- Last Online19 minutes ago
- GenderFemale
- BirthdayApr 4, 2000
- LocationElkhart, Indiana
- JoinedOct 5, 2012
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May 12, 2018
13 of 13 episodes seen
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1
people found this review helpful
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| Overall |
6 |
| Story |
5 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Character |
6 |
| Enjoyment |
6 |
At some point in their lives, everyone has needed to ask for advice from someone they find trustworthy, but it's questionable as to whether or not their advice is actually credible. I'm not sure how credible MY advice is, per se, but here's some that I'll give to you right now; you're probably better off watching something other than the anime I'm reviewing today. It was an anime from the Summer 2014 season that caught my attention for rather odd reasons; despite its license from Funimation and the fact that the final episode aired in Japan on schedule, subtitled versions of each episode were taking
their sweet time being released, especially for the last few episodes. I ended up watching the first episode and putting it on hold for years, but now that I've finally finished it, I have to ask myself this question.
Can I really give solid advice to other anime fans about whether or not watching "Jinsei", or "Life" in English, is a good decision? Well, only one way to find out!
To start, Jinsei revolves around Yuuki Akamatsu, who is roped by his cousin, Ayaka Nikaidou, into the Second Newspaper Club. In this club, the members - at least, those in charge of the life advice section - read over the problems of the students of their school, discuss potential solutions to those problems, and then publish their answers in the school's newspaper. Through this club, Akamatsu ends up acquainted with three girls: Rino Endou, a smart girl with glasses and a disbelief in the occult, Fumi Kujou, a sweet, big-busted girl from a wealthy family, and Ikumi Suzuki, an energetic girl with sport smarts but not so much brain smarts. Get these four together with a question from a student seeking advice, and hilarity is abound....or maybe not.
Believe me when I say that I'm pretty sure you've seen all of this before; you may not believe me, but it's true. A guy joining a school club and finding himself in many awkward situations with the female members, who, by the way, are the only other members of the club? A plot like that has been recycled time and time again, and some further anime will succumb to that fate with that one thing to distinguish them apart from the others; Jinsei has the whole "life advice" thing, but that's pretty much all. It doesn't really try to do a lot of new things, and I found that aspect of the series rather boring.
The characters aren't much different, either; every last one of them are walking, talking cliches. In all honesty, Akamatsu is the worst of them all; he has his moments, but overall, he's just a generic copy-and-paste protagonist that you can find in many other anime. The girls aren't much better, as they're the kinds of girls you can find in any harem anime; I found Ikumi and Emi rather amusing, but I know that even they aren't particularly unique. However, I will give credit where credit is due; while I never really laughed or even giggled at these points, their chemistry is undeniable in their clashes over the advice to give. Their conflict with the Student Council President wasn't really as interesting, however; in fact, was it really needed?
The art and animation aren't anything too groundbreaking; I've seen better from Feel's other anime, such as Kono Bijutsubu ni wa Mondai ga Aru, which is also a slice-of-life anime. However, it goes to show you that they're capable of a better animation quality than that in Ushinawareta Mirai wo Motomete, which is sad considering the fact that it aired the season after this one and even had a better story! The voice acting isn't terrible, either; the voice actors for the main characters may not have had a lot of voice work at the time that this anime came out, but they did a good job. The opening and ending themes were rather catchy; however, they don't really stand out from other songs, and it's not like I want to listen to them on loops.
Hopefully, the question I asked earlier has been answered; after all, I've given my reasons why Jinsei isn't that great of an anime to the best of my ability. Now, I might as well give my advice to those interested in it; you're probably better off watching something else. I mean, no one's going to kill you for watching it, but if you decide not to take my advice and come out unsatisfied because of all of the cliches, don't say I didn't warn you.
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Jan 20, 2018
26 of 26 episodes seen
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3
people found this review helpful
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| Overall |
8 |
| Story |
8 |
| Animation |
6 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Character |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
Sometimes, you may watch an anime and think, "This could be better." It could even be an anime you quite enjoy, but you know that if there was less of one thing and/or more of another, it could be even better. The proof is that you've read the manga for it, and you enjoyed it enough for you to watch the anime before you realize what the thing holding it back was. Such is the case for Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou (Kare Kano for short), or His and Her Circumstances in English; I couldn't praise the manga enough for its deep story and character development,
but although it's also there in the anime, I found myself complimenting the shortness of the budget (in a sarcastic way, of course) more than that.
In case you don't know what Kare Kano is, it follows a girl named Yukino Miyazawa, who is seen by her classmates as a perfect model student but is actually a "queen of vanity", desperate for the praise of her peers. However, upon starting high school, she gets one-upped by a classmate named Souichirou Arima....and needless to say, she does NOT take this well at all. As if that's not bad enough, however, Yukino's secret gets discovered....by Souichirou, of all people! As it turns out, Souichirou isn't as perfect as he seems to be, and from here, the two of them end up becoming friends. Eventually, they fall in love and begin a relationship, and this series then follows them in their lives as a couple, where they strive to remove their respective masks.
The story of Kare Kano was very good. Of course, some of the comedic scenes were stretched out for longer than necessary, the recaps were slightly annoying, and the anime doesn't pick a good spot in the manga to end at; however, the anime kept a lot of important plot points, and I enjoyed seeing them. I also enjoyed seeing the characters again; although I feel that their actions and interactions with other characters had more of a comedic feel to it, they still felt like actual human beings rather than just tools for getting laughter out of us, and they got a decent amount of development. I still found myself liking Yukino and Souichirou's relationship; it's still a very ideal relationship, with the two of them genuinely caring for each other and making each other better people. Accompanying the good story and great characters is a rather impressive musical score; the opening and ending themes ("Tenshi no Yubikiri" by Mai Fukuda and "Yume no Naka e" by Atsuko Enomoto and Chihiro Yuzuki) were songs that I really wouldn't mind listening to again and again. Finally, the voice acting was surprisingly good; Veronica Taylor did a good job at portraying Yukino's character, among others with other roles in the anime.
Okay, now, time to get the one thing holding this anime back out of the way: the animation. At first, it seems like despite this anime's age, Gainax and J.C.Staff's animation work is very well done; however, as time goes on and the tight budget runs even lower, the animation quality suffers. Surreal animation, still images, and recaps ended up being relied on more and more as time went on, and it got quite annoying. Sure, the surrealism works in some areas, such as scenes that show Souichirou's inner turmoil, but other times, it's rather distracting from the plot. I mean, come on, people! We're here to watch a romantic comedy anime about a couple letting their true selves show, not to stare at pictures of the setting of said romantic comedy anime! You won't be able to believe how many times during the second half that I said, "I think they're running out of budget."
Despite all of that, however, Kare Kano is a good anime, and I'd recommend it to people looking for a good romantic comedy. However, if the budget problems become too much, read the manga instead. Either way, the circumstances of these two young lovers are those that can't be avoided.
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Nov 6, 2017
1 of 1 episodes seen
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13
people found this review helpful
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| Overall |
10 |
| Story |
10 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Character |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
If we're going to be honest here, Pokémon needs no introduction, especially when it comes to the anime; a boy named Ash Ketchum gets a Pikachu - a yellow mouse - as a partner, leaves his hometown of Pallet Town, and travels the world while catching new Pokémon along the way, all while he remains ten years old. Well, what if we went all the way back to the beginning and started all over? Perhaps I'm the worst person to talk about Pokémon; I was 10 myself when I ended up being pulled along in the Pokémon craze, and by not looking back, I have
made some Pokémon-related memories that I will never regret, whether it's from the game, trading cards, or anime. When I found out about this franchise's twentieth movie, however, I was skeptical, thinking that Pokémon had just caught the "recap movie disease"; however, with each new trailer came a promise of a new experience born from something old instead, and I got more hyped (even though Misty and Brock were still missing). At last, I watched the movie in the theatres with all intent on tackling (heh, get it?) it in a review; I tried to watch it from a critic's point of view instead of a fangirl's....but man, was it hard!
Ladies and gentlemen, Pokémon Trainers all over, here is my review of "Pokémon The Movie: I Choose You!"
Pokémon The Movie: I Choose You starts the same way the Pokémon anime series did; Ash Ketchum wakes up late, all of the starter Pokémon are taken, he ends up getting a Pikachu, they don't get along well at first, they accidentally tick off a group of Spearow, Ash tries to protect Pikachu, Pikachu knocks all of the Spearow out with a Thunderbolt, Ash and Pikachu finally become friends, and they see a legendary bird Pokémon fly through the sky. Your childhood memories know the drill here....but here's where the story starts to diverge. As this legendary bird Pokémon - Ho-oh - flies away, it leaves Ash and Pikachu a rainbow-colored wing; the two then make a promise to each other to one day meet this Pokémon. After that, Ash travels through the Kanto region, collects Gym badges, and follows his dream to be a Pokémon Master, like he originally had been doing; however, an encounter with another legendary Pokémon, Entei, reminds him of his promise. Together with new traveling companions, Verity and Sorrel, Ash and Pikachu embark on a quest to reach Rainbow Mountain and encounter Ho-oh.
Okay, time to try to not fangirl.
May I first say that the story was masterfully executed? I personally would have liked to see some of Ash's Gym battles, as part of one was actually shown and it was differently executed from the series; however, with a limited amount of screen time and a different story to tell, I fully understand this decision. In regards to this "different story", it shared some key story elements with the series, but even with those integrated, the film stays on its own two legs through and through. Although it does start back when Ash is at square one in regards to being a Pokémon Trainer, the different direction the story took didn't affect his character development. In fact, I dare to say that this film dug deeper into his and Pikachu's characters than the series did and gave both of them great amounts of character development as a result.
Some of the other characters were likable, too, but they come with the one flaw I'd say this film has; they don't get fleshed out enough. Perhaps the biggest offenders of this are Ash's new traveling companions, Verity and Sorrel; while they are interesting characters with their own respective backstories, these backstories aren't fleshed out enough for the audience to really get to know them, and they are sadly left as mostly supporting characters. The infamous Team Rocket trio of Jessie, James, and Meowth return, but they are also reduced to supporting characters and don't get as much screen time as they did in the series; however, the scenes of them that we DID get were amusing and retained each of their personalities. Another new character, Cross, is the exact opposite of the ones I have mentioned; he does get enough screen time for his character to be fleshed out, but that doesn't mean he came off as likable. As a rival, he is definitely a powerful adversary who actually affected Ash emotionally, but at the same time, the various problems he ends up causing and the things he says just made me want to throw my bucket of popcorn at the screen.
What this Pokémon movie lacks in fleshing out most of its characters, however, is redeemed in its art. Instead of conforming to the new style of the Pokémon Sun and Moon series, the art style stays close to what the series was before then, which was a wise decision cinematically; with what kind of story it was trying to tell, using that rather goofy style would have made it look pretty ridiculous. However, even with that in mind, this is definitely the best-looking Pokémon movie I have ever seen; the animation was smooth and solid, the backgrounds were drawn in a beautiful fashion, and some shots were masterfully executed. Now, I don't care what other people say about Sarah Natochenny voicing Ash; all of the voice actors did a stellar job at their roles, and there was pure emotion in their performances, too. While I'm not always one to pay attention to background music, I definitely have to give this film's background music credit; the music always blended in perfectly with what was going on. Finally, the opening theme was an excellent remix of the first Pokémon theme song, and the ending theme.... OH, THE ENDING SONG. I wanted to stay at the theatre just to finish listening to it; it was that good!
Overall, Pokémon The Movie: I Choose You is definitely an excellent movie and a challenging one for a longtime Pokémon fan like myself to critique. I wouldn't recommend it to those who can't handle different stories and the fact that Misty and Brock are missing (although I do admit, it was slightly disheartening not to see them), but other than that, I'd recommend it to any Pokémon fan out there, even the ones who haven't watched the anime in forever. With this movie being watched and Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon being eagerly awaited, I can tell that it'll be harder to critique anything Pokémon-related from here on out, but with that being the case, maybe I should just let my inner fangirl out!
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Sep 29, 2017
12 of 12 episodes seen
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1
people found this review helpful
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| Overall |
4 |
| Story |
3 |
| Animation |
5 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Character |
2 |
| Enjoyment |
5 |
Sometimes, I ask myself, "Why do you subject yourself to this? Do you really think that if you continue to watch bad anime, you'll eventually come to love bad anime?" Believe me when I say that I don't believe that will ever be the case; after all, trash is trash, even if it's yuri trash. The simple fact that it's yuri resulted in a particular anime being added to the list of anime I watched in the Summer 2017 season when it was announced; although I'm straight, I sometimes have a yuri thirst that I need to quench. Thus, if you ask me why I
kept watching a netorare (cheating) anime such as this one I'm about to review, the answer is simple; it's yuri. The problem is, however, it's not even good yuri.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to my review of "Netsuzou TRap".
Netsuzou TRap revolves around the relationship between Yuma and Hotaru, two best friends who both have boyfriends. In Yuma's case, she just started dating her boyfriend, Takeda; nervous about getting intimate with him, she turns to Hotaru for help. It was at this moment that Yuma realized she messed up, as this resulted in Hotaru kissing her as "practice". Of course, with a title like NTR, it wasn't just going to end there; even with their boyfriends being in the picture, Hotaru keeps "practicing" with Yuma, even though she constantly tells her to stop, even though it's clearly obvious that SHE WANTS IT. Thus, we get the heart-wrenching story of how one toxic relationship shatters all kinds of relationships, both friendships and romantic relationships! Yay! (Just kill me now.)
Now, let me get one thing clear; I don't like netorare or even the very idea of cheating. No matter the genders of the person you're cheating on and the person you're cheating with, it's still a relationship-breaker on both sides, as it results in the loss of an important aspect of a relationship - trust. With that out of the way, I will honestly say that the story of Netsuzou TRap is really bad, without a doubt. Cheating aside, everything within NTR's story feels fake; the actions and thoughts of these characters can be compared to plastic. However, for reasons I cannot even decipher myself, I was intrigued at the same time. Was it because it was yuri, or maybe I just wanted to see Fujiwara or nearly any other character get hit by a bus?
That last sentence actually transitions into the central issue with this anime, which is, of course, its characters. Yuma is pretty much an idiot who can't figure out her growing "feelings" for Hotaru, even though these "feelings" are so shoe-horned in that it just makes me want to slap myself. Hotaru is so much worse, and her actions make me believe that she's actually a succubus in disguise as a human; she constantly seduces Yuma to the point where she thinks she loves her. Their relationship, however, is even worse than the two of them as individual characters; as friends, they're pretty "meh", but everything about their "romantic" relationship is so abrupt and ultimately empty that I consider them to be the worst yuri couple I have ever seen.
There is one character who is worse on his own than Yuma and Hotaru together, and that is Hotaru's "boyfriend", Fujiwara. There is quite a long list of words I could use to describe this character (some of them being not so friendly), but I'm just going to use "manipulative", "heartless", "abusive", "misogynistic", and "unfaithful". Yes, you read that last word right; as if two cheaters wasn't enough, another one had to come into the picture and be even worse of a human being than the other two. With both Hotaru and Fujiwara being horrible human beings, it's clear exactly why they're dating, but that doesn't excuse their relationship also feeling false.
Luckily, the cast of this anime has one saving grace within, however minor this saving grace is, and his name is Takeda. One may compare him to a typical male protagonist in another romance anime, but in comparison to everyone else in this series, he is at least a decent human being; he's kind, sweet, and (for whatever reason) very caring towards Yuma. I even found his relationship with Yuma to be more believable than Yuma's relationship with Hotaru; heck, if Yuma wasn't cheating on Takeda behind his back, I believe that they could have been capable of having a rather healthy relationship! (Note: When you end up aiming for the protagonist of a YURI ANIME to end up with a guy instead, that yuri anime is doing a poor job at being one.) Unfortunately, it soon becomes clear that Takeda's only purpose in Netsuzou TRap is to constantly be lied to and eventually get his heart broken. What a shame, really.
With all of this being said, is there any other thing about Netsuzou TRap that is at least decent? Well, I guess I can say that the animation is rather lazy, but with this being a short anime from a studio with a not-so-impressive track record (Creators in Pack), this fact doesn't tick me off as much as it should. Let's see, what else.... Oh! Actually, the voice acting isn't too bad; each voice was a good fit for their character, with the best performance going to, surprisingly, Daisuke Ono as Fujiwara. (An impressive voice actor still doesn't excuse Fujiwara as a character, though.) I also didn't really hate the opening or ending themes, even though they don't really have much re-listen value to them.
Take this piece of advice that I'm about to give you; go watch Sakura Trick or Aoi Hana if you want a yuri anime to watch, or go watch School Days if you want an anime where the main character cheats on the person they're dating. What's that? You want both at the same time? FINE! Go watch Netsuzou TRap! Just know that if you ask your best friend for dating advice, you shouldn't let them seduce you instead!
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Aug 15, 2017
2 of 2 episodes seen
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1
people found this review helpful
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| Overall |
2 |
| Story |
2 |
| Animation |
2 |
| Sound |
3 |
| Character |
1 |
| Enjoyment |
4 |
Have you ever purposely watched a bad anime just so you could make fun of how bad it was? Well, it's easy to do that for anime that have disproportioned character designs, among other things. When I first found out about a certain OVA series, the first thing I noticed was not that it was a yaoi anime, but how ugly the character designs are. The next thing I noticed was the amount of negative reviews there were for said OVA series; despite the fact that I've never considered myself a fujoshi (I've only seen two yaoi anime, and both were actually shounen-ai), I knew,
at this moment, I had to watch it. After watching both episodes, there is only one thing I can say for sure.
The best thing about "Houkago no Shokuinshitsu", or "After School in the Teacher's Lounge", was the commentary I made as I watched it; everything else is absolute garbage.
Houkago no Shokuinshitsu follows the relationship between Mitsuro Kawase and Toshiaki Kazama, two school teachers. Kazama is constantly making advances on Mitsuro, even going as far as asking him out on his birthday. Mitsuro does say yes, but he wasn't serious; however, as time goes on, it seems as though Mitsuro is starting to fall in love with Kazama, yet I don't even know because the two of them don't even seem to have a lot of chemistry. Add in a brother who gives off serious incestuous vibes, a b***h, and Kazama almost doing a certain something that starts with an r to a random guy as a joke (I don't even care if that's a spoiler, to be honest), and what does it equal? The perfect anime to make fun of!
In a way, I feel bad for doing so, because there are probably a lot of people who worked hard on this anime, as well as a manga artist who thought this kind of scenario was a good idea for a yaoi manga. However, that doesn't excuse the many problems there are, and those problems, of course, begin with the artwork. I can give the animation a slight pass, as this anime was made in the '90's, and based off of the few '90's anime I've seen, I can conclude that no '90's anime has the best animation. The glaring issue with the art is how disgusting the character designs are, from the ant-sized heads to the Daddy Long Legs. I guess I can excuse the huge hands, as I'm aware that they're typical of yaoi anime/manga, but they don't justify the rest of the anatomy of each character.
The character designs don't hold a candle to the characters themselves, however. Kazama, disproportionate body aside, is definitely the creepiest character in the anime, always insisting that he follows Mitsuro EVERYWHERE; he isn't even faithful to him, as he does perverted things to two other people in JUST THE FIRST EPISODE. As for Mitsuro himself, I don't understand what it is that made Kazama fall for him (heck, even when asked, he says himself that he can't explain); he's way too bland for words, and he doesn't even have good chemistry with Kazama! The rest of the characters are either really irritating, like Miho (the b***h I mentioned earlier who wants to marry Kazama), or completely forgettable, like the students at the school Mitsuro and Kazama teach at. Speaking of which, does the fact that they're both teachers have little to no relevance to the plot, or is the awfulness of the characters just that distracting? I'm not even sure.
Now, let's talk about the smaller issues of this OVA, even if those issues aren't even that small. The character development - or lack thereof - hurts the overall run-of-the-mill story, making it increasingly difficult to sympathize with any of the characters. Despite the fact that I have watched very few yaoi anime up until now, I can tell when it's executed in a realistic way, and especially pointing out the fact that Kazama literally has no reason to fall in love with Mitsuro, I can say that it's not. The voice actors - even the relatively well-known Hikaru Midorikawa - aren't much help, either, as their portrayals of the characters make them sound utterly emotionless. Even the ending theme ("Out of a Delusion" by Mitsuru Satou), which I found to be the smallest issue with this anime, is a song that I found myself not caring for; I guess it had potential as a song, but for some reason, I did not like the vocals.
What is there to like about Houkago no Shokuinshitsu, then? Well, if you're in the mood to either laugh your butt off or let out your inner sarcasm for an hour, this is your perfect target. Even if you're the most hardcore fujoshi or fudanshi out there, you won't be able to enjoy this anime if you take everything seriously.
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Jul 7, 2017
13 of 13 episodes seen
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1
people found this review helpful
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| Overall |
9 |
| Story |
9 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Character |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
Have you ever thought about re-doing a part of your life? If so, what part was it? Maybe....your life as a high school student? There is such an anime that explores such a scenario of re-living your high school life, which I came to find out about when it was in the summer 2016 anime line-up; I didn't watch it at the time, but the overwhelming popularity it was gaining and the fact that all of the episodes were available online within just one day did intrigue me. I finally got the chance to watch the first two episodes of such an anime at an
anime club that I was going to, and immediately, I wanted more. After all, from watching just the first two episodes of ReLIFE, I could tell I was in for something great.
ReLIFE follows Arata Kaizaki, a 27-year-old man whose life has gone completely downhill; after quitting his first company after only three months (and for good reason, as it turns out), he has a hard time finding a steady job and ends up with part-time work. He is soon approached by a man named Ryo Yoake, who explains that he's been chosen as a test subject for the ReLIFE experiment; Arata must take a pill that turns him back into a 17-year-old and attend Aoba High School for a year as a third-year student. Seems simple enough, right? Well, if Arata's test scores have any say in it, the answer is "no". In any case, ReLIFE chronicles Arata's second time through high school as he becomes closer to his classmates and even ends up helping them with their problems.
The story of this anime is quite splendid, and I dare to say that it was nearly perfect. Not a single plot hole was found, and even the biggest surprises had some foreshadowing in a way that would make them make sense; the character development and high school drama were also portrayed realistically, and the characters were all people you could root for. In all honesty, though, I had a problem with the ending; it may have closed the current story nicely, but the overall story still doesn't feel complete (which makes me feel relieved that the upcoming OVA series is supposed to conclude the story).
When I said earlier that the characters were all people you could root for, I meant it; this is because of how realistic and alive they feel, and quite a few of them are relatable, as well. Personally, I related to Chizuru Hishiro the most, with her rather awkward behavior; as a result, she actually became my favorite character. I also genuinely liked Arata for his willingness to help others, and I truly felt the impact of his backstory of when he worked at his first company. Speaking of Chizuru and Arata, I always thought that their bond was cute and genuine, and by the time a certain reveal at the end of the anime came into play, I was honestly hoping they'd become a couple. Although I did like Chizuru and Arata's relationship the best, this anime did set up a lot of relationships - both platonic and potentially romantic - that felt real. All in all, ReLIFE had amazing characters that were what made this anime so good.
Another amazing aspect of ReLIFE was its art and animation. I was already familiar with TMS Entertainment from their work on anime such as Gugure! Kokkuri-san and Jitsu wa Watashi wa, but this is undoubtedly some of the best and most fluid animation I've seen from them. I also quite appreciated the character designs, as they weren't overexaggerated, and with an anime like this one, that's perfectly fine. The Japanese voice actors also did great, breathing life into their characters and seemingly even enjoying it. I fell in love with the opening theme, "Button" by PENGUIN RESEARCH, and if I could just find a full version of it, I'd be listening to it again and again! (....Oh, whatever. I'll just listen to the TV version again and again.) There is also a different ending theme in every episode, which is both a good thing and a bad thing; while some of the songs are pretty good (especially "Natsu Matsuri"), not all of them are songs I particularly care for.
Overall, ReLIFE is a great anime, and I'd recommend it to anyone looking for an anime following second chances without a time travel element. Just don't take drugs from random strangers, though; chances are, unlike the drug for the ReLIFE experiment, those drugs don't make you look younger!
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May 19, 2017
1 of 1 episodes seen
|
4
people found this review helpful
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| Overall |
9 |
| Story |
8 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Character |
8 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
Understanding someone with a disability can be quite a challenge, but if you're willing to overcome that challenge, chances are that you will become friends with that disabled person.... wait, haven't I already said this before? Well, regardless of whether or not I did, it's true that I somehow became aware of this movie while it was still an ongoing manga series. When I heard it was being adapted into an anime, even when it was confirmed to be an anime movie, I was already intrigued to watch it for myself; however, when I heard that Kyoto Animation would be the studio behind it, my
interest exploded from there. I also read the manga to prepare myself for the movie, and needless to say, I really enjoyed it; however, because I enjoyed it, my concern for how a 2-hour-long movie will adapt the seven volumes grew. So, how did this realistic story of a young man's path toward redemption for bullying a deaf girl fare on the big screen?
Ladies and gentlemen, please read my review for "A Silent Voice", known in Japanese as "Koe no Katachi". (Gosh darn it, not again!)
A Silent Voice follows Shoya Ishida, a young man who was quite a jerk back in elementary school. You see, he was classmates with a deaf girl named Shoko Nishimiya, and he and his classmates used her deafness to bully her into eventually transferring out of school. However, the target of the bullying soon shifts from Shoko to Shoya, causing him to realize exactly how much of a jerk he is; that brings us to the present, where Shoya is a third-year high school student with no friends and suicidal thoughts. However, this changes when he happens to meet Shoko again. From there, Shoya seeks out to set things right.
I'm sorry, but there is just so much I have to say about KyoAni's animation here. The movement is solid, the backgrounds are beautiful, and the fact that they were able to capture the original style of the manga instead of resorting to their own style so much is just magnificent! The voice acting is quite superb, as well, with solid casting choices. I also have to genuinely give Saori Hayami, Shoko's voice actress, some credit for her performance; although I am unable to compare her performance to how a real deaf person speaks, since I admittedly don't know anyone who is actually deaf, it's easy to tell that she is doing her best with her speaking lines. Finally, there's the ending theme, "Koi no Shita no wa" by Aiko; it perfectly matches the overall tone of the film, and I've actually listened to it multiple times before even watching it!
Unfortunately, while I thought the story was the best part of the manga, I can't say the same about the anime; it is here that some of the concerns I had before come into play. Many parts of the story that I remember so clearly from the manga are either rushed through or cut out completely, and it kind of upset me. I mean, I understand why this was done; it's difficult for 62 chapters (7 volumes) of a manga to be squeezed into a 2-hour-long movie, so leaving some things out was going to be left out. Still, this upset me because of how some of the things that were left out of the movie were supposed to give us a better understanding of some of the characters. You know what, though? What we WERE given was still as effective on an emotional scale as the manga was, so I guess I can let this slide just this once.
Overall, A Silent Voice was as great of an anime movie as it was of a manga. If you're in the mood for two hours full of beautiful animation, a realistic story and characters, and emotional moments, I advise you watch this. Perhaps it could show you that no matter how many regrets you have, you've just got to open your ears and listen to the voices of others.
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Apr 7, 2017
13 of 13 episodes seen
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1
people found this review helpful
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| Overall |
9 |
| Story |
8 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Character |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
Move out of the way, catgirls! We've got a new thing coming from Japan, and those are dragon girls! As if that's not enough, they've got dragon girls that are maids! In all seriousness, I first discovered this anime when I found out it was getting an anime adaptation; I was, at first, just slightly intrigued because of it being based off of the same mangaka as Danna ga Nani wo Itteiru ka Wakaranai Ken, but when it was announced that Kyoto Animation would be the animation studio behind it, I decided that I was going to watch it for sure. I even read the
manga to prepare myself for the anime, and it was rather amusing, to say the least. Despite all of this, however, I still wasn't prepared for exactly how good this anime was going to be.
Ladies and gentlemen, dragon maids all around, here is my review of "Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon", known in English as "Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid".
Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon begins when Kobayashi, an office worker, finds a dragon standing at her door that day; the dragon then proceeds to transform into a cute girl with D (for dragon)-cup breasts and introduces herself as Tohru. As it turns out, Kobayashi and Tohru met on the mountains one night when the former had taken a drunken excursion there and the latter got defeated and fled to this other world; seeing that she had nowhere to go, Kobayashi offers Tohru to live with her. As a result, Tohru has arrived to not only accept her offer, but she has also become her maid! Albeit reluctant at first, Kobayashi agrees to let Tohru stay. With Tohru around, it's needless to say that Kobayashi's life has gotten more interesting, especially with other dragons arriving in this world, too.
I'll say this first, just to get it out of the way and prevent me gushing over it too much; the animation from Kyoto Animation is, once again, a sight to behold. With its fluid movement, simple (although simplicity is perfect for an anime like this) backgrounds, and cute character designs, it goes without question that the folks at KyoAni has provided excellent animation once more. The voice acting is pretty solid, too; the voice actors do their best with their respective roles, and not only do they succeed, they also seem to be having fun with their roles. The opening and ending themes, which are respectively "Aozora no Rhapsody" by fhana and "Isshuukan Communication" by Choro-gonzu (the seiyuus for Tohru, Kanna, Elma, and Lucoa), are also excellent songs that both fit this anime's atmosphere to a T.
As for the story, it's rather simplistic; if you're looking for an anime that has both dragons and a complicated plot, you're not going to find the latter, so unless you're just going to settle for the dragons, I suggest looking elsewhere. It's not a huge problem for me, though; as a fan of slice of life anime, I enjoyed the story this anime had to tell. There were also quite a few jokes that were thrown my way that made me bust up laughing. For example, there is one running gag where one character, Saikawa, goes crazy for another character, Kanna, in certain situations; those moments never failed to make me laugh, especially because of the facial expressions she has as a result.
Now, let's talk about the driving force behind Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon, and that is its characters. Kobayashi is a rather standard protagonist, but even she has her moments of amusement; that, along with the strong bonds she has with Tohru, Kanna, and other characters in the series, made her a great character through my eyes. Tohru is also a fun character; her energetic personality and genuine determination to make Kobayashi happy make it easy for the audience to root for her. However, the best character is, without a doubt, Kanna; her antics are definitely adorable, and every time she was on screen, a smile never failed to grow on my face. There is also a great number of lovable supporting characters, such as Saikawa (for reasons I've already mentioned), Takiya, and Fafnir; all of the supporting cast have a role in bringing color and life to this anime.
Overall, Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon is an extremely well-executed anime. If you're in for a cute slice-of-life/fantasy anime, you're in for a real treat. After all, who can pass up dragon girls, especially if they're dragon maids?
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Apr 6, 2017
12 of 12 episodes seen
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2
people found this review helpful
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| Overall |
6 |
| Story |
6 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Character |
5 |
| Enjoyment |
6 |
I'm just going to say it outright; if anyone is going to remember this anime at all, it will be as Amagami SS's eccentric little sister. The "eccentric" part comes from the fact that the story presents some rather bizarre events and quotes, while the "little sister" part comes from not only the fact that it not only noticeably comes from the same universe, but a couple of the characters are actually younger siblings of Amagami SS characters! (Let's not forget the omnibus format both series share, too.) In fact, this connection with Amagami SS was why I selected this anime to be among those
from the Winter 2017 anime that I watched in the first place; in spite of this decision, however, my expectations were actually quite low. Unfortunately, I was proven right.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to my review of Amagami SS's eccentric little sister, "Seiren".
Seiren follows the romantic misadventures of Shoichi Kamita, a second-year high school boy. Similarly to Amagami SS, four episodes each cover the heroines that Shoichi ends up romancing, except the number of girls is halved this time. First, we've got Hikari Tsuneki, the cheerful "idol" of Shoichi's class with a secret job at a restaurant. Then, we've got Tooru Miyamae, a gamer girl who joins Shoichi and his friends in playing what I've come to think of as "a deer version of Pokemon". Finally, we've got Kyouko Tono, Shoichi's childhood friend who just joined the Home Economics Club. As time goes on in each of the girls' arcs, Shoichi becomes closer with either one of these girls and gradually falls in love with her....whether or not he actually has any chemistry with any of them.
What could I possibly mean by that last sentence? I mean exactly what I said; Shoichi does not have very strong chemistry with any of these girls. I mean, when you're creating an anime with this format, it's hard to build a strong connection between our protagonist with all of the girls he gets with, but there's bound to be at least one girl who has a believable relationship with him. Unfortuately, in Seiren, there is none of that; in the best case scenario, I would see Shoichi and the girl whose arc is ongoing as just friends, and that's pretty much it. Each of their stories suffer a bit because of this, too, and when an anime's story is taken down with two characters' chemistry, especially when it's done three times in the same series, we've got ourselves a bit of a problem. Although the story can surprise you with its bizarre ideas at times (for example, there is a character with a real thing for bunnies), it doesn't help too much.
Now, let's discuss the characters. I remember liking Junichi, the protagonist of Amagami SS, a lot, especially since he had what Shoichi didn't: a believable personality. Shoichi, on the other hand, is a rather boring main character with little personality; it's not as easy to root for this guy. The heroines aren't much help, either. While Hikari is definitely the most interesting of the bunch, it really didn't feel like she got a lot of development, so I couldn't get myself to like her. Tooru had potential, but as time went on, she seemed to become less and less of an interesting character; by the end of her arc, I had given up on her. As for Kyouko.... ugh, where do I even begin? Out of all of the heroines - no, out of all of the characters, period - she has to be the character, or at least one of the characters, with the least amount of personality, and I honestly felt that her relationship with Shoichi, as well as her entire arc, was the weakest. Out of the supporting cast, there are a few memorable characters, but most of them are pretty forgettable.
The animation, done by Studio Gokumi, wasn't terrible; sometimes, the movement of the characters was a bit awkward, but for the most part, it wasn't terrible. After all, a particular diamond in the rough from Seiren came from a beautifully-animated scene in episode 4; I won't say what it is because of spoilers, but anyone who has actually watched this series might know what I'm talking about. The voice acting wasn't too bad, either; for the most part, the voice actors played their roles well, although some weren't really as good. The opening and endings themes were also nice to listen to, albeit not songs to listen to over and over again.
Overall, Seiren was a below-average anime. I won't stop you if you're desperate to watch it, but if you're looking for an anime with an omnibus format where the protagonist ends up with more than one girl in more than one alternate universe, I'd prefer that you watch Amagami SS. I mean, let's be honest; it's more memorable than Seiren.
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Feb 20, 2017
7 of 7 chapters read
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7
people found this review helpful
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| Overall |
2 |
| Story |
2 |
| Art |
6 |
| Character |
1 |
| Enjoyment |
1 |
To be honest, I'm feeling a little pissed off right now, and it's not because of my stupid pun just now. That anger is mixed with the surprise that anyone could ever think about creating a manga like this, but I guess if your mind is twisted enough, a few "masterpieces" could emerge, and some unfortunate victims could end up reading those "masterpieces". Take me, for example; by chance, I encountered a lowly-rated manga on MAL and, out of curiosity, decided to read it in order to see why it was so bad. (Keep in mind I ignored the synopsis.) The end result was me
realizing that there are, indeed, manga out there that could disgust me more than any borderline-hentai manga could. Of course, there is fan-service, but this is not just mere fan-service; this is pee-service!
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to my review of the "masterpiece" of a manga, Alice no 100°Cc!
Alice no 100°Cc follows Aoi Kururi, a high school boy who practices onmyou-ji - or should I say, onmyou-pee - magic. He has a very sensitive nose, and he can smell it when girls have to pee. Whether it's breaking spells related to pee or girls who are triggered into peeing by certain things, this manga is a pee-fetishist's dream come true!
....I'm sorry. I just can't come up with a good synopsis to write for this freaking manga. I can't really blame myself, though; the plot of this manga is practically non-existent. There are two arcs that last two chapters, but that doesn't help much, especially considering there are only seven chapters in this manga overall. The short length also harms the characters; they're barely given any time to develop as characters, if character development was even possible. To summarize all of the characters, Aoi is a disgusting pervert, and the rest of the cast is always like, "I have to go really, really bad!"
If you haven't already guessed what is the main driving force for this manga, it's a whole load of pee jokes! The mangaka, Chizuna Nakajima, has obviously put in as many pee jokes and urine itself in as possible in an attempt to maybe get the reader to laugh. News flash, Nakajima-sensei; it's disgusting, not funny! Sure, the art is okay (albeit nothing special), but it doesn't distract us from any of the urination that takes place in this manga; considering that it's actually drawn, it only makes it worse!
Overall, Alice on 100°Cc is, without a doubt, the worst and most disgusting manga I have ever read. If you have a pee fetish, I only have two things to say to you. The first is that you may be one of the only people who might find pleasure in this manga; the second is that you need to go see a therapist right now. It's obvious that you and the mangaka who even came up with this in the first place need some serious help.
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