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Jun 13, 2021
Chainsaw Man is a story about Denji's growth; he starts as a shallow boy with no understanding of the world and goes through a ton of character development by the end to become a competent, self-aware man that can think for himself. It's not your typical shounen battle manga where characters go through training arcs, unlock new abilities/power ups, and overcome the big baddies with the power of friendship. Some of these elements may be present, but they're not the focus.
Mild spoilers abound.
***STORY***
The rules are pretty clear from the start and this manga doesn't waste time explaining convoluted abilities. There are a couple exceptions,
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but this manga keeps it simple. The more people fear something, the stronger a devil it becomes. Naturally, this means you can expect devils to be very powerful if they're based on guns, bombs, chainsaws, or even Hell itself.
If there's one thing that can be said of Chainsaw Man's story, it's that you never know what's gonna happen next. For the entire crazy ride, it keeps you on the edge of your seat. Everything that happens leads up to an amazing ending where it's all tied together.
***ART***
The artwork is very expressive and just plain pleasant to look at. The art has a somewhat "sketchy" appearance, but it's pretty detailed. Denji's chainsaw form is amazing.
***CHARACTERS***
The character development and interactions are the best part of this manga.
Denji starts out as a bit of a pervert, wanting nothing more than to touch boobs. Typical anime/manga shenanigans, right? That is, until he learns it's not exactly what he expected. He gradually learns there's more to relationships than just physical contact. He continuously seeks a higher quality of happiness and becomes less shallow throughout the story. This isn't a story about waiting for awkward romantic moments and shipping characters, it's an analysis on love itself - something many people probably don't even think about. It's honest and convincing.
Several hilarious scenarios arise thanks to the relationship Denji and Power develop. Although they're a little old for it, they have a sort of sibling rivalry and bratty attitude towards each other, often treating things like a game and failing to understand when each other is serious. They end up having some touching and emotional moments, as well.
Many characters die throughout the story, which is part of why you never know what expect. The reactions of the living characters has a lot of impact, unlike when throwaway characters die or bad guys just get "beat up" like in other manga.
There's a little bit of fan service mixed in here and there, though it generally feels like it's more targeted towards Denji, not to the audience. Or at least that's how I saw it compared to manga that's very fan servicey, flaunting ballooned butts, panties, and cleavage as the focal point of the panels. There are a few awkward pages involving a gang of female characters, sadly.
***OVERALL***
Chainsaw Man has lots of funny moments due to the immaturity of the characters, as well as the serious drawings combined with outlandish antics. The violence holds nothing back and is pretty cool. Watching Denji's growth is enjoyable; his naive, gullible attitude is entertaining in a similar way to how Yabuki Joe behaves in Ashita no Joe. The characters are pretty complex and it's fun to examine their potential motives and behaviour throughout the story. If you can tolerate a little bit of sexual awkwardness (probably accounts for 1% or less of the whole work), it's a highly enjoyable story.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Jun 11, 2021
Dr. Stone has an interesting premise and is easily among the best manga running in Shounen Jump. I couldn't get enough of it when it was released - I found myself re-reading chapters 2 or even 3 times! I've never done that with any other manga before (I was maybe doing that up to around chapter 50-ish).
The first story arc revolves around rebuilding civilization from scratch. If you've played anything similar to Minecraft, Age of Empires, or Don't Starve, you can immediately relate. It's interesting to watch the group go step-by-step towards civilized structures, slowly adding more members to their party. The whole thing
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plays out like an RPG with each character specializing in a single stat.
-Taiju, max stamina.
-Senku, max intelligence.
-Yuzuriha, max dexterity.
-Tsukasa, max strength and... also high intelligence?! He's a little broken.
Just as we're making pleasant progress against the wilderness and its innate threats, ideologies within the group clash! The pacing is incredible, keeping the readers on their toes amidst a new threat when the group hasn't even finished conquering the wild yet. Senku vs. Tsukasa is easily the highlight of Dr. Stone; Senku teaching Chrome is a close second. There are some touching moments when the manga describes our lost civilization or when Senku invents glasses. Simple things we take for granted, Dr. Stone shows us how amazing it really is.
After their battle is concluded, the series heads a little downhill. It's still an amazing series, but antagonists coming after Tsukasa have a tough role to fill. Ideological battles are far more interesting than "evil bad guy with claws wants to take over the world". Several new characters are picked up along the way, many of which fail to hold the same charm as the characters from the first arc.
As for the art, it's very detailed and well drawn, but... I have some problems with it!
1. Laziness - I like when the characters are detailed, but early chapters often drew them kinda chibi style.
2. Fan service - Fairly regular ass shots and bulging boobs. It makes it embarrassing to recommend Dr. Stone to people, sadly.
3. Faces - The females kinda have gross faces with their big eyes and fish lips. They should be a little more consistent with the male faces.
This is an enjoyable manga series with quality writing overall. It's fun how Senku and some of his associates tend to seem evil when they're supposed to be the good guys. It's too bad it tried to use fan service to gain some extra points, which only ended up cheapening the work.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Jun 11, 2021
It's unfortunate people don't seem to like this much. Roboco might just be the funniest manga I've ever read. I was skeptical when it was first released and had ugly Roboco versions of all the Jump characters plastered all over the Jump website. It looked stupid and amateurish, who'd want to read that? But, I decided not to judge a book by its cover and found myself pleasantly surprised.
Everyone wants a cute waifu maid to serve them and call them "master". Roboco goes against the grain and gives us a strong, overweight maid that's incompetent at basic house chores and filled with contempt for anything
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that stands in her way. She generally likes reading manga, gaming, and hanging out. What's not to like?
I feel the quality is dropping a little beyond chapter 40, but I can safely say the first 30 chapters at least gave me one good laugh each. Not just a small half-chuckle, but a real laugh. Newer chapters are still funny, but I don't think they've brought me to tears lately.
Roboco has some small gags and references to other anime/manga/video games peppered throughout each chapter, but typically the whole chapter is just a setup for one big punchline - and I find it is often delivered well. The relationship Bondo shares with his friends, as well as Gachi's face itself, is always a hoot. It's also amusing to see Roboco frequently abusing Gachi, especially since he's just a small, ugly child while she's a big, strong adult with DBZ-tier strength.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Jun 11, 2021
47 chapters in, Spy x Family is consistently wholesome and funny. Lloyd creates the Forger family as conveniently as possible for the sake of his mission, enlisting an adopted daughter (Anya) and wife (Yor). Little does he know, he's not the only one living a double life. It always keeps you wondering when Yor and/or Lloyd will figure each other out and if they might one day be hired against each other, forcing them to choose between their career or their fake family.
The whole thing's just pretty heartwarming as we watch a spy and assassin learn to care for an obnoxious child that knows
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when to keep her mouth shut. Anya's mindreading leads to some amusing antics, particularly when Lloyd ends up confused.
The tense setting of the world lends itself well to a lot of characters hiding their true motives/feelings, actually. Examples include Becky, who acts snooty and high class, yet is happy to have a commoner as a friend; Damian, who tries to act superior to others, but all he wants is his father's love; and even a fellow spy who loves Lloyd, but would never admit it. There's also Yor's brother hiding things. It's comical for Anya to hear all the intense thoughts of the adults.
Anyway, it's just an enjoyable read that happens to also be free of fan service. The overall story feel like it's slowly going somewhere, maybe, but it could easily go on forever without anything getting resolved. Regardless, it's just nice to go along for the ride.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Jun 11, 2021
(151 chapters read as of writing this review)
I feel like I want to like Jujutsu Kaisen more than I do, which is a little annoying. There are some mild Chainsaw Man vibes and some equivalent exchange-ish rules similar to xxxHolic. It feels hard to say much without spoiling everything, so I suppose I'll just get right into the good and bad.
-THE GOOD-
1. There are some characters they mention regularly right from the start of the manga, including Okkotsu and Touji Zenin/Fushiguro. The hype they build for these characters serves well when they actually come into play.
2. Maki's potential is foreshadowed for quite a while, so
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you know that's gonna lead to something cool. Sukuna's interest in Megumi also seems like it should have some impact later on.
-THE WEIRD-
1. I have mixed feelings about the Sukuna fingers. They made it seem like a key plot point early on, then they ended up getting it over with quicker than expected. It's weird how that stuff just kinda sits on the backburner for so long when it's the basis for the whole story.
-THE BAD-
1. Even 150 chapters in, we're still in tutorial mode.
They keep explaining all these basic rules about jujutsu sorcery, as well as explaining enemy abilities and elaborate "game" rules. It's never a short explanation either. Just when things are ramping up, you get interrupted by some gibberish half-explanation of how something works, so you never really know what's going on.
Just lay the rules out plainly and keep it consistent, please. Or keep the explanations more brief. Or don't explain anything, just let us figure it out.
2. The character names!
I get mixed up with the character names so often, especially when most characters refer to someone by one name, then someone else decides to call them by their other name (first name vs. last name). It doesn't help when some characters have similar names. I found this bad despite powering through 151 chapters; I can't imagine the struggle reading 1 chapter per week.
Yuta vs. Yuji
Gojo vs. Jogo
Two characters named Noritoshi Kamo.
Brothers with similar names: Choso, Eso. More names from chapter 144: Noranso, Sho-oso, Tanso, Sanso, Kotsuso, Shoso. Gimme a break!
There are a lot of characters that don't get much screen time, so just hearing their surname is confusing enough as is, but then you still have some characters calling them by their first name.
3. The whole story just feels kinda slow/awkwardly paced for the first 100 chapters or so. The constant explanations here and there probably aren't helping with that. They also have a good few flashbacks mixed in at seemingly random places.
4. It's a bit annoying that this far into the story, they haven't explained why Gojo is usually blindfolded while other times doesn't cover his eyes at all. Okkotsu's ability has been left to feel like a plothole, that's something they should've explained immediately.
5. Cop out "one of these characters will die in the next chapter" thing early in the story shortly after a new character is introduced. Why'd they have to tell us someone would die and then follow through in the most half-assed way possible? They should've just kept their mouths shut.
-CONCLUSION-
It's enjoyable overall, but the pacing is pretty bad. It generally feels like they're rushing through and not explaining things properly while at the same time feeling like it takes forever for anything to really happen. In the latest chapters (around 150), it gets a lot more intense. I hope they reveal the rest of their hand and keep this momentum going forward!
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Aug 5, 2018
I have mixed feelings about this work, but I generally found it to be suspenseful and enjoyable. I've heard a lot of people call it generic or say that it was only a matter of time before it devolved into a harem, but I think they were completely missing the point of the story. It's more than just another silly love triangle where the protagonist has to choose between two appealing girls. There is some interesting depth at play here.
There is actually some character growth in this story - they don't just stagnate and repeat the same antics throughout the whole story during silly
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circumstances and misunderstandings.
The protagonist starts out as a bitter incel, blaming everyone else for his own problems, but eventually grows into a man who can be honest with himself and others, making hard decisions in a way that is fair to all parties. For many readers, it's easy to ship the characters and say "Just get with the childhood friend, that way there won't be any complications"; they get frustrated and question his manhood. This is actually a story of romance, however, so the characters' feelings are important. The protagonist steadies his heart so that he only has one girl on his mind before making a decision, and I can respect that. He doesn't lead them on and toy with their hearts, and he absolutely does not show any signs of trying to lowkey seduce other girls.
The two girls in the story also have some interesting traits, as well. One is the picture of femininity on the surface, but secretly acts in a way that's considered boyish and unrefined; she strives to end the charade and just be accepted for who she is. The other is the complete opposite - more aggressive, athletic, and rude while secretly wishing to be seen more as a girl, so she tries to become more ladylike. So, the main character has to choose between a girl that he can relate to 100% vs. a girl who is trying to change herself to win his affection. To make matters more complicated, he's forbidden from dating the girl he relates to. Also, he doesn't even know that he's so compatible with that girl, he's just drawn to her and somehow feels there's more to her than meets the eye.
It gives the reader some interesting points to ponder. Should you put everything on the line and go for the longshot of a relationship if it will be more fulfilling, or should you be content with just having a girl that likes you? Is it admirable for him to try and be with the girl he really likes when he's capable of detecting the slightest bit of unhappiness in her life as it is, even if he doesn't know how much they have in common? Or does he have no basis to try and get close to her?
THE GOOD:
-Main character isn't as dense as people think. He is aware of the childhood's friends feelings and does his best to make a mature decision.
-Interesting premise. I like that he's a loser in real life, but he chats and makes friends online. The internet is a place where you can express yourself more freely without being physically harassed or psychologically abused (depending on how anonymous you are). I think they expressed this decently.
-Good character development, interesting how the girls each strive to be more like the other.
THE BAD:
-Gratuitous panty shots occasionally. Confuses the readers about the intent of the story - is it romance or is it just some silly fanservice story where female characters exist as sex objects?
-Probably got axed because it was in Jump. This manga's appeal seems to be more on the shoujo side of things. The shoujo aspect is good, it's just too bad the story couldn't run its course. The ending is weak.
-The entire basis of the childhood friend falling in love with him seems kinda flimsy. Lazy writing to use a near rape scene as a character's foundation (because how could she feel anything besides extreme gratitude to be saved from that?).
If you can look past the flaws a bit, the story is pretty interesting and suspenseful.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Mar 11, 2014
Ashita no Joe 2 started out a little bit lacking, but quickly became so addictive that I made time to watch all 47 episodes within 1 week. I found it to be slightly less appealing than the original Ashita no Joe series, though it's still amazing.
- - - S T O R Y - - -
The beginning of this one overlaps with the later part of the original series. Having watched the first Ashita no Joe series, I immediately spotted some differences. To me, it looked like a lot of details were removed and that they aimed to make it more sportsman-like. The
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Ashita no Joe I'd come to know wasn't really about sports, it was more of a drama about a wild, young boxer learning about values and how to overcome his troubled past. A fair bit of the drama from the manga was cut out, but this still managed to be very entertaining. The thing I liked least was the ending, which felt a bit abrupt and unsatisfying, especially since there was no aftermath.
- - - A R T - - -
Here's a clear improvement compared to the original series. The animation is pretty fluid and, while it does recycle some sequences, it does a good job of feeling fresh and exciting to watch. Yabuki Joe is a guy who can't sit still, randomly doing things like walking on his hands, and the animation puts in the effort to let his character shine. The art style is also very charming and unique, which makes it all that much better.
- - - S O U N D - - -
I was pretty disappointed with the first opening theme when I started watching this. Both the song and animation made me question whether or not I was watching Ashita no Joe. It was too cheerful and sporty, which is basically the complete opposite of the original series' opening. Worst of all, the opening animation doesn't even include Joe at all. However, despite all my criticism, the song is pretty catchy and quickly grows on you, especially since they play it a lot throughout the series. The second opening theme fits the mood far better. Not much else to say about it, they nailed it.
It's too bad they couldn't include some of the songs from the original series, but this one had plenty of good songs, too. Coupled with Joe's habit of whistling tunes, the whistled song and other catchy tracks made it so I couldn't help but whistle some of these songs throughout my day like Joe would.
The voices for the main characters are all good. Joe sounds manly as hell, something modern anime is lacking big time. There's a surprising amount of characters who speak in Engrish, which is laughable. I find it ironic that Jose Mendoza speaks in terrible Engrish while disposable supporting characters speak with perfect English. In one of the last couple episodes, they described a character as having - get this - "goose flesh". They meant to say "goosebumps". It's pretty funny when you need subtitles to be able to understand what the characters are saying when they're speaking in your own language.
I just don't get how they could have voice actors speak perfect English, definitely voiced by Americans... then they have these other characters voiced by Japanese people who have clearly never used English in their lives. They should've had an American revise the English part of the script. I mean, they have a boy named Chelsea. I can't believe I wrote this much about the sound.
- - - C H A R A C T E R S - - -
Well, there's our hero, Yabuki Joe, who's probably the most unique anime character I've ever seen. He has so many habits and distinct personality traits that I can't think of another character like him. His character is very lovable. It's great when everyone around him is wearing a suit at a formal event while he's just wearing his dirty old coat and cap. He's a manly ass yarou who doesn't let anyone push him around.
The rest of the cast is great, too. You won't find one-dimensional characters in this anime. They behave like real people, not like character archetypes. In particular, I feel like mentioning one of the kids from Joe's gang, Tonkichi. He's ugly and stupid, you'd think you'd like him the least... but everytime he's on the screen, I just know something good is gonna happen. His clumsy, ill mannered behaviour is just hilarious.
- - - O V E R A L L - - -
Well, I enjoyed this greatly. I know I said this is kinda more about sports rather than drama, but that's not entirely accurate. Ashita no Joe 2 has almost no focus on the technical aspects of boxing whereas Hajime no Ippo has a ton of focus on it. This series is still dramatic and stuff, just not quite as much as the prequel. I just kinda wish they stayed a little truer to the manga... and I wish they got some American help with the English parts.
I wish more anime was as good as this one.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Mar 6, 2014
I read the first chapter, titled "are u enemy?", which, if I may say this bluntly, I found to be pathetic.
The story revolves around Tackerhashi, an average teenage boy like any other. His goal in life is to find out why the hell Hasano is f$%ing sleeping in class. Maybe he's just tired? I dunno, that would be my conclusion, personally, and I would leave it at that. But no, Takahashi's classmates start up wild rumours about how Hasano failed school last year and he's sleeping there because he never woke up from last year's classes or something.
Anyway, the guys wake him up
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by dropping a cabinet on him. Hasano woke up with his face a bloody mess and he had to go to the hospital. Honestly, that's pretty brutal considering how innocent this manga started off. They should probably have a warning for the gore, I nearly threw up when I saw his mangled face. After he wiped the blood off, Tacabashi saw his face and thought to himself how cute Hasano looks. I just couldn't take the manga seriously after that. I mean, Takanashi would be prettttttty embarrassed if he realized that Hasano is a GUY, not a girl.
Suddenly, Hasano starts telling Tacks all about his "revolution", which has been a secret for the entire past 11 pages. Why did they suddenly bring in this "revolution"? I was just starting to get a feel for the story, then they suddenly throw in this plot twist. The story is just all over the place, I can't tell if it's about Hasano's sleeping problem or about revolutions. What revolution is this, anyway? The French revolution? If I had to take a guess, I'd say the revolution is probably a reference to the Nintendo Wii's former rumoured code name. At this point, I can only assume they're going to go hang out at Hasano's place to play Super Smash Brothers. Hasano will play as Jigglypuff and Takahashi will play as Captain Falcon.
Might I remind you that at this point in the manga, there has not been a single female character!!!!!
Reviewer’s Rating: 1
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Nov 26, 2013
I know a lot of people hate Chaos;Head for some reason or another, but damnit, I thought it was good. I originally watched it in July of 2010 and gave it a 10/10. Was that score deserved? What did I like about it so much before? It'd been so long I figured I'd re-watch it and give it a proper rating and review.
People criticize Chaos;Head as a convoluted mess, but I disagree. There were some times that complicated points in the storyline were explained at a rather fast pace; perhaps not exactly "easy" to follow, but I don't think it was hard either. For
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anyone who didn't get it, this series is a lot like an anime version of The Matrix.
- - - S T O R Y - - -
Throughout the entire show, I found the story to be quite intriguing. The show is filled with mysterious identities and mysterious happenings, which unravel over time with a natural flow. Nothing felt forced or tacked on to me. Perhaps getting a lecture about electromagnetic waves and human senses out of the blue felt "forced" to some, but I think the timing was appropriate and the characters explaining obviously did so intentionally, planning it out ahead of time.
Chaos;Head has a few "reveals", the main one being something personal about Takumi. I found all of them to be decently executed. Takumi's big reveal was led up to more and I felt it was quite well done. Some anime series will just randomly throw plot twists at you without being convincing at all, just expecting you to accept any changes it brings. Takumi's character development was smooth and believable. Some may argue otherwise, but it's not like he just did a 180 outta nowhere. The confidence the Di-Sword would bring, the relationship he built, the immense power and understanding he acquired, etc. I think is more than enough reason to give him a little bit of courage.
There are two minor plot holes in this series. The first is Rimi's involvement with the New Gen incident from the first episode. There is never any explanation as to why she was there. However, it honestly feels like it doesn't matter. We can assume she was there for any number of reasons, even that it was just a delusion attack on Takumi. The answer has no bearing on the story, really.
The second is how all the female characters acted like friends and as if they all knew each other in the final episode. This was a little silly since most of them have never met before, but also not a huge deal, and it can also be explained away as a result of Takumi's delusions. They all go to the same school, anyway, so it wouldn't be too unusual to be slightly familiar with each other.
- - - A R T - - -
The art is average for the most part. There's the rare inconsistency with Takumi's hairstyle, but it's really not a big deal. Cutesy anime girls with outrageous hairstyles, the usual. The art and animation is as good as any other average anime.
The part I really liked about the art is the effects that were used at certain tense moments. A desolate world where there is only Takumi and Shogun... A place where you must absolutely not be, where you can feel your very existence is at stake... A dark hallway that is clearly off limits... It just added so much more feeling to the scenario, as if you were right there with the characters.
- - - S O U N D - - -
The opening and ending themes are among my favourites from all the anime I've seen. They've got a good sound and good singers. The opening theme's intensity doesn't feel like it's all there since the show's full of cutesy anime girls and some parts of the opening animation aren't exactly exciting. Still, it's a very good song. The ending is one of two songs I've heard from Seira Kagami; I feel like I really gotta check out more of her stuff, she definitely sings better than your average idol or squeamish high pitched girl. I'm sure people would think the song is just lame since she says "super special", but you gotta remember English isn't her first language, there's bound to be some poorly phrased sentences. Still, I think it's a very good j-pop song. It may not fit the whole series' mood, but it fits the ending. Make of that what you will.
Takumi's voice actor does the job great. I love how Takumi creepily/uneasily laughs to himself and how he sounds uneasy and troubled. The rest of the cast is just average roles, and they do that fine.
I find the music in Chaos;Head to be pretty interesting and to fit the mood perfectly. It's common for anime to have overly silly and upbeat songs whenever the character does something silly or to just have boring music that you don't even really notice. Instead, Chaos;Head opts for simple piano pieces to gently give you the right feeling. The tense moments have incredible distorted piano pieces and awkward, creeping, noisy tracks. Most anime will just give you some exciting "action" music at the heated moments, but Chaos;Head gives you something chilling - a taste of insanity itself. I love it.
- - - C H A R A C T E R S - - -
Takumi - He is an awesome character. He's a weak, cowardly otaku who daydreams of a life with his 2D waifu and tries his hardest to not be the main character. That part is okay, but what's really great about him is his extreme negativity, paranoia, and his general attitude and reactions to events. His uneasy smile and weak little laugh, averting his eyes from other people, walking ahead of people who are talking to him... Overall, he's just a hilarious character, and his otaku references are a bonus for anime fans. It's also cool that he hangs out on the computer, plays MMORPGs all day, and uses Google and Wikipedia to solve his life problems, much like the rest of us.
Shogun - I thought it was interesting how they presented a harmless, shriveled up old man in a wheelchair as some mysterious and cryptic being with unknown allegiances. The fact that they made a character like that interesting in any way is impressive, especially in a sub-culture where people only care about cute girls.
Rimi - Just another anime girl throwing herself at the main character? Not really, she has a good reason for it. All of her actions make sense at the end, which I think is great. I'd say they should've developed her character more, but it's hard to imagine how they could've; she was fine.
Yua - Like Rimi, there are also good reasons for her actions. Her character development is generic at first, but her first plot twist makes her pretty interesting.
Kishimoto - Also has reasons behind her actions and how she gets close to Takumi. I know that's pretty bland to keep saying, but I don't wanna spoil things.
Sena - It was kinda silly how she literally carried her sword at all times. I mean, even if no one else can see it, she would be looking pretty stupid walking around in public as if she's holding a sword resting on her shoulder. Her backstory gave her a fine motive for the story, though.
The girls overall - Not exactly interesting by themselves, but not as typical as you'd think at first glance. If you think you'll be seeing "the down to earth one", "the sporty one", "the shy one", etc. like in other harems, you're mistaken. In fact, this isn't even really a harem. The girls don't flirt with the main character or try to start relationships, they don't blush at him, they don't accidentally show him panties, etc. They're mainly just there for the sake of the plot and allowing Takumi's character to develop. Maybe they could've been more intricate like Takumi himself if there were fewer girls, but I guess I'm not really complaining. The story was fine as it was, whether they were necessary or not. This would've been better if they weren't flaunted as the representatives of this anime for general otaku appeal, though.
- - - E N J O Y M E N T - - -
I didn't enjoy when Takumi had delusions about the girls playing out some hentai scenario or when he accidentally touched Rimi's breast (though his dating sim references were funny). These kinda things (the ecchi) are just way too overdone and boring to be any remote point of interest. However, I can respect that Chaos;Head didn't make any effort to actually make it erotic. It felt more like silly anime shenanigans, not like "I can't tell if I'm watching anime or porn".
I also respect that Chaos;Head didn't bother with bloody violence/gore. I mean, there were some little visions of horror, but they didn't emphasize on it much - they left things more to your imagination. It's not that I'm afraid of a little blood or anything, I liked seeing that in Hellsing Ultimate before. The reason I respect Chaos;Head for not doing the same is because gore has become a simple little trick anime producers use for shock value. They insert it when it isn't even really appropriate and people just gobble it up. Chaos;Head simply didn't need it, and I think it's good that they acknowledged that.
I found this series to be enjoyable the whole way through, though I think the ending and final battle felt a little... I dunno, lacking for a climax. I think it's because the villain had a very good and valid reason for his schemes, whereas our heroes didn't have very solid grounds to oppose him. If it were a debate, the good guys would lose hands down - they only won by using force, like brutes. They did rationalize it a bit better afterwards, but it felt kinda hard to get into that battle while it was happening.
For anyone complaining about how things don't make enough scientific sense to apply to the real world, c'mon... it's just a sci-fi story. Of course they're gonna stretch the truth a bit.
On a side note, it's funny how "Wikipedia" in this series is "Wiki-pedophilia".
- - - O V E R A L L - - -
Well, I suppose I can't recommend Chaos;Head to everyone since it's evident that a ton of people hate it. It's just 12 episodes and starts off really exciting, though, so you don't have much to lose. It's more creative and original than the majority of anime you'll come across, to say the least.
I dunno, I think people are just missing the point and getting hung up on how they didn't understand the concept of the delusions. Chaos;Head literally asks you if you can really be sure that what you see is reality, and tells you that the only way you can know for sure is if other people confirm it. Say one person is colour blind and thinks something is gray, but 10 other people think that same object is yellow. It is yellow because everyone else says it's yellow, even if you can't comprehend that. They take it to an extreme that some people believe and some people do not. There are many ways you can interpret this line of thinking. Is God real, or does he only exist because so many people believe he does? Is history the truth, or is it fabricated? If your brain can send signals to increase or decrease your body temperature (such as when you're sick or sleeping), could it go so far as to give you physical burns or let you freeze to death? Can you say a rainbow exists, or is it only there because you perceive it to be there?
I think it's interesting that an anime series based itself on perceptions and "belief" itself. This anime isn't extremely deep, and I really don't think the plot was that complicated to understand, but it is somewhat thought provoking. Apparently too much for some people, I suppose.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Nov 15, 2013
It kinda bothers me when an anime series will be tagged with things like "psychological" and "thriller" when it is neither. It makes me think there's going to be elaborate plans, shocking betrayals, a battle of wits, etc. Higurashi simply does not have these points. I would call it a mystery story, but don't watch it expecting it to really get you excited.
- - - S T O R Y - - -
It kinda feels like an RPG. The way the characters met up to play games after school reminded me of how Will and his friends did the same in the SNES
...
game Illusion of Gaia. I know that's a pretty obscure reference, but it felt pretty nostalgic to me, and I liked that.
This anime is RPG-like in another way, as well; the story changes depending on the main character's actions, and we are shown a few different versions of the story. This is kinda confusing at first, but it's okay after you accept that it is just like a retelling of the story in a parallel universe or something.
In the later half of the series, it elaborates on the previously told stories rather than retelling a new version. We get to see the other characters' perspectives, which adds to the overall story and reveals what's really happening. Now, I like this method of storytelling, but I don't think it went well with the "parallel universe" method. They only elborated on one timeline, leaving the others as pointless "what if" scenarios. They might as well have not bothered telling those different versions.
They do incorporate it later in the story, making it seem as if the failed version was not entirely useless. It kinda works, but it kinda just feels like a mess. Instead of it being some big reveal, it's just something that can't make any logical sense.
- - - A R T - - -
Some character art and some parts of the animation are, well, simply terrible. The girls look like babies and give a really bad first impression. Some of the adults are drawn decently, but a lot of them just look like anime teenagers, and many of them are as short as the kids.
The animation is a terrible match with the voice acting at the "intense" moments, making it just look really cheap, poorly synced, and just not suitable.
- - - S O U N D - - -
The music didn't stand out to me like "wow, I wanna listen to this song again", but some of the songs that played did stand out to me a little. A lot of the time, I don't really notice when anime has music since it's just so generic and boring, but the music in this one caught my ear a little - enough for me to acknowledge that there was, indeed, music.
The voice acting is okay. It seemed weird how these kids had such vicious voices at times, and the animation poorly conveyed it. It sounded kinda stupid when the characters had their "insane" laughter.
- - - C H A R A C T E R S - - -
Overall, Shion was the only good character. She was just a lot more developed than the others and played a very active role, being involved with the story so much that she even became the master of her destiny. Her change of heart seemed a little uncalled for, though. She mainly accomplished what she wanted, though she failed to learn what she really wanted to know; there was no reason to go as far as she did.
The other characters have their moments, but you can't say much about them since they're changing all the time. One mini-arc they're the nicest person in the wrld, next mini-arc they're the polar opposite. Keiichi played interesting roles, but I can't say he's a good character due to how drastically different the mini-arcs were.
- - - O V E R A L L - - -
I was paying close attention to things as I watched, thinking that if I didn't, I'd have to rewatch the series for it to make sense. This anime is not that unforgiving, though; in the last mini-arc, I think they give enough hints and stuff that you can figure things out, such as the swamp disease; this must've been what was in that syringe.
There are things that don't get solved or explained, though, like how Rena was possessed in the first arc, what really happened to Satoshi, what's up with the volcanic gases, or who the true culprit is. The stuff at the end is a little ambiguous, as if they wanted to make it seem like Keiichi was simply crazy and imagining things in the first mini-arc, but I think that'd be too much of a stretch. It's possible, but feels kinda cheap.
I was worried the blood and violence was just there for the shock value or whatever. It mostly was, but they didn't forcibly overdo it, at least.
Higurashi was fairly enjoyable overall, but I think they should have only chosen the "parallel universe" method or the "alternate perspective" method, not both. It's fine as a Scooby Doo kinda mystery, but it's certainly not a psychological thriller like Death Note. This was fun to watch, but there was nothing impressive about it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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