Back to Criscosandwich's Profile Criscosandwich's Profile

At this point, this is just sad.
None of us should even be here, and yet HERE we are.

Yami Shibai season frickin 4.

Season 3 set my expectations very low, and I'm glad I wasn't disappointed.
Not really any room for disappointment when your expectations are already at rock bottom.


Story: 1
...
Guess we gotta start somewhere.

I understand leaving things up to viewer's imaginations. It's important in horror, especially with ghost stories.

However, episodes just sort of... End in this season.
There's not much to be left up to the imagination as the endings just... Happen?

This is a problem throughout the entire show as well.

Stories are incomplete and a lot of important information is just left unexplained.

The writers also don't seem to understand the "show don't tell" rule, as the narrator narrated everything that you could see for yourself on the screen. It got old FAST.

Art: 3

Art and animation? What's that? HAH!

There wasn't any. There's your answer.

Seriously, the art style was poor and the animation was reduced to stills for most of it. Art and animation was nonexistent.

There was also a huge style problem, similar to season 3. Again, it was very jarring (though it was pretty funny seeing an episode with a Wiki-How esque art style)

Sound: 4

The ending song was trash. Narrator-san riding a bicycle to a J-pop song. Good idea for a horror themed show guys.

Sound wasn't memorable. The voice acting was meh at best. For whatever reason, they changed Narrator-san's voice every episode yet they weren't even good. Most of them sounded far too optimistic/enthusiastic for it to be creepy.

Characters: 2

Lol what characters

They're basically the same as season 3's characters. Boring. None of them were interesting. They're just lambs for the slaughter (red shirts).

Enjoyment: 3

This was tedious. It was a chore. I guess at least it was slightly better than season 3, but not by much.

Just end it now.

Overall: 3

Garbage season as always. Season 5 is probably gonna be garbage too.

Wow.

Just.

Wow.

I don't think I've ever seen a series fall so far from grace before this.

This is both impressive and really depressing.

... ---

Story: 2

They follow a "monster of the week" type of story in this season. I'm not even sure these are based on actual Japanese folklore and scary stories anymore. The stories were extremely bland and boring, with maybe only an episode or two actually entertaining me rather than frustrating me.

Art: 9

I'm putting sound and art in the same category here. They were by far the only good aspect of the show this season. The art was a major improvement from the last season and was aesthetically pleasing. It fit the tone of the show well. However, there were a few episodes where the art style changed DRASTICALLY for no reason. It was pretty jarring.

The sound was just as good as the other seasons, the ending song is strange but still fits the tone of the series. The voice acting is still impressive and realistic, and the music was still creepy.

Character: 1

Lol what characters? They're all cardboard cutouts of personalities and stereotypes we've all seen before. They're nothing, that's their characters.

Also, another important thing to note is that the narrator from the past two seasons is gone and is replaced by some fish-face lookin' kid.

Hooray.

Enjoyment: 1

I hated every minute of this season. The only enjoyment I found was riffing on it with my sister. The monster designs are REALLY bad, the scares were non-existent, and the characters were B O R I N G.

Overall: 3

This season was trash. Utter. Trash. Honestly, it's really sad seeing such a good series trashed after only two seasons. The only reason I would recommend this to anyone is if you gather a bunch of friends and riff on it the whole show. Ugh.

Step right up and have a look...

It's time for disappointment

Yami Shibai's second season is... Very boring and forgettable. Keep in mind I watched all three seasons of Yami Shibai back to back, and there was a notable decrease in the story quality as I went on. There are more morals this season and a lot of them are blatantly obvious and a poor decision to add to a series that really doesn't need morals (more morals means turning more characters into complete jerks too, making you want the characters to suffer even more by the end of the episode). I don't remember many of the ... episodes this season, nor the stories (I'm writing this review a day after I watched it). However that's not to say there weren't any GOOD episodes in there, heck my second favorite episode out of the whole series came from this season. However, there wasn't enough in this season to really make it stand out. The art style this season, however, did seem to stay more consistent than the first season's and there was even a bit of improvement this time around. The sound design was also the highlight of the series, as it still creates the familiar creepy atmosphere from the first season and the voice acting remained stellar.

Overall, I can't really say much about this season (that's why I didn't split my review into sections this time around). It was pretty bland and the actual good parts of the show aren't good enough to set itself apart from the first season of the show. I'd only watch it if you were bored or for completions sake.

Step right up and have a look...

It's time for Yamishibai

---


Story: 8

Yamishibai is a series of folk tales, urban legends and ghost stories, meaning it doesn't really have an over-arching plot. Each episode is 4 minutes long, making this a really short series that you can probably finish in about 2 or 3 hours. However it doesn't really detract from the value of the show. Because each episode is so short, it sets up the premise and gets to the point pretty fast. The thing this anime does best is it's atmosphere. Because it gets to the point fast, the atmosphere is intense and fast-paced, and ... each climax usually ends with a twist. I enjoyed alot of the stories told in this anime, yet some are better than others.

Art: 9

The art of this show is probably the most unique type of art style I've ever seen. This show has no animation. It is inspired by kamishibai, a form of japanese storytelling on a street using illustrations. This mimics the style fairly well and adds to the creepy atmosphere with it's semi-realistic look, and the little bits of animation it DOES have are really fluid and creepy. This would've gotten a 10, however I noticed that the art style of the characters was completely different from other episodes, and it was fairly distracting.

Sound: 10

The sound in this show is incredible. The voice acting is SERIOUSLY on point. The music adds to the creepy atmosphere, and you can't go wrong with Miku singing the ending song (not even joking). Can't complain about much here. I thought the sound design was amazing.

Characters: 5

This is the weakest part of the show, but I understand why. You can't develop one off characters in one 4 minute episode. You just can't. However, a lot of the characters aren't very smart. A lot of horror cliches are used with the characters, however I guess it didn't bother me that much. Just a minor nitpick really.

Enjoyment: 9

I really enjoyed this anime. I had a great time sitting at the edge of my seat, waiting to see how the story would end. My favorite episode was probably episode 4, definitely the creepiest one (in my opinion).

Overall: 8

I'd recommend this for any horror fan. This is a great show to watch for Halloween with some friends, or in a dark room by yourself with the lights off. I loved it to bits.

Who exactly is... Sakamoto-kun?

Sakamoto is... Cool
Cooler
COOLEST!

Sakamoto is... Our destined leader

Sakamoto is... The embodiment of perfection
Swag
... STYLE

Everything Sakamoto does...
Is STYLISH

Story: 10

So, exactly what kind of world does our hero live in? He lives in a world of style, cool, and swag. Every movement he does is bleeding cool. Sakamoto does not live in a world... The world IS Sakamoto. Sakamoto makes our lives have so much more meaning. Sakamoto helps us through tears and sorrow.
Sakamoto-kun does not fear the trials and tribulations ahead.
Rather, they fear him.
Sakamoto inspires in all of us a desire to better a situation, no matter how tough.
Sakamoto-kun is the story.
Sakamoto-kun is the world.
Sakamoto-kun is... Cool.

Art: 10

Sakamoto-kun was only made possible by a team of godly animators. Why is that? Because Sakamoto-kun is our master, and our master only invokes the gods of animation themselves.

Sound: 10

The sound is that of a heavenly angelic chorus singing to us from the heavens. Only the most ultimate forms of swag are invoked in these timeless pieces. Bach and Beethoven quake with awe in the presence of Sakamoto's beautiful chorus.
Sakamoto's muse clearly states in the opening how... Cool... Cooler... COOLEST this godlike entertainment is, with the ending song bringing the audience to tears once the perfection that is the "episodes" of the show ends.
The voice acting is only that of top-dollar actors. Sakamoto's voice actor has reached his heavenly ascension through his role as the physical embodiment of our master, Sakamoto-kun, which is of course a joyous occasion for all of the human race as we all wish to reach enlightenment through Sakamoto-kun.

Characters: 10

Our cast of characters are all very likeable as they are all faithful followers of our Sakamoto-kun. The audience is moved to tears while watching our wonderful leader Sakamoto help our poor souls reach enlightenment through his ways.
However, I am afraid I cannot grade the perfection itself that is Sakamoto-kun himself.
He is untouchable.
He is swag.
He is cool... Cooler... COOLEST!

Enjoyment: 10

Watching Sakamoto and his pure, utter perfection at everything happen in motion will bring anyone to tears of joy. Sakamoto is perfect. We are not worthy to be in his presence, however he has made it so, bringing pure enjoyment to everyone who witnesses.

Overall: 10

I do not believe that I am worthy enough to describe how perfect Sakamoto is.
Sakamoto should be witnessed and followed by every being.
Sakamoto is cool
Cooler
COOLEST!

...

In all seriousness this show is pretty great. Go watch it.

I honestly didn't know what to feel once I finished this roller coaster ride. I kinda sat there for a few minutes staring at the screen in a daze.

Well I've thought about it. This one is gonna be a long one, fairly fitting due to the fact that this romance drama (emphasis on the word drama) is 51 freaking episodes long.

Then let's get to it.

Story: 8

The story, on the outside, seems fairly cliche. A commoner by the name of Makino Tsukushi gets herself into a rich school in an attempt from her family to bag herself a rich guy to bring them out of debt. ... Makino manages to get in some trouble with the notorious gang of the school, the F4, however she declares war on them as they are unfair and she wants to set them straight. Later on, though, she falls in love with one of their members, Rui Hanazawa.

Pretty cliche.

The story does take an interesting turn in terms of love interests, though that's all I'll say.

Each arc in the show is also written based off of fairly realistic scenarios, and the bullying was hard to watch at times, knowing that kids can be as cruel as that.

The last arc of the show, however, almost made me quit. More on that later.

Art: 6

Now, I haven't watched very many old shows such as this, so I don't know how fluid the animation should be or how pretty the art is.

However I know enough to know that the animation in the later half of the show is extremely lazy and poor.

The art itself is fine, I liked the character designs and the art style.

I will NOT let this show get away with that lazy animation though.

There are so many reused shots in the show later on, and it is incredibly obvious. There is also little movement and the show seems very cheap at that point. The animation was fine in the beginning half, nothing special though. So what happened?

Sound: 5

Sound is nothing special, at all. Just like the animation, the tracks in this show are repeated so many times that it becomes a joke at some point. I couldn't get invested in some scenes because the same track was being repeated for every other dramatic scene in the show! I would've liked some variety! The voice acting was pretty good, some voices really grated on my ears though, and the characters with those voices showed up fairly often.

The opening and ending credits songs are nothing special and I'm probably not going to remember them. They only change the ending theme and it's near the end of the show... So I hope you like the opening theme.

Characters: 7

Alright this is going to be the longest part of the review.

Let's start with Makino Tsukushi. Makino is a strong female protagonist that cares deeply for her friends and her family. She takes no attitude from anyone and is willing to fight back in dire situations. She does what she wants and generally unforgiving of "evildoers".

I liked Makino's character.... At least for the first 30ish episodes.

I don't know why... But for some reason... Her personality takes a COMPLETE 180 from what she used to be. Yes, she is still a strong person. However, she had a REALLY bad habit of running away from all of her problems and consistently getting herself into more trouble doing so. It got... REALLY annoying. Her drastic change nearly made me drop the show.

Next up is Tsukasa Domyouji. He is the hot-headed leader of the F4, known around the school for how violent he is. Tsukasa was my favorite character. He goes through the most development and becomes a genuinely sincere and caring person, and he was the sole reason I finished the show in the first place.

Rui Hanazawa is boring, cliche, and mostly uninteresting. I mean, he'd offer some good advice for Makino every now and then, but that's it.

The last of the F4 is Sojiro and Akira, and while they don't get as much development as Makino, Rui or Tsukasa, I found them funny and likeable.

There aren't really any other characters worth mentioning, most of the cast was outright despicable and Makino's friends were pretty likeable.

Enjoyment: 8

I enjoyed this anime a lot. I loved the fresh breath of air that it was written more realistically than other romance anime. There were times when I was frustrated due to Makino's stupid decisions, but I was content while watching it.

However, I will not let this review end without talking about that last arc.

The last arc is the most melodramatic, useless arc I think I have ever had the displeasure of viewing. It starts with the introduction of Shigeru. I won't spoil anything, but the last arc takes a huge dump on everything I liked about the show, and this is the arc that trashed Makino's character for me. There was so much useless drama that could've been solved had Makino just done SOMETHING about it!
I'm not kidding around when I say I have never been more infuriated while watching something before. The show was unwinding itself right before my eyes, and it was a huge mess.
I hope you take this warning to heart, it is 13ish episodes of pure torture. It was an absolute chore getting through it.

Overall: 7

Regardless of the last arc of the show, I enjoyed this anime. I liked the more realistic look on members of different social statuses falling in love and the consequences of that love, and the consequences of one's actions. However, this show is heavily drama based. There is little humor/light moments in this show, so I recommend this show for anyone who is a sucker for that stuff.