Back to Crashmatt's Profile Crashmatt's Profile

Deadman Wonderland has an interesting premise. A young boy Ganta get sent down for a crime he didn’t commit and ends up in a jail where nothing is normal. It’s certainly not original but Deadman Wonderland sets it stall out early on with graphic violence and strong language in abundance. Deadman Wonderland is essentially a theme park with inmates taking park in various games to entertain the public.
Ganta is a normal school boy but one day his whole class are brutally murdered by the mysterious ‘redman’. One thing you realise from the start is how deeply flawed this show is right from the ... start. Ganta get sent down just because he was the sole survivor with virtually no other evidence. This greatly hinders the story going forward as to be honest it’s pretty ridiculous.
Ganta himself reminds me a lot of Renton from Eureka 7. He’s a snivelling crybaby with few redeeming features. He learns soon that it’s everyman for himself and he can’t trust anyone. He later meets a fellow inmate Shiro a mysterious white hair girl with incredible strength who has a soft spot for him. Shiro is by far the most interesting character in Deadman Wonderland . She is the only person who seems to care about Ganta.
One thing you soon realise is that characters are introduced and killed off with no real development but given this is only a short series it is understandable. As the series progresses Ganta learns he has a special power that allows him to manipulate his blood into a deadly weapon. This is called a tree of sin, and we soon learn that there are other inmates who posses this power and they are soon pitted against each other in fights to the death.
Action scenes such as fights are handled well but they seem to have set out to make this as gruesome as possible and at times it feels a little exploitive. I have no issue with violence or strong language but there needs to be a point to it in Deadman Wonderland this isn’t always the case. In terms of animation the show is quite stylised and has some interesting character designs. It flows smoothly and has pretty high production values.
Characters are mostly a dislikeable lot, and most are killed off pretty quickly. Ganta does show signs on manning up towards the end of the series and there are hints of what Shiro really is. Once again the show is hampered by its short run as we only see character development right at the end.
Sound is pretty decent on the whole and the show has a solid English dub. The title track is pretty horrific J Rock nonsense and I found the closing track much better.
Deadman wonderland is quite enjoyable in places and throw up some interesting questions that are never really answered. The show has a very open ending and you don’t really feel much has been achieved other than a high body count. Deadman wonderland will probably not get a second series and you can’t help but feel the show would have benefitted from a longer run. It’s certainly could and probably should have been better. As an action series it definably worth a look just don’t expect anything deep and meaningful .

Btooom has been on my watch list for some time and finally got round to watching it. Its a story of a guy Ryouta who’s a bit of a looser in real life but excellent at the game Btooom. One day he wakes up and finds that he’s been left on an island and is actually stuck in a real life game. Unlike other anime’s where people are stuck in a virtual world, the island is very real as are those who want to kill you. It’s easy to see what’s influenced Btooom with elements of Lost, the Hunger games & lord of the ... flies all present here.

Ryouta must soon learn to use his skills in Btoom to survive. Each player has a chip embedded in their hand which acts as a sonar. In order to get off the island you must collect eight chips. This is the main motivation of characters in the series.

The characters in Btoom are its weakest aspect. Ryouta soon meets Himiko a female player who for all purposes is not a very good player and is one of the weakest female characters I’ve seen in some time. She is constantly in danger from being raped, blown up or tortured. The rape theme in particular is quite unwelcome and sets the serious tone for the series and a touch of humour is sadly lacking. The side characters are mostly very unpleasant. They also turn on each other very quickly which didn’t seem very believable given the supposed mixture of people on the island.

One area where Btooom excels is the action scenes. Because the game uses different types of bombs the battles become a game of tactics and experience. Ryouta is one of the best Btooom players in the world and uses his skill to outwit opponents. Ryouta also appear to be fairly indestructible despite some close calls.

The animation is by Madhouse so as you would expect it’s excellent. The battle scenes are fluid and the character designs are detailed and well drawn.

Sound on Btooom is ok but the opening song is average at best but it doesn’t detract from the series or the atmosphere.

Btooom is an enjoyable action anime with weak characters and a fairly unoriginal plot. Perhaps the biggest issue with the series is that when it ends it feels it’s only half way through the story. A second season does not look likely which leaves you feeling short changed as your only getting half a story. It’s a shame we don’t get more Btooom as it’s a solid action anime and is defiantly worth a watch.

Gosick was a show that came up on my recommendations after watching Spice & Wolf. I’d never seen a murder mystery anime before so it was a new experience. The story revolves around a mysterious girl called Victorique who spends much of her time shut up in a library at Saint Margueite Academy in the fictional country of Sauville. Kujo is a Japanese exchange student who one day while searching the library, meets Victorique and their adventure begin

Victorique is extremely intelligent and uses her ‘wellspring of wisdom’ to solve cases as the story progresses. Its easy to see where the influences for her character come ... from most notably Sherlock Homes (she even has a fake pipe). Kujo is’nt as stupid as we a made to believe but he’s certainly naive and in early episode Victorique walks all over him.

Gosick has several story arcs which take place before the bigger story arc starts around half way through the series. Its clever how side stories link in with the main story arc in particular the Alchemist arc which is plays an important part in explaining why Victorique is shut up in the tower. The story has some dark undertones especially when dealing with Victorique mother & father but this is balanced out by the growing relationship between Kujo & Victorique.

Their relationship grows as the series progresses and Kujo becomes less of a doormat and Victorique becomes more human. She is portrayed as cold and calculating by others but she is really a victim of her father’s desires.

I don’t want to give too much away about the story which is smart and engaging. The side characters are not particularly interesting but it doesn’t matter as your focus is on the growing relationship between the main characters. The art style is stunning and its easy to see how Victoriques design influenced Studio Bones Chaika. The sound is ok though I’m not a fan of the Eurovision-esque closing song for the second part of the series.

The series moves faster in the final episodes and brings elements of the story together for a great worthy climax. I would have been nice to see more of Kujo and Victorique at the end but at least its conclusive and generally satisfying.

Even though the motives of the criminals are questionable the story still holds your attention due to the strength of the main characters. Gosick is very enjoyable and is a must for any fan of mystery and romance. It’s a shame Bandai pulled out of DVD publishing before this series got released as it’s a real gem of a show. I hope one day someone picks this up for release as it’s too good to be forgotten.

Akame Ga Kill is one of those anime’s that divide opinion. Much like SAO and Guilty Grown it draws equal praise and hatred on both sides. For that very reason I decided to see what all the fuss was about.
The story centres around Tatsumi, who is so good with a sword he dreams of joining the army in the capitol. As he soon finds out the Capital is not the place he would have hoped and after his childhood friends get murdered he ends up joining Night Raid a deadly team of assassins who want to take down the capitol and its twisted prime ... minister.

Lets start with the characters. We get a tick box of anime characters, Loli girl – check, strong man will silly hair- check, mysterious dark haired girl –check, beast girl –check. The characters are well designed but are far from original. Tatsumi himself is a standard male lead who wants to do his best and will risk everything to achieve his goal. On the enemy’s side we have Esdeath, possible the most interesting character in the series. She is sadistic cruel and ruthless yet we are shown a softer side to her when she develops feelings for Tatsumi. I have to say that this point there were several ways they could have gone with this but they chose the easiest option. It would have been a nice twist to develop that relationship further.

Later on we are introduced to the jaegers who are the enemy’s equivalent of Night Raid. At times the line between good and evil get blurred and this is evident with the jaegers who are clearly not bad people.

The biggest issue with Akame Ga Kill is that so many characters are introduced and subsequently killed off for no particular reason. The show tries hard to be dark and disturbing but the writers obviously felt this meant lots of gore and deaths. The lack of character development means that as a viewer you feel little for the death of a character and make the whole experience quite shallow. This is the shows biggest flaw. The characters are left underdeveloped and deaths are so frequent to stop caring.

Akame herself is quite a boring character and despite the show being named after her is actually the least developed of all the main characters and the feud with her sister is bordering on silly.

On the positive side Akame G Kill looks stunning in HD and the battle scenes were very enjoyable. Sound wise there is nothing bad or amazing about the sound though I do fear the series will be lumbered with a poor English dub but we will wait and see.

I liked the idea of the imperial arms which are supposed to be special weapons forged long ago to protect the crown & the nation. Each one has unique abilities which we get to see as the series progresses. It has to be said that they are supposed to be rare sought after weapons but seem surprisingly easy to acquire.

The story moves along quite nicely until the last four episodes where the story deviates from the Manga. The result is an absolute mess of an ending, the final battle is good but can’t make up for some questionable story decisions in the final four episodes.

Akame Ga Kill had all the ingredients to be an anime classic but completely messed it up. I think this is why people are so passionate about loving / hating it. I greatly enjoyed Akame Ga Kill despite its many flaws. It’s an enjoyable ride if you lower your expectations, and at time its actually quite a cool show. Its no classic but you could do worse than spend a bit of time with Night Raid.

I was actually looking forward to Sacred Blacksmith it seemed to have many elements I like in anime. The story centres around Cecily a female Knight who not particularly good at being a Knight. She is saved from certain death one day by Luke (the sacred blacksmith) who has the ability to forge magical Katana swords in the heat of battle.

Lets get one thing out of the way first, the English dub is awful. Cecily’s voice grated on me so much I switched straight to subtitles. Most of the voice cast sound like they have just walked off the set of high school musical. ... Avoid the dub.

The story itself centres around a town which Cecily protect and the rising demon hordes that are causing trouble around the town. Luke is often called upon to save Cecily as she so inept and then like a sulky teenager disappears back off to his workshop with his apprentice Lisa.

This is only a short series so you expect it to stick to the main story which centres around the revival of a demon god and how people are entering into demon contracts effectively turning themselves into demons. It doesn’t. Instead we get the ridiculous Charlotte Frobisher story arc as well as an entire episode dedicated to shopping (seriously). We then have supporting characters like Aria who is a demon sword who can also take human form (seriously). This is never fully explained so you just have to go with it.

The character designs are good but nothing amazing and the battle scenes are pretty average as well. The show also suffers from the –I’m going to do a speech so all fighting stops problem. Enemies also seem happy to let Luke forge his Katana mid battle.

Cecily as a character is quite shouty and annoying while Luke spends much of his time sulking and trying to avoid Cecily. Its only in the last four episodes do we get some character and story progression. We find out why Luke has a face like a slapped arse and also see Cecily progress from being useless to reasonably competent as a knight.

The series has some decent ideas like the forging of magical swords but they are poorly executed. The story is not particularly original, couple this with some rather annoying main characters, the series pushes the boundaries of your patience. There is some mild nudity which seems a bit out of place and the constant referencing of Cecily’s ample chest wears thin after the first episode. The animation quality is fairly fluid and sound is ok with a very cheesy closing song which sticks in your head.

It’s difficult to recommend Sacred Blacksmith if it wasn’t for the final four episodes this series would have been a total waste of time. The series also doesn’t have a conclusive ending and you feel there is much more of the story left to tell which makes it all the more puzzling why so much time was wasted with side stories at the start of the series. It’s unlikely we will see a second season but based on the first this is no great loss.

Spice & Wolf is in essence, a fairly simple story. It’s about a travelling merchant called Lawrence who one day while visiting a town comes across a young girl sleeping in his cart. He soon finds out that this is no ordinary girl. This is Holo the wise wolf, a pagan god who ensures good harvest for the village. Due to the spread of the new church (very similar to the Catholic Church) pagan beliefs are dying out and Holo has found there is no longer any need for her to be there. Lawrence reluctantly agrees for her to travel with him as she heads ... north and back to her homeland.

One of the main aspects of the story is the development of the characters Lawrence & Holo, how their relationship evolves and how they deal with the challenges that face them. The story also comes with a dose of economics and in many ways you think this shouldn’t work, but it really does. Lawrence takes calculated risks which don’t always pay off and along with Holo they must find a way out without it costing their lives or leading to something worse (for a merchant) - bankruptcy. Holo is a complex character who is both wise and cunning but very stubborn.

The story is slow paced with alot of talking, if you looking for action then look elsewhere. One of the joys of the series is the vocal sparing between Holo and Lawrence. You can see them becoming closer as the series develops and you find yourself rooting for them when they are up against it. The story also follows the books quite closely which is always a good thing.

Holo has the ability to transform into her wolf form if needed but thankfully there are only a couple on instances where this is needed which only adds to the drama and tension as Lawrence’s money making schemes go sour.

The animation is very good and the character designs are excellent. A special mention needs to go to the English dub which is one of the best I’ve ever heard. The music is pretty good and compliments the medieval environment the story is set in.

Spice & Wolf is perfect example of a character driven story. The second series focuses more on the romance side and is even better than the first. Holo is one of the strongest female characters in any anime I’ve seen and Lawrence is a competent and intelligent character too. If you’re after a great romance with strong characters and gripping story then you won’t get any better than this. Both series are an absolute joy. The only issue is that they only made two series, we need more. If you want to continue the stories after the anime the books are great as well. I would recommend picking it up from Volume 6.
In conclusion this is one of the best amine’s I’ve seen and is just fantastic from start to finish.

I’m not really sure what attracted me Ben-to. I think I noticed an advert on my Facebook from Manga UK. The premise sounded pretty ridiculous but for some reason I was interested to see how it would turn out.
Ben-to is basically a group of high school students battle for half priced Ben-to. Driven by hunger and the desire to acquire the best Ben-to of the day they fight out every night in the supermarket. That's about as deep as it gets in terms of story. In fairness Ben-to never tries to be anything more that all out crazy action.

We are introduced to the main ... character Sato Yo a boy who loves Sega and lives on a tight budget. This forces him to go to the supermarket one night where he spots a man putting half price stickers on Ben-to. As soon as he tries to get one all hell breaks loose and he is knock out by a girl known as the Ice Witch. She is the president of the Half Priced Food club and eventually he decides to join.
From this point on he becomes a ‘Wolf’ and competes with other wolves for half priced food. We are introduced to other character such as the ‘Beauty by the lake’ and even gets his own nickname ‘The Freak’ (due to several unfortunate incidents).

The story is wafer thin and usually revolved around turf wars in certain areas of the city east & west. The main character is your typical male anime lead, who seems to spend most of his time getting slapped silly by the class president or playing SEGA when he’s not fighting for Ben-to.

Despite the one dimensional characters most episodes manage to hold you attention to some fantastic fight scenes. These are made even more exciting by a great soundtrack which really give extra energy to fight. The animation is great and flows well during fight scenes. The characters are fairly standard and are a bill on the plain side. There is a bit of fan service but it usually involves the class president sexually harassing other girls. I don’t mind fan service as a whole but it just feels like they have added it for the sake of it.

I found Ben-to quite entertaining but at the same time it’s quite a shallow experience. There is little in the way of character development and at times it’s hard to believe the lengths people will go to get half priced food. Ben-to is difficult to rate much higher that a six, but don’t be too put off. If you disengage your brain it’s perfectly enjoyable.