looking for help like nothing ever happened. She is described as a “witch” by Momo, the youngest of the 3 Kawamoto sisters.
Aesthetics: 8/10
The animation and art are beautiful as well as the color palette which is very nice, featuring colors according to the tone each scene employs and clearly conveying the feelings and emotions the moment carries.
The character design could have been done better and there are some minor flaws in the animation but other than that I have nothing to complain about.
Sound: 8/10
Both opening and ending themes are great, arousing and inducing a certain mindset for the viewer to have as well as setting the mood for the show.
The OST is very good, working in tandem with the animation and perfectly conveying the emotions each scene carries.
The voice actors did a great job interpreting the characters, I particularly liked the 3 sisters’ voices and also the voice of the pets.
Enjoyment: 4/10
I’ve always said “Why watch slice of life when you can go out and do the real thing?”.
Watching 3-gatsu no Lion was a fairly bad watching experience, the show being very dull but having some entertaining moments to maybe remember.
Overall: 6.4/10
3-gatsu no Lion is a show that I found difficult to finish and that made me constantly feel like I was wasting my time. I would not recommend watching this show unless you are a fan of the slice of life genre or you want to fall asleep.
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Apr 10, 2017
12 of 12 episodes seen
|
21
people found this review helpful
|
| Overall |
7 |
| Story |
8 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Character |
6 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
During 91 Days I felt like watching the movies Godfather, Lawless, Donnie Brasco and Public Enemies all at the same time, with a complex but solid plot, suspense backed up by factual consequences that keep you on the edge of your seat and solid characters that live up to the expectations combined with genuine mafia tactics and actions resulted in a good watching experience that felt like a breath of fresh air because 91 Days was different from other shows, it avoided being generic or cliched.
The story takes place in the prohibition times and it is about a young boy named Angelo who had
his family murdered by mafiosos right before his very eyes, leaving Angelo with no reason to live other than seeking revenge for the family he lost.
What appeared to be a generic “revenge” scenario turned out to be a complex but believable look into the workings of the mafia, filled with suspense, thrilling moments, betrayals and plot twists.
The veritable mafia manner of doing things such as making “lasagna” out of an adversary, ordering hits on family members, different mob families battling over territory, family members double crossing and betraying each other and the paranoia created by that were great additions to the series.
The story does have some flaws regarding its execution and methodical pacing but I am too lazy to get into details.
The characters come in great numbers but few of them get proper characterization or development, most of them being one-dimensional and some of them even coming off as cartoon-ish characters (Ex: Fango).
Angelo (the protagonist) is an empty shell of a man that lives only to obtain his revenge against the people who murdered his family. He is patient, clever, level headed and merciless not being satisfied with just killing his targets but wanting to destroy his targets and everything they wish, care and stand for.
At one point Angelo kills his childhood friend, the friend he considers family, in order to avenge the family he once lost. Angelo erased what family he had left just to achieve a distant goal, that goes to show how damaged and obsessed to the point of madness Angelo really was.
Angelo is determined to see his plans through to the end no matter the consequences, with each kill he draws closer to his final goal thinking once that goal is achieved he would be free and given a reason to live.
Nero is one of the people who murdered Angelo’s family and one of the man Angelo seeks to destroy. Nero is a man deeply devoted to upholding the crime family’s integrity, name and pride. While Angelo seeks to destroy and crush that family, Nero seeks to keep that crime family together, thus making them opposite forces.
In the end, the two main characters, after Nero’s family is killed according to Angelo’s plan, they are both able to understand each other on a deeper level.
Even though they both hate each other, they also understand and sympathize with each other. Nero was the only person that Angelo did not want to kill, as he said in the end “It is because I didn’t want to kill you.”
They both needed what only the other could offer, for Angelo it was salvation through death and for Nero it was redemption and forgiveness for his crimes.
I did not pay much attention to the aesthetics since the plot is very interesting.
The animation is pretty good but nothing special although it is fluid, the character design and overall art is good although it lacks dynamic and that “nice” color saturation.
Decent opening/ending themes and little background music, I personally did not miss it nor wish for more.
I highly enjoyed this series, it felt like a breath of fresh air in a world polluted by cliched and generic shows. Even with its flaws, 91 Days was absolutely worth the watch.
Since some viewers seem to not understand the ending, here is a short explanation:
Angelo tells Nero to drive to the ocean, they both know what will happen there, it is a matter of “where” rather than “if” or “when”. Once they arrive to the ocean, they start walking along the beach, Angelo showing his sympathy towards Nero, confessing he grew to like Nero and did not want to kill him. As Angelo walks in front, Nero pulls a gun and after hesitating, he pulls the trigger and kills Angelo, not because he wanted to but because Angelo needed to be freed (as shown a few minutes earlier when Angelo said “You should have killed me 7 years ago”). On the car ride away from the beach, Nero looks down and smiles at a can of pineapples sitting in the passenger’s seat, reminiscing about the time when Angelo bought all those pineapples on their first trip together. The ending scene shows the footprints in the beach sand being washed away by waves, suggesting closure, like turning a new page.
91 Days is a show that goes beyond the revenge story, showing mafia wars and the darker side of men. I highly recommend watching this show.
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Apr 3, 2017
13 of 13 episodes seen
|
62
people found this review helpful
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| Overall |
8 |
| Story |
8 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Character |
8 |
| Enjoyment |
7 |
My Opinion:
This show is grossly underrated both popularity-wise and rating-wise. I am here to right that wrong, through a short review that will touch the more important points.
Onihei is a well written show featuring nice characters, unfortunately the story felt a bit too segmented and without a clear direction.
However, it was one hell of a watching experience that had some meaningful life lessons which I will remember for some time.
Story: 8/10
The story revolves around Heizou Hasegawa who is the chief of the Arson Theft Control division which consists of a small group of people charged with keeping the peace and stopping criminals at
night, when people sleep in their beds.
The story is episodic, too episodic I might say, and a bit repetitive, following the archetype of “describe the setting> reveal the problem > hero action > consequences> hero thoughts” but nonetheless it is very well written and enjoyable, offering many points of view through the perspectives of the different characters.
Each episode presents a life lesson through the form of a problem that will be solved, and during the solving of that problem, the main character will make observations and meaningful comments such as “Men can engage in evil while doing good”, remarks that I often found interesting.
The story is well-written because it features a serious atmosphere that is heavily inspired by history, each episode presents an interesting new character, showing their inner-thoughts, emotions and how that character is connected to the problem, with an ending presenting the character’s interpretation of the events that transpired and often a concluding comment from the protagonist.
Considering the “serious” atmosphere, the series still is successful in inserting a few comedy scenes that are not the generic type you see in every anime but scenes that are amusing on a fundamental level and often use the context of the episode to become even more entertaining, such as the father who preached “always live honestly” to his son while not being honest himself or when the chief of the Anti-Theft division bribed one of his subordinates, etc.
Also, the story is written in such a way that I often found myself feeling compassion for some of the thieves, resenting others but at the same time respecting them, all being in the shadow of the deep and dominant aura of the protagonist.
The point is that Onihei has a great balance of comedy, action, emotion and great storytelling.
Characters: 8/10
The character cast is large, yet well-built. Each character has an unique personality and past that explains their actions and holds a lesson to be learned but since this is a show divided in small, one-episode arcs, there wasn’t much character development involved.
Heizou Hasegawa is the protagonist of the show, he is well known for his sharp mind and good instincts as well as his swordplay. Heizou is a deep character with a dominant yet elegant personality that I found very intriguing although he is hardly relatable to. As the story unfolds, his past is revealed in more and more detail and it is explained how he met with different characters that ended up being either victims or perpetrators in his current Arson Theft cases.
Each episode introduces a new character that will be described throughout the episode so it would be difficult to discuss about each of them.
In a nutshell, each one of these “episodic” characters are somehow related to both Heizou and the case he is investigating, throughout the episode their personality and past is presented and shortly analyzed.
Aesthetics: 7/10
The character design is elegant and realistic, the art is beautiful being accompanied by a color palette formed mostly of “serious” tones that perfectly fit the atmosphere of the show, and the animation is fluid with few flaws.
Sound: 7/10
The opening theme and ending theme are fine but what I loved was the unusual OST that somehow managed to work in harmony with the show. The voice actors did a great job as well, especially Kenyuu Horiuchi who perfectly interpreted Heizou’s character.
Enjoyment: 7/10
Onihei was a bit too episodic for my taste, but I may be too harsh because I attempted to watch the show in one sitting, which was not the best idea.
I liked the protagonist as well as the rest of the cast and I never felt that the show didn’t have enough action.
Overall: 7.5/10
Onihei is a very good series with a well-written plot accompanied by an excellent character cast, coming in a package with very good animation and sound.
If you like samurai-themed shows or well-written shows in general, I suggest watching Onihei.
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Apr 2, 2017
26 of 26 episodes seen
|
30
people found this review helpful
|
| Overall |
7 |
| Story |
7 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Character |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
My Opinion:
This show presents the darkness of reality, a violent world filled with betrayal, madness, deceit and sacrifices. It shows coruption at its finest and the mafia way of living and dying.
It is the story of a man who’s very essence and existence is changed through brute force. It presents the protagonist’s path that leads to the man he will become as well as his struggle to find the man he once was.
Story: 7/10
The premise of Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom is truly original, with well done plot details and carefully thought actions, it keeps you on the edge of your seat, craving for more
of this fine anime. The story starts in America, with one man in his early twenties that can not remember his past nor his identity but has a natural talent for surviving and killing people. He is given a choice, to be killed or to kill in order to live, and with this choice starts our journey along side Ein and Zwei, in the contemporan world of corruption, crime and violence, a world ruled by the crime syndicate called Inferno.
The plot is masterfully written, it has few to no holes, it is almost perfectly paced, it is mostly reality-like and following a rational path. Love is also portayed because the protagonists know they have feelings for each other but their status as assasins makes it hard for them to follow those feelings.
The two protagonists are standing under a constant dilemma.
"What is freedom if you have to kill for it” is one of the questions brought up by the protagonists. If they kill others in order to assure their survival, does that not make them evil? If they do not follow and comply with Inferno’s orders, they will be killed. If they fail at their task, they will be killed. The only way to salvation from their hell is death but their own survival instincts prevent them even from attempting suicide. Thus, their life becomes a constant struggle for maintainig their hummanity in the face of impossible odds.
Characters: 7/10
The characters are very well built, solid but at the same time lacking any real information about their past. Zwei and Ein are two of the greatest ambiguous characters in anime. Ein and Zwei do not care for anything in the world but their own lives.
Ein, the female lead, has no past, she is an incredibly apathetic girl of age between 18 and 22 (my educated guess). Although she may look innocent she is a trained and experimented assasin that blindly follows Scythe Master’s orders. She is described by Scythe Master as having no original thoughts, no ego, no descernable personality, but she later develops a certain degree of free will and a definetly stronger personality that comes with her new name, Ellen, given by Zwei.
Zwei, the male protagonist, is a man, of Japanese origins that is traveling in America. Through Scythe Master’s assasin-processing treatment he becomes a ruthless killer. Zwei later finds his true identity and birth name, Reiji Azuma, and with finding his true identity he remembers his past but decides he can not go back to his fammily after the many murders he commited. Although he is an assasin, he is very diffrent from Ein, Zwei has a strong sense of free will.
Cal is a character that is not very well done, she has no background development. The whole story and execution of Cal, seem out of place and out of pace. She is about 8 years old when Zwei takes her under his care and after the 3 years time-skip, the little girl is portrayed as an 18 years old smoking-hot lady who is the new Pahntom of Inferno and looking to kill Zwei. As soon as Cal is revealed to be the new Phantom she is portrayed as an one man army, which has not happened before in this show. In my oppinion Cal is just a weak character, arrogant and cocky for no reason. In the end, Cal only sought approval and Zwei’s friendship. After Zwei’s and Cal’s gun fight, as she was dying, Zwei said to her, "we made a little mistake that changed our lives forever" and that is so very true.
Another character worth mentioning is Claudia McCunnen, a highly intelligent and cunning female with an important position in Inferno. She will stop at nothing to achieve her goals, unfurtunately, her character is not developed properly.
Someone else worth mentioning worth mentioning is Helmut von Giusepe also known as Skythe Master, he is a doctor of psyhology and neurology that uses his knowledge in his quest to create the perfect assasin. He is the main antagonist of the show and yet his character is not developed well.
Aesthetics: 8/10
The animation is fluid and the action scenes are well coreographed. The character design and overall art is beautfiul being displayed using a sober color palette that perfectly fits the tone of the show.
Sound: 8/10
The sound was nice as well, containing great songs, sort of opera songs during the dramatic and fight scenes. The opening theme was good as well, the ending theme was mediocre.
Enjoyment: 10/10
A 10/10 rating is obvious, I loved the show and there is no need for further explanations.
Ending: 10/10
About the end of the series: it is one of the most well-planned and saddest endings of all anime. The end was ambiguous and opened to speculations and yet it still added finallity to the series as a whole.
Although it is hard to digest and meaningful, the ending is beautiful. In the end, Zwei and Ein are looking up at the sky from a hayfield somewhere in Mongolia, the birth place of Ein, also the place where Zwei will be assasinated moments later.
"I lived a life leaving nothing behind but shuttered dreams and broken promises", "I want to fulfill a promise. That is to make you smile. To find your true smile. One day I will..." is what Zwei said moments before his death.
In the leadup to Zwei’s death it is hinted that he saw his end coming and accepted it, seeing Ein smiling, his final task and promise fulfilled. When Ein sees Zwei’s silent collapse after being shot, she poisons herself by eating the pedal of a flower named Geramium. "I have memories of me being with you/These memories are enough for me" is what Ein said before she fainted away from the screen.
Overall: 7.3/10
Phantom is a truly amazing show that kept me on the edge of my seat for its duration, having a complex yet solid plot accompanied by delicate yet firm characters and coming in a package with very good animation that works in tandem with the sound.
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Mar 31, 2017
12 of 12 episodes seen
|
94
people found this review helpful
|
| Overall |
7 |
| Story |
7 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Character |
5 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
My opinion:
Youjo Senki is a series that succeeds in portraying the “reincarnated and transported to a different world” scenario while having a unique approach on the “military” genre.
The story is well executed and approaches the military genre from a new and unique perspective that I found really entertaining. The character cast is a “one man army” composed of Tanya, aside from her character there really aren’t any other good characters.
The animation works in harmony with the sound department, resulting in a great watching experience that really allows the viewer to enter the show’s world.
Story: 7/10
For having insulted “God”, an atheist and
arrogant Japanese salaryman in the moment of his death is sentenced to be reborn in an alternate universe similar to 1910's Europe mixed with early aspects of World War II, in an empire torn apart by countless wars with all nearby countries.
The salaryman is reborn as a girl who will be known as Second Lieutenant Tanya Degurechaff of the Imperial Army, a 9-year-old soldier girl. As God stated, if Tanya doesn’t meet her end through a natural death or she refuses to have faith in Him, her soul will be sent to hell for all eternity. In order to avoid going to hell, Tanya decides to enter the Empire’s Mages Division and fight in the “world war” hoping to climb the ladder to the top ranks as fast as possible to remain away from the battlefield as a way to avoid the risk of being killed and at the same time “live the good life”.
Even if the arrogant salaryman is now forced to have the body of a young girl, he soon adapts to the situation and turns into a merciless soldier who prioritizes efficiency above all.
To be honest, in the beginning of the series, and even before I started watching it, I found the “man in loli body” to be ridiculous and it actually bothered me for the duration of the first 3 episodes but I soon got over it and got intrigued by Tanya’s character instead of being bothered by her appearance.
The story takes place in quite a normal world, except for the existence of “magic”. The show does a good job at portraying how differing countries can act when they are disagreeing, just skipping the political talks and jumping to war, and the way it employs real war tactics such as trench warfare was really nice to see.
Also, the “Empire” can be compared to WW1 Germany, the Republic can be compared to France and the enemy alliance can be compared to the Triple Entente (and a few more comparisons I won’t bother mentioning), I found all these similarities to be a great addition to the show by giving it veracity.
The story unfolds at a satisfying pace, nothing felt like it was developing too fast or too slow, but the first episode could have been done better and used to explain things such as why the Empire is fighting against so many countries, how the magic-based weapons work, how magic came to be, etc. With that in mind, the first episode did its job well, its purpose was to display an interesting scene that will compel the viewer to watch the series by showing that there is gonna be a ton of action, and it did that very well.
I consider Youjo Senki to be quite the unique “military” show that approaches things from a different and interesting perspective, compared to what I am used to. On the other hand, it lacks the complex story and meaningful messages it would take for me to consider it a “very good” series.
There aren’t many “clever” moments or twists that left me pondering, just a straightforward story that although it is a tad bit ridiculous at times, I found it good.
“War does not decide who is right, but who is left”. What really separated Youjo Senki from other generic war series (like Izetta:The Last Witch) was the fact that there are no real “bad guys”, or in this case bad countries, only patriots blindly believing their country’s propaganda and soldiers following orders which is very true and realistic.
This is what I found very dumb: People, that studied and experienced war for 20-30 years can’t come up with a good strategy but the businessman Tanya (because that is what she/he really is, a businessman) was able to do so without any effort. Even if I was to take into account the possibility that Tanya studied war and had a natural talent for it, that still wouldn’t explain the veteran’s incompetence nor Tanya’s success, it’s just ludicrous.
Characters: 5/10
This is where Youjo Senki fails. Except for Tanya and “Being X” there really is no one that is worth mentioning, the support characters are just bland tropes used for decor, having the banal purpose of being plot tools, sacrifices or just to fill up the void.
Tanya Degurechaff, the protagonist, is a young blonde, blue-eyed 10 years old girl who is the reincarnation of a cold-hearted atheist and social-darwinist Japanese salaryman who was sent to another world because “he” who is now a “she” insulted God. Compared to others, Tanya has a high latent magical ability and is the only one capable of using an experimental “Type-95 operation orb” due to Being X's interference. She controls a battalion of elite mages whose main purpose is to overwhelm enemy forces while also remaining highly mobile and relatively small.
Tanya is quite ruthless and intolerant towards the mistakes and failures of others, much the same as in her previous life, and employs several extreme punishments and training methods.
What makes her characters interesting is that she is similar to an “anti-hero”, she is merciless, cunning, egoistic, arrogant and shows sociopathic tendencies through the façades she uses and monologues that explain the logic and reasonings behind her actions. Tanya doesn’t wish for riches, world fame, world domination or other generic motives, she only has the mundane goal of living a comfortable life that ends by a natural death, which I found a bit hilarious but also original and made me relate to her character a bit.
“Being X” is a self-centered and villainous god-like entity, more like a self-proclaimed God, and throughout the series it forces Tanya to praise his name by putting her in situations where she has no other choice than doing so. His form is unknown, he only appears through proxies but we know he has absolute power since he altered the fundamentals of the world on multiple occasions.
What bugged me was his unknown reason for being so obsessed with Tanya. Out of millions of non-believers he chose particularly that salaryman and then invested quite a lot of time (since this “god” doesn’t seem to be omnipotent and omnipresent) in trying to make that salaryman a believer. It just seems odd.
Aesthetics: 8/10
The animation has a well-suited color palette, it is fluid with well-done CGI and the background art is beautiful, but the character design is… let’s just say the character design leaves to be desired.
The action scenes have such a natural flow that it’s mesmerizing, it offers a very good and immersive watching experience, and the animation, without a doubt, is one of the best this season.
Sound: 9/10
I liked the opening theme but I found the ending theme to be great and I almost never skipped it, that says quite a lot. The OST is very good and gives one hell of an immersive experience because you can feel the impact behind every explosion, gunshot, etc. Most of the voice actors interpret the characters very well (loved whenever Being X made an appearance) but there are actors who could have done their job better.
Enjoyment: 8/10
I highly enjoyed this series, which was a surprise to me.
The action scenes were great and the show didn’t have any moments I found obscenely ludicrous or any other irritating factors.
Overall: 6.5/10
Youjo no Senki is a good show that employs a unique and well done plot accompanied by decently constructed characters, coming in a package with very good animation and sound. I recommend giving this show a try.
read more
Mar 30, 2017
12 of 12 episodes seen
|
237
people found this review helpful
|
| Overall |
4 |
| Story |
3 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Character |
5 |
| Enjoyment |
6 |
My Opinion:
Did “School Days” get a second season? Oh, no, it’s Kuzu no Honkai, also known as one of the most popular and overrated anime series of winter 2017.
Kuzu no Honkai is an exaggeration of the love life experienced by high school students and watching it reminded me of a National Geographic documentary about mating rabbits I saw years ago.
While the show had some very good ideas, it failed in executing them, fact which made the show look more like a trainwreck rather than the “in-depth, mature” series it intended to be.
The plot is inconsistent and poorly executed for the most part employing
cliche ideas, cringe worthy scenes, predictable twists and unnatural actions.
The character cast in itself is poorly constructed and consists mostly of generic tropes that are shallow and one-dimensional, but the inter-relations between them were surprisingly well-done.
Nowadays, shows that feature adolescents thinking about and doing the dirty is considered to be mature and “in-depth”... To be honest, Kuzu no Honkay is your generic drama TV series that got animated, nothing more and nothing special.
Story: 3/10
The story revolves around the love life of two high school students, Hanabi Yasuraoka and Mugi Awaya.
High school students Mugi Awaya and Hanabi Yasuraoka appear to be the ideal couple, they are both pretty and popular, and they seem to suit each other well. However, outsiders don't know of the secret they share, both Mugi and Hanabi have hopeless crushes on someone else and they are only dating each other to soothe their loneliness.
Hanabi has been in love for a long time with her older childhood friend Narumi Kanaiwho who is now her homeroom teacher, and Mugi is in love with his slightly older former tutor Akane Minagawa who is now a music teacher at his school.
In each other, they find a place where they can grieve for the ones they cannot have and they share physical and emotional intimacy driven by loneliness. This begins their romantic relationship as both of them predictably fall for each other as the story unfolds.
The story is character-driven, linear and fairly unique but predictable, it progresses with the characters at a good pace, showing their inner thoughts and development as well as portraying their dilemmas and questions about love.
Themes such as “forbidden love”, “friendship”, “maturity”, “sex, lies and betrayal” are approached by this show and some of them are fairly well executed while some of them are not.
Kuzu no Honkai explores sexuality from the interesting yet juvenile perspective of high school students. Unfortunately, what could have been a great enlightening experience turned into a revolting experience consisting of watching people as they take some really dumb and weird sexual actions with no clear purpose other than satisfying their primitive needs.
This anime touches the sensitive feelings and problems that most young people go through when they find real love/romance or fake love/romance that they don’t know how to deal with and the problems those feelings can lead to. While I commend the show for taking such an unusual path I cannot ignore the poor manner in which it was executed.
I wish the show would have focused much more on the moral and emotional implications of these love acts, showing and thoroughly analyzing the psych of the characters rather than focusing on poor-taste sex scenes that seemed forced, but that’s just my opinion.
Kuzu no Honkai is the definition of a pretentious show because the main theme is “I’m 17 and I’m deep” and the show expects to be treated as a mature and profound romance series.
Although Kuzu no Honkai has those ambitions, it miserably fails at being mature and rather comes off as pseudo-mature. A bunch of junior high school students try to compensate for their desires, insecurities and unrequited sentiments through ludicrous acts like pointlessly having sex in order to “fill their emptiness”. Is that the best they could come up with?
Also, recall the villainous slutty music teacher who screws around saying she “exploits” men, that is so profound.... I failed to see the “maturity” and “profoundness” of this show.
Scum’s Wish tried so hard to be complex to the point the script became an utter mess.
Why I say that?
Hanabi loves Kanai, Mugi loves Akane but Hanabi and Mugi are together, and Akane and Kanai are together, Moca loves Mugi and Ecchan loves Hanabi and now Hanabi starts to fall for Mugi.
I say it is too complex for its own good, it seems like a clusterfuck of a situation more than anything else and to be honest, it’s dumb and pathetic to see a show try so hard and fail just as hard.
The “friends with benefits” scenario is as cliche as it can get and makes the plot so much more predictable. This scenario consists of the generic course of action where two people decide to have sex on a regular basis and promise to never fall in love with each other and later on they always end up falling in love with each other.
As predicted, after Hanabi and Mugi started having sex they started developing feelings for each other and later on in the show, Hanabi decides to “try to love Mugi”, predictable.
I guess the creator watched one of those cliche movies like “Friends With Benefits” or “No Strings Attached” and decided to do a perverted and twisted animated version of them.
In a sense, Kuzu no Honkai is a jumble of realistic scenarios and life problems which I really enjoyed. It portrays questions and situations some people faced in their youth and could relate to, such as:
“If I could have things work out with him… I’d do it in a heartbeat” - which is very much true, the only thing you want when you are in love is to be with the one you love but sometimes you don’t have the “courage” to take the first step towards that goal and that is unfortunate.
“I’m not sure if I should choose the older man or the athletic student” - also a problem that a lot of women face when they have the option of choosing between money and social security represented by the ”older man” or looks represented by the “athletic student”, in the end, neither choice is based on the feeling of “love” but it is rather based on the feeling of lust or the need to feel secure.
“I’m not sure what is the diffrence between love and lust anymore” - a question that confuses many teenagers but has a rather simple answer.
“It’s not like I like them both so much it hurts but making the choice is a pain” - also a real problem many people face before entering a relationship just for the sake of doing it because they had nothing better in mind.
“It was love at first sight” - as the line says, this “love” can only be based on physical appearances therefore it is superficial and should be called lust.
What I like is that Kuzu no Honkai is an open-minded show in which love has no bounds. Be it student-teacher, lesbianism, incest or childhood friends, nothing will stop the characters from having sexual intercourse based on a moment’s decision.
The idea of exploring same-gender love was actually great, after all, that is what Kuzu no Honkai is supposed to do, but the execution of it was terrible and resulted in a girl-to-girl scenario that was wrong, out of place and furthermore damaged the show.
After seeing Hanabi willingly have “sex” with a female friend after being rejected, I was left pondering that course of action and questioned the creator’s knowledge of the female mind, therefore I proceeded in asking multiple young female friends if they would have sex with a person of the same gender, given the context of being “heartbroken”. The answer was an unanimous “no”.
The characters seem damaged on a fundamental level, desperately wanting the attention of their loved ones, fact which I could not understand.
Hanabi is obsessed over her “onii-chan” to the point that what she feels is not called “love” but “lust”. It is not normal to fantasize about your crush to the point where you have sex with another person while pretending that person is your crush.
I find this “unrequited” love situation grossly exaggerated and forced because it doesn’t follow a natural flow and it is very far from being realistic.
For the sake of the plot, these characters have no common sense, instead of confessing their “love” or silently await the right moment to take the initiative, they decide to screw around and play house with no worries about the consequences of their actions or their future.
When I was in highschool my first and foremost priority was studying in order to pass the university entrance exam, not fooling around and whining about being lonely.
I know I shouldn’t compare anime to real life, but they made the show in a high school setting because they wanted people to relate to it and how am I supposed to relate to such exaggerated, unnatural and hard to believe love problems?
Another important writing screw-up made by the creator was changing the fundamental traits of the characters in very short periods of time, referring to Noriko and Akane.
Noriko is an innocent girl who has built her life around the idea that she is a princess and only thinks about marrying her “prince” and live happily ever after, an innocent girl who suddenly wants to have sex with the prince, basically a “princess” turned into a lusty and deplorable girl in the matter of a few minutes…
Akane, a despicable women who screws around seeking any man’s attention and other women’s jealousy. This woman that is damaged on a fundamental level suddenly changes as Narumi, the “knight in shining armor” touches her soul. It is not only cliche but also unreal, for a woman who only considers men as warm bodies, distractions from a mundane life and basically sleeps with anyone she meets to be changed so easily. Poor judgement on the writer’s part.
There was a saying, “you can’t change a whore into a housewife” and that perfectly applies to Akane’s situation. From all the lack of judgement on the creator’s part I was able to notice a life lesson: If you are pretty, everything is forgiven.
The last thing that bothered me were the imbecilic lines such as: “I want you to be filled with me”; “Getting a man to fall for you is easy”, “It doesn't matter if we are cousins, I’ll never give up”; “You don’t have to stop seeing other men”, etc. and the forced, cringe-worthy scenes when Hanabi was giving a handjob to Mugi, a bunch of idiotic scenes about Akane, etc.
At least I sometimes laughed at how stupid some of the lines and scenes were...
Characters: 5/10
The characters on their own are nothing special, they are mostly self-centered tropes and quite despicable characters that are difficult to relate to or like, but when they are looked at as a whole, it’s a different situation. Almost forgot, there is no character development except for Hanabi and Akane.
What I found interesting is the true strength of Kuzu no Honkai that lies in the character interactions, this show has some amazing relationship development.
Hanabi Yasuraoka, she is a high school student who is in love with her older childhood friend, Narumi who is her homeroom teacher. After finding out that Narumi is in love with another woman, Hanabi enters a “fake” relationship with Mugi to satisfy her loneliness but soon after she has physical relations with Mugi, she realizes her feelings towards him, and as the story unfolds her character undergoes multiple changes.
At first, Hanabi is portrayed as a innocent girl but after she begins her relationship with Mugi she becomes confused and doesn’t know what she is feeling and what she is supposed to feel, as she states, “I can’t even tell the difference between love and lust anymore”.
After finding out that Narumi had sex with Akane, Hanabi decides to “steal” everyone that is under Akane’s “spell” by having sex with them. Fortunately enough, after dating one of Akane’s boytoys, Hanabi realizes that lowering herself to Akane’s level is not the answer to her predicament and hateful emotions, therefore she stops deluding herself by thinking she can beat Akane at her own game. Soon after that, Hanabi begins to isolate herself from Mugi and starts thinking of herself as a “weak” person and a “coward”, having no “self-worth”, this is a difficult time for Hanabi because she feels defeated and inferior to Akane.
As the story progresses, Hanabi slowly recovers from that depressive state of mind and fulfilling a promise she made to Mugi, Hanabi confesses her love to Narumi and gets rejected, event that sets Hanabi free and makes her feel like she can have a fresh start at life.
In a nutshell, Hanabi goes from being a normal girl to lowering herself near to the level of a “slut” but she soon recovers from that downfall and starts to feel miserable about herself only to later regain a healthy way of thinking and decide to stop ignoring her feelings towards Mugi.
My thoughts on her character: Hanabi just wants true love but doesn’t know how to lover herself, yet.
Mugi Awaya, he is a high school student who is in love with his former tutor, Akane. He and Hanabi begin a fake “relationship” to satisfy each other's desires. In middle school, Mugi had already been in a “friends with benefits” relationship with his senior, Mei Hayakawa, who took his virginity.
Mugi is not a dense man but rather clever and observant, he is one of the only men who realized what type of woman Akane really was, he had always been aware of the kind of person Akane was, but loved her nevertheless.
Mugi is reluctant to admit his true emotions towards Hanabi because he already had that kind of “friends with benefits” relation, he fell in love with that person and ended up heartbroken because the relationship had to end. He is still afraid of being close to someone, point that is proved in the scenes where he asked for sexual favors then suddenly stopped as if it was a bad idea, which is synonymous with him wanting to try being in a relationship again but being scared of the rejection he once experienced.
At the end of the series, after he had sex with Akane on multiple occasions, trying to change the way she was, he realizes he doesn’t love Akane anymore so he bids goodbye to her.
Narumi Kanai is Hanabi’s homeroom teacher and older childhood friend.
Narumi is the generic and cliche type of man who is kind, shy, mellow, forgiving, etc.
He is in a relationship with Akane even though he knows she is a “slut” and completely forgives her for it, telling her she “doesn’t need to stop seeing other men” because he loves her enough to accept that part of her.
Even after knowing Akane's true nature, Narumi does not seem to mind and asks her to marry him, which she accepts. Bleh, cliche.
My opinion on his character: He is just an emasculated guy who plays the role of the knight in shining armor that saves Akane from herself. More and I’m gonna throw up.
Akane Minagawa, on the outside, she is a nice, well-behaved woman who is adored by her students, but she actually loves the feeling of winning a man's heart while directly hurting someone else who is in love with that man. She can also be considered a lonely person and a nymphomaniac.
Akane attempts to seduce Narumi like her previous relationships, but she notices that Narumi refrains from touching her, unlike the men in her past, later realizing that he truly loves her. After Narumi asks her to marry him despite of knowing her true nature, Akane begins to take interest in him and suddenly decides to change her ways. Bleh, cliche.
My opinion on her character: This depraved woman thinks she is “exploiting” men when she has sex with them but actually she is the one being used and “exploited”, what a pathetic and disgusting state she is in.
I have a saying that fits this like a glove: “A key that can open many locks is called a master key, but a lock that can be opened by many keys is a shitty lock.”
There are other characters that are just empty tropes, particularly Sanae Ebato who is the lesbian girl who forced herself on Hanabi, and Noriko Kamomebata who is a deluded “loli” girl that considers herself a princess and dreams of marrying her “prince”, Mugi.
Now, the strong point of Kuzu no Honkai are the character interactions, which I’ve basically described in the paragraphs above, no need in doing it again.
Aesthetics: 7/10
The art is beautiful with surprisingly good character designs, working with a well-chosen color palette that gives a somber tone. The animation is fluid, nothing to complain about other than a few small flaws and the overuse of “hidden eyes”, which are used when they want the characters to reflect a deep emotion.
Sound: 7/10
The opening and ending theme were well-suited for the show, not only being pleasant to hear but also having some symbolism and offering a drama tone. The OST was well-chosen as well, it offers an immersive experience and facilitates the potential flow of emotions coming from the show. The voice actors did a very good job interpreting the characters and their emotions but there were some exceptions to the rule.
Enjoyment: 6/10
I am inclined to say that I enjoyed the show despite its numerous flaws.
Overall: 4/10
The show has failed in many categories but I think it does a fairly good job at showing how cruel love can be. If you are looking for a romance show that is slightly different form the generic “boy meets girl” scenario, give Kuzu no Honkai a shot.
read more
Mar 28, 2017
12 of 12 episodes seen
|
105
people found this review helpful
|
| Overall |
8 |
| Story |
8 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Character |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
My Opinion:
In a world polluted with otaku-targeted shows, ACCA:13 feels like a breath of fresh air and stands out through its intriguing plot and character cast.
From the beginning of this anime season I looked forward to watching ACCA:13, a show that conveys a delicate theme through an interesting, slow-burning plot accompanied by characters with intriguing personalities.
The animation worked in tandem with the sound department and offered an immersive experience in which I could really enjoy the show to its fullest.
Story: 8/10
The kingdom of Dowa, which is subdivided into 13 autonomous states, has many agencies that are controlled by the giant organization known as
ACCA.
The plot revolves around Jean Otus, the second-in-command of the ACCA inspection agency which is tasked with overseeing and monitoring the rest of the ACCA branch agencies. Jean often has business trips from the agency headquarters in the capital to the other 12 districts in order to review the situation and personnel there.
As the series begins, we are introduced to the protagonist who is tasked with auditing other ACCA agency branches and we witness his skills in uncovering even the smallest misdoings but we are also introduced to the “main” plot, the coup d'etat.
The first couple of episodes may be a tad bit boring because they focus on describing the world, introducing the characters and their relations but that is only to be expected of the first few episodes and in my opinion they did a good job.
ACCA does not have a particular selling point and it can be easily overlooked by the casual viewer due to its passive nature but in truth, ACCA is quite engaging and thought provoking.
The plot progresses at a slow and methodical pace, carefully and subtly revealing information that will later be necessary.
The show is mainly focused on presenting the characteristics, people and atmosphere of the districts, most episodes are built around the protagonist taking a business trip to one of the districts where he will audit, make observations and meet people that will describe the district.
At times, the show may feel episodic but the coup d'etat plot will bring all those pieces together in a way that progresses the plot in a firm yet delicate manner that feels fluid.
Characters: 7/10
Unfortunately the majority of the large character cast lacks zest, most of them being “dry” and used for decor but there are some fairly original characters who definitely had intriguing features that aroused my interest.
With that in mind, the characters do a great job, they work well together and give an immersive watching experience.
Jean Otus is the second-in-command of the ACCA inspection agency, a small branch that monitors the other branches. He is a compulsive smoker, always carrying around his trademark cigarette case, earning him the title of "cigarette peddler". He is also absent minded, often forgetting arranged plans or even his lighter despite his smoking habit.
The first episode shows Jean on a regular weekday and we witness his skills in uncovering even the smallest misdoings, easily and cleverly exposing the corrupt worker.
Jean maintains a dull uninterested demeanor, but has proven himself to be rather intelligent and sharp on more than one occasion.
He is not an easy to read character, he is enigmatic. Jean doesn’t offer his opinions but rather controls the flaw of the discussion, he doesn’t make statements but rather observations, he is calm, honest and has a rational way of thinking.
Nino is a close friend of Jean’s, an old friend he can be comfortable around and talk about his problems and worries but as the story unfolds, we find out Nino is more than just a good friend. Certain episodes will reveal Nino’s true role but in the end, Nino has always respected the friendship he shares with Jean.
There are some other characters worth mentioning such as Lotta (stress reliever), Mauve and the prince but they are not very interesting.
Aesthetics: 7/10
The animation is consistently good with nice character design and background art. The color palette fits the tone of the show, giving an overall pleasant watching experience.
Sound: 8/10
The opening theme is great and the ending theme was good, the background music was very well suited for the show, offering an immersive experience. The voice actors perfectly interpreted the characters and perfectly blended with the chill tone of the show.
Enjoyment: 8/10
I found ACCA:13 to be a highly entertaining show that kept me pressing the “next”button. I liked the plot and I think the characters were very good too.
Overall: 7.5/10
A surprisingly good show that I highly enjoyed. If you are looking for flashy fight scenes and hyped up moments, this is not the show you want, but in case you are lseeking a thought provoking show, I recommend giving ACCA:13 a try.
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Mar 27, 2017
12 of 12 episodes seen
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66
people found this review helpful
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| Overall |
8 |
| Story |
6 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Character |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
My opinion:
At first glance, Gabriel Dropout seems nothing special and definitely does not stand out but it is actually a hilarious show that had me laughing till my stomach hurt.
Quality wise Gabriel Dropout is not very good, it has a simple generic plot with some of the most stereotypical characters I have seen but that did not stop the show from being so damn entertaining.
I’ve decided to write this review in a more lively manner that better suits the show, doing so was fun.
Story: 6/10
Upon passing a school in heaven, graduating angels are sent down to Earth with the duty to learn about and guide
humans towards the correct path in order to become full-fledged angels. Gabriel is the top angel in her class, dreaming about going to Earth and helping people but as soon as she actually arrives on Earth she becomes addicted to video games and turns into a complete slob as a result. The story follows Gabriel, along with other angels and demons who have descended to Earth, as they attend high school.
The plot is not complex or linear but rather simple with episodes presenting different stories that more often than not, do not relate to other episodes, but that doesn’t stop the overall story from feeling fluid.
In this world, demons often behave like little angels while angels behave like pseudo-demons, twist which I really liked. On one hand, we have the angel Gabriel saying she doesn’t care about humans and joking about destroying humanity to cover up her “pantie sighting”, on the other hand, we have the demon, Vignette, who often cares for Gabriel, worries about other angels and even plays with children in the park. This “change of roles” goes to show that what you are doesn’t always describe or define the way you act.
Finally, the jokes. This show sells its humour very well with the main source of humour being the character chemistry, the interrelations of the characters are well-done and often result in hilarious situations that cracked me up.
To be honest, it is quite dumb to say angels are born like humans and that they live and behave like families, that’s very far from the way it actually is but, what am I talking about? This is a comedy so I’ll let it slide.
Characters: 7/10
The character cast is small yet effective, working well together and almost always perfectly delivering the jokes. The characters are more like antithesis of their archetype, with angels acting like demons and vice versa, which was quite a clever touch to the show
To be honest, the cast of Gabriel Dropout consists of some of the most generic tropes I’ve seen in anime but they work so well together and are so likable that it doesn’t matter if they are generic or not.
Gabriel is an angel who was the top of her class but soon after her descent to Earth, she became addicted to video games and turned into a slob. She is often lazy and unmotivated and has a rather bossy attitude, which I could relate to since that is the way I was in highschool, like many other teenagers. An angel got corrupted by the human way of living, that is hilarious and also true, humans are social beings that will adapt to society and because angels are portrayed to be so much like humans, it is only natural that they would react like humans.
Vignette is the complete opposite of Gabriel, she is very responsible and often looks after Gabriel, contrary to her actual role as a demon. She often cooks and worries about others, she’s an “angelic demon” to call it that. I find her character to be the best and the most intriguing.
Satanichia, she’s an egotistical demon who often thinks of weird ways to cause mischief which usually end in failure. She has no sense of taste and is often pestered by Raphiel and often falls victim to stray dogs.
If I was to give Satanichia a role, it would be that of the failed villain because her “devious” acts and plans often end up in failure due to her stupidity. I personally found her character a bit irritating but not bothersome.
Raphiel is the second ranked angel in Gabriel's class, who has since become a sadistic stalker who takes delight in teasing Satanichia. I found her character hilarious due to her constant teasing of Satanichia which I could relate to, since I used to do the same to my friends but on a smaller scale.
Aesthetics: 7/10
The art and animation are lively and colorful, the characters’ facial expressions are well done and fitting for the show. Aside from one beach episode, there wasn’t much fan service, lack of fan service which I found great. Overall, the art and animation are good but nothing spectacular, it gets the job done.
Sound: 7/10
Having a nice opening theme, a decent ending theme and a pretty good OST with the voice actors doing a good job interpreting the characters, I would say the overall sound was good.
Enjoyment: 8/10
Personally, I was laughing for the entire duration of the show, even though some jokes were overused I still found them funny, maybe because I was in the mood for a comedy show. Anyway, I highly enjoyed this show and I don’t regret one second of it.
Overall: 8/10
A very good comedy show that stands out not because it has great quality production but because it is highly entertaining.
If you are looking for a lighthearted show that will give you a good laugh, I recommend giving Gabriel Dropout a try.
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