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Sep 26, 2016
***THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS***
Uninspiring, highly overrated, and cheap. Brilliance and creativity are the last things to come to mind while watching Mob Psycho 100.
The story is a complete joke. It is a major step-down compared to One's other work, One Punch Man. The entire story plays out like a tale a 5th grader would write and present. Of the many terrible presentations Mob Psycho 100 has to offer, One of the most bothersome reoccurring things is that the show lacks of creativity. The main character in particular, shares the same characteristic traits and personality of Saitama from One Punch Man. The plot and story always
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feature an overpowered main character that is socially awkward trying to save the day with his inexplicably obtained powers. The main characters in his works usually lack any motivation unless they're triggered more than the typical girl on Tumblr. Rinse & repeat for every this process for just about every episode and that my dear readers is the show. If this continues as a re-occurring theme for his stories, One needs to do a better job with creating and introducing a story, plot, and characters that doesn’t appear too similar to his other works.
Fun fact: Did you know that you can pretty much get an idea of what the plot is about for the rest of the series based upon the opening title sequence alone?
One was either sitting on the toilet or taking a shower when he thought about what was going to happen next for this series. The director could have easily changed specific things to make it more intriguing however; there were no signs of that happening. Now perhaps one of the interesting things involving the story was that certain episode's do like to focus on more serious matters. It wasn't all nonsensical fighting. To contradict what I said about the toilet thing earlier, there were a few moments in the story were the characters did try to improve their powers while trying to understand the most complicated things about their psychic powers and abilities.
There were multiple scenes featured within the story where tense emotional dialogue would temporarily take over action scenes. It made the show a little more “dramatic” however; I don’t believe that most of the parts where these “dramatic moments” had taken place were proper. This was evident during many of the fights. The pacing of the story was pretty straight-forward. Often times there didn't seem to be a reason to go back and explain certain details within the story. Depending on how you perceived the show, I didn’t thing that the story was as awful as others make it out to be.
In conclusion, the story could’ve have definitely used some touching up! Plot developments lack excitement; it’s constantly riddled with predictable moments, and lacks an interesting narrative.
Animation, character designs, quality and background settings. The following are the shows weak points in the art department. There were some pretty decent fighting and action sequences. The bad thing is that they are plagued with awful choices made in quality, setting, and special effects. I look back at earlier episodes like 4 & 5 prospectively, and believe that within the entire series 4 & 5 had the best fight scenes; this is me being nice by the way. Although the background setting featured in those particular episode were plain and dull. The school yard setting reminded me of old anime from the 70's, 80's, and 90's. In those days, background settings were not that important unless it had meaning.Of course it being 2016 at the time of this review, it is highly unacceptable by today’s standards..
The animators often times put a lot effort into the details of a fight. Characters muscles, facial reactions, and body reactions along with the well fitted dialogue, worked out pretty damn well. Sometimes, it made for more believable and intense fights. Not all fights were good though, I use episode 8 such as, during the time Mob is getting Rekt, the animation, facial expressions body movements looked a complete mess. While it may be fixed in the Blu-ray it still doesn't change the fact that it was terrible at first.
Moving on, special effects like the rain and the auroras surrounding characters while they are using their powers. It looked as if the animators just went into after effects or even Sony Vegas, created them, and put them into the final product. It seems safe to say that this series was on a budget.
This could be good or bad because if you're reading the manga then you can tell that the animators decided to stick with the original designs created by One. Bad thing is that, if you're like me, and care about seeing animators put a lot effort towards making an original work look better with upgraded character designs, special effects, and lots of great details in various scenes, you would be disappointed. Now I've seen many, many titles where the manga or LN designs look, and are much more beautiful than the anime however, now is not the time to discuss it.
In short, Mob psycho is a visual disaster! Characters designs in the manga, as mentioned earlier lack any kind of beauty or aesthetics. But, I'm focused on the anime now. Getting back on the subject, anime character designs are a pain to look at. Every other character appears to look exactly alike in facial features. This ranges from the head shapes, eyes, along with facial structures and hair. The appearances of characters, background settings, clothing, and background objects seen within the series are poor in quality and design.
The sound was pretty decent. There were less than a handful of tracks and sound effects that made the show stand out. The music composed for certain scenes that express sadness, depression enhances the mood and atmosphere. Songs created for the fight sequences were lacking an edge to make the fight more engaging. The voice actors were “okay.” I didn't think the actors had the right attitude for the series.
Some seiyuu’s are dedicated to making their characters sound more realistic by remember something that made them angry in the past and expressing the anger they felt from that experience to make a more believable attitude or sound for their characters vocals. For the most part, I did not feel that the voice actors were putting forth all their potential.
In ONE's future work I hope that he introduces more original characters. The characters are too one-dimensional. I wanted to drop this show on episode 2 because of this. The main character Shigeo is a blatant, lazily copy & pasted Saitama. I had trouble trying to like Shigeo because he doesn't have the same appeal that Saitama does, despite being a rip off. Shigeo's most unappealing trait is his socially awkward and clueless demeanor.
Sometimes it's cute when girls in anime are shy and awkward, however guys, not so much. Side characters are a joke. You know, as I’m writing this, I don’t even think that’s a good word to describe them because they were not in any way funny. While some give a little entertainment others are so annoying. I found this true mostly with the antagonists. The so-called "supportive" characters are more like comic relief than anything else.ONE appears to lack the ability to create characters that have a more “unique” and “rich” personality. His bad habit of copying and pasting the same characters from his different work is getting stale.
Enjoyment during the span of this series ranged from “awful” and “okay.” I usually drop titles after four episodes however the fourth was a deal breaker. I gradually continued to hope that maybe a new development in the story and characters would come along to change my negative feelings for Mob Psycho. This simply was not the case. Some may argue that “most people fail to see the shows appeal” or that “You shouldn’t judge a show based upon appearances.” I argue back that when it comes down to Mob Psycho, the show tosses away fluent story-telling, creative writing, lasting appeal, memorable characters, good character designs, creative background settings, quality animation and a soundtrack with songs you can keep on repeat.
The real question is why and how? How could a show that has such awful traits be so highly praised? The answer is simple. Simplicity is what the show builds its foundation upon. The entire show is simple enough for anyone new or old to anime understand easily and most importantly enjoy. Its’ welcoming, the show doesn’t need good character designs or a good introduction. Having high quality animation? Forget that! Everything is kept simple, and that’s’ actually a good thing. I think of it as an old Nintendo console. You play Super Mario bros 3. You’re having a good time, sure the graphics aren’t the best, but the important thing is that you’re having a good time. You’re having fun seeing the simplicity and joy of Mario flying around in a tanooki suit crushing goomba’s and turtles.
Overall Mob Psycho 100 really needed work in creativity. Mob Psycho would’ve continued to do well
as just a manga title. As for whether I recommend this or not, I would actually say yes. Mob is a pretty good despite the fact that it lacks appeal, creative story-telling, and quality. Referring Mob, or even considering Mob Psycho 100 to be less than or equal to One-Punch Man is an insult.
Final thoughts,
I felt that Mob Psycho 100 deserved a solid 4/10 for trying… if you even want to call it that.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Sep 23, 2016
Utada Hikaru's or "Hikki"songs, the less hip-hop-ish songs are amazing. She has such a beautiful and charming voice. A majority of her songs usually feature so much of her passion and soul within it. Her angelic voice syncs beautifully with the music video full of unused footage from the well known Neon Genesis Evangelion series.
There is no story real to this "music video." There is only art, sound, and enjoyment. The lyrics of the song sort of tie in with what the music video is about. a sadden, yet beautiful world. While everything in the world is destroyed, and withers away like flower petals,
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there is still hope. There is still love to be found. No matter how frightening and torn apart the world may be, you're always going to find love at the end of it.
I thought that there was some sort of hidden message. The song is pretty much like the plot of 3.33 except its' more about the "death" and "rebirth" of a world.. at least this was how I interpreted it. It's the perfect theme for 3.33
The animation is beautiful and the video is' a well put together piece of art. Kudo's to the producers for all their hard work. Major love and respect for Utada for her performance.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Sep 23, 2016
Every anime that focuses on romance requires some sort of unexpected developments within the story and plot. It should feature sudden developments that could have a devastating effect to the characters along with the events or narrative. There should be drama, emotional moments full of dialogue, and although optional, should introduce a cast of characters that you can fantasize together for your fan fictions that nobody cares about. Lastly its’ crucial that there are characters that viewers can make a personal connection with to understand them better! Momokuri throws away the standards of the typical romance anime, and curb stomps it to the ground while
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laughing maniacally. It replaces the very essences of the romance genre with moe moe cuteness.
The best thing about romances is that they'll often feature a male or female protagonist. Through his or her journey, we are able to see their mental struggle, hard work and the effort they go through in order to confess their love. The story of MomoKuri ruins the very thing that makes a romance story romantic and deep. The whole story is a cute mess. From the very beginning the two main characters are already a couple, it’s just that Momo and Yuki have difficulties expressing their love verbally. The two have a difficult time trying to approach each other and act more like lovers instead of two awkward stalker creeps. What’s worse is that a majority of times where there were tense, serious moments that could’ve been romantic, it was quickly ruined by comedy. For example, "Momo is finally about to kiss Yuki and chickens out." "At that moment, when he’s too afraid to do anything, the story tries to take a comedic turn by doing random reaction faces while he’s freaking out." It ruins the mood along with the scene.
The comedic moments were not as funny as I thought they would be. In fact, most of the comedic scenarios came off as “forced.” Its’ like “ha ha ha, you laugh at this terrible turn of events right now” or “Yuki is a stalker with a loyal dogs personality” laugh right now. It was in poor taste in my opinion. Following this goo goo gaga story was like an unsatisfying road trip to a vacation destination with your friends or family. I was glad I was able to stomach the content. Otherwise I would’ve dropped it at the beginning.
My biggest hope for the story was that Momo would have a rival in love. I thought that it would be interesting if another male character who loves Yuki would be introduced. That way there is some rivalry and more intense declarations of love to the female. Then I hoped that there would be a rival for Yuki, Rio. Again things just didn’t turn out in my favor. It turned me off from the story even more. The pacing is pretty straight-forward. Each episodes plot is full moe nonsense or failed attempts to try and get Yuki and Momo closer. By the time you know the episode is over and you're watching the ending credits. The plot and story doesn't seem to get any serious until it starts reaching the last few episodes.
The story definitely is not something that I would consider watching this title again for. It's lacks the appeal that a standard or average romances title would have. I would say that maybe the writers were trying to be a little innovative with Momokuri however they just didn't do a good job stringing all together.
The characters designs were great; most of the background settings looked pretty nice. I didn’t have many concerns with the animation.
The quality of the show varied from time to time. I didn't like a majority of the animation they used outside of school. Nature background settings like trees, rain, grass looked like an animator just went into MS paint and added it into the final project. The skies and water lacked any sort of "realism" and the details of trees and grass were minimal. Now, this isn't a show that focuses on background settings as much as it does the actual characters. So its' only natural that they avoid putting much detail into make certain "environmental" elements and crap look nice. It appeared as if a majority of the focus went into making the characters as cute and appealing as possible for the fans who love overly cute or "moe" designs. You've got big detailed eyes in both males and females. Both male and female clothing are close to real life designer wear. They made sure to make those designs as cute as possible too. So if there's anything to be said about the art its' that it is satisfying to look at, it's just don't set your expectations too high.
Voice actors were pretty good delivering their lines. I was most impressed with Ai Kakuma's performance. She's definitely experienced when it comes to doing cute girls. I felt that her role as Yuki can definitely be something she can brag about her next try-outs. With Nobuhiko, I think this is my 3rd favorite role he's done acting like the "tough, cool guy" personality. The soundtrack was a little weak however it does fit the tone of the show. Satoshi Motoyama is an excellent sound director. So he has the experiences and knows who to get to give the show the "life" it needs.
The characters as I mentioned earlier are made to be cute... "moe." I honestly want to say that I did not like Yuki and Momo however; I did like seeing the progression the two made to finally became a full fledged couple. Rio seemed like she could've been a better candidate for Yuki however, it seemed like the director wanted to go in that direction, but later kept the two as senpai & kōhai. Respectful and kind to each other. it would've been great to see an antagonistic rival compete with Momo for Yuki's love and affection but because of the shows "moe" "fan-girly" friendly approach. It seems that the writers decided to keep with the route that worked best for them. I'll have to admit it does pay off.
Perhaps the best thing about Momokuri is that you often times I find myself being guilty of rooting Momo on. As much as I try and avoid romances, especially girly girl romances, I felt that I could indulge myself a little. Like, he has a QT 3.14 girl whose loyal, kind, forgiving, and a stalker. So why doesn't he man up and sweet talk her? He has so many opportunities to make their relationship closer but he keeps letting these opportunities pass. Sure, it was annoying and bothersome at first however; I found myself starting to enjoy this. I started to see what pattern and direction the show was going in and really had a fun time watching it.
Overall the show really is for those who are into "moe" characters. If you like sweet straight-forward stories with happy endings then Momokuri is totally for you. As for me, I'd probably skip on watching it again. I love shows that take on a much serious approach to romance. Shows that have a sense of realism in it. Lastly, Its' not bad to like stories that are cute. If you like it, don't let anyone judge you, enjoy while it last.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Sep 23, 2016
200+ reaction faces by Episode 2 and over 3500+ Reaction faces towards the final episode. (This includes groups, background characters & teachers.) I excluded previews for the next episodes along with flashbacks. 38 seconds is the longest time a character spent holding a reaction face. The title of most reaction faces and time spent making time is... Hikari, or “Pikari.” With all that nerdy stuff out the way, let’s get to my review.
Story 6/10
Perhaps one of the most underrated shows this season, Amanchu is a chill slice of life anime. The story focuses mainly on character Hikari and Futaba’s high school life, and their love
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of diving. Hikari the lovely, energetic, frog faced angel has a love, hobby rather of diving. At some point in the beginning of the story Hikari and Teko are introduced. Hikari then initiates a conversation with Futaba at school. It’s their first “real” interaction until Hikari encourages Teko to join the diving club… and well you know the rest.
Narratives, transitions, character introductions, were fine. The settings where certain events took place were great however, when it came to backstories and proper explanations the story falls flat. It took 9 episodes to finally get some information about Futabas’ past. Futaba being the main character, or the character that the story focuses on the most, you would expect the writer to go into more details about her. This simply was not the case for a long duration of the story. The lack of any proper backstories made me feel like important information was missing or that perhaps the writer had been planning to wait until the last moment to drop an important & dramatic scene. It’s like there was always a sense of some sort of build up that never seemed to be released.
The pacing of the story is slow. This is a good thing because it lets viewers absorb little details, and really take in the beauty of the settings that the characters are in. Not only that, because Amanchu has an awful lot of dialogue, this keeps things fresh, and allows viewers to understand the characters current situation better. If I had to say what my biggest concerns with the story were, the lack of any major developments in the plot and the story. The plot… it’s iffy. Sometimes there is a plot for an episode for example the writer was like “The plot for this episode… well I think I’ll have an entire episode focus on Teko and why she can’t delete pictures on her phone.”
Sometimes a majority of the plots for certain episodes came off as uninteresting. Understanding that the manga is roughly 50+ chapters it’s sort of understandable that the story lacks a bigger goal for the characters. I believe that maybe if the was an ultimate goal for the characters, for example, Hikari and Futaba want to become professional divers and win some sort of trophy for their schools’ team. Then I would love to stick around and see the resolution. The plot itself is so simple, that’s why I mentioned earlier that there were no major developments, and honestly it makes the show, feel almost incomplete. All of these, and I want to be nice and say “minor” but all of the problems are what ultimately led me to give the overall story a lower score.
Art 7/10
The show is very well animated, good quality and details all around. The opening animation was beautiful although I did have one problem. There is a scene where they’re all on the boat right. They jump off the boat wearing the diving gear and then the next scene they’re all in bathing suits. After that, towards the ending of the song, Hikari and Futaba are shown wearing their diving gear again. I’m sitting down thinking to myself “bruh, is this a joke?” I don’t know if this was done intentionally or if that was planned out. Either way that scene sort of ruins the moment a little. I mean I understand if they were doing it for fan-service bu- Oh! look at me, I’m rambling.
I honestly love the anime’s character designs and background settings. The character designs, the school uniforms were certainly unique. One of my personal favorite things in school anime is seeing unique uniforms. This ranges from colors, designs, etc. I like that with the girls school uniform shows the shape and figures of their bodies. It leaves a lot to the imagination so to speak. The appearances of the ladies were pretty interesting. To me, the girls look like re-mastered 90’s anime girls. The eyes and hairstyle kind of make me think this way. The backgrounds like the beach, the ocean, clouds and pools. All of the background settings were amazing. Albeit they weren’t as great as I thought they would be.
Characters 7/10
I’ll be honest, in time I would love to see a more romantic relationship between Pikari and Teko develop. However, at the moment I am fine with them simply being best friends. I mean Hikari is so energetic and Futaba has such a calm personality. I believe that opposites who attract make better partners.The two are obviously my most favorite characters in the series because they have the most welcoming personalities. It’s fun to see them interact with their classmates and teachers. It makes me feel like I’m involved in some way. A majority of the characters with the series are inherently funny, friendly and likeable. However, I don’t think they are on the same level as Pik & Tek. Character development in Amanchu isn’t the shows strongest point. Although character growth does happen and personal changes through the story do occur. It does in fact take some time for the characters to realize their changes and accept it. It’s almost like a moral of the story feeling. I personally enjoyed seeing characters absorb new knowledge and make changes to their lives. The characters were great and I have very little complaints about any of them.
Sound 7/10
The opening song was pretty good, it was catchy sweet and mellow. The ending song was nothing special, it was catchy but not as special. I think that catchy songs tend to work better with slow-paced slice of life anime.. the voice actors were pretty good. I think that the female cast did an amazing job bringing their characters to life. I would’ve liked to have heard less “Gyops” and “Upyo’s” however; I did think it was kind of cute. The background songs were light-hearted, well composed, and did an excellent job setting the mood for certain exchange of dialogue.
Enjoyment/Overall score 8/10
As I may have mentioned earlier, the show is pretty chill. It’s full of dialogue which makes for very interesting conversations between characters. The art style, maybe the atmosphere makes it even more of a relaxing title. Now what do I mean when I say relaxing? To put it simply, Amanchu is a title that if you need to take a break from watching a bunch of action and fantasy titles. You could put it on and admire the beauty & quality that it has to offer. The only downside is that it has an awful lot of dialogue so if you’re transitioning from a title with lots of action and violence then you may want to skip this title. Now, when it came to my enjoyment with the show I’d have to say that the characters are what made this show fun. Overall I enjoyed the title very much and would probably recommend it to anyone who likes to take things slow.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Sep 19, 2016
New Game is a unique title that holds its' own individuality among other " let's create-a_____" type shows.
Story 6.5/10
New game is supposed to be about an 18 or 19 year old girl Aoba Suzukaze, whom after graduating High-School joins the game company Eaglejump... You know what, you can just read all this in the synopsis…
Getting the most difficult things out the way early, the major re-occurring flaw in this title is consistent story-telling and maintaining the plot. Rather than focusing on the main plot which is completing the game Fairies Story 3 (I think that’s' the title.) The plot is completely detoured by somewhat
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unnecessary and intrusive sub plots or as the young people say “filler.” Some may argue that this is a bad thing however; I believe that a majority of the filler shown are quite tolerable for the most part. This is because if the show stuck with a straight-forward approach, the entire series would be fast paced, avoid paying attention to details and more than likely uninteresting. Creativity and freedom to explore outside the office, the characters workplace, is shown to make the show more about "cute girls, doing cute things" while making video games or just having free time. It would not sell very well with serious, fast paced dialogue and actions. The slow pacing allows viewers the opportunity to not only see but, butt-cheeks, understand who the characters in the story are.
The story introduces an all-female cast, that had always left the possibility of yuri or "girl on girl romance" lurking. This "unsurprisingly" caught my interest. It made me want to see what direction the story would go in if they actually allowed romance between the characters. Fan service featured through-out the story appeared to be forced. I do not know any developer or person that has to strip into their underwear in order to be comfortable enough to work. I understand that there are people in reality that like to strip down to fight, or to "play" video games for money but in a workplace environment that isn't porn or modeling hell even sports, I doubt it.
The camera moving onto areas of the ladies bodies like their asses, panties, boobies, etc. were in bad taste too. I am unsure whether or not the fan-service is displayed in the manga this way. However, I would hope they go for a more naturally approach next time.
Overall the story department could have used some patching up (Ha, get it? patching more game puns are coming) especially in the presentation and story-telling. They needed to just stick with "one" or at the very least "two" plots at a time and leave it at that. I felt that it was just all over the place to the point where a majority of it just came off as filler... bad filler. After a few episodes you're most likely going to realize that New Games' main plot isn't the most important thing. It's' constantly side-tracked, and inconsistent. I ranked it a 6.5 out of 10 from IGN for the effort.
Characters 7/10
The characters introduced in New Game have one-sided personalities and act upon common.. or typical anime archetypes. Archetypes like the gundere girl, dandere girl, moe girls, etc. Now character growth or development does exist in this title. Each girl learns something new about each other which makes them grow closer together, like a work-place family should. The girls all share a common goal to bond with and I like seeing them interact with each other, they really show of that teamwork! I would rank the characters a 7.0 out of 10, featuring Dante from Devil may cry. These video game references, are they working?
Art & Animation 7/10
Art and animation was pretty solid. The use of 3D models, digital art work and software like Autodesk's maya were present, although altered as to avoid copy-right. With anime similar to New Game, it’s not uncommon to see little references to real programs. Having the characters use programs on real world tablets like Wacoms’ and computers show the viewers all the effort and struggle developers... well most developers go through in order to create & finish a project. Character designs were pretty nice for the majority of the series. As mentioned earlier, the characters are designed to be “cute.” Their “cuteness” or appeal rather is the bait used to hook and reel you in. The background settings are pretty nice to look at. The office is the most appealing in particular. It is full of work related objects, personal items that the characters collect etc. All objects animated are neat, vibrant, and standout a bit.
Sound 5/10
The soundtrack was “okay” at best. This is a show that I wouldn’t consider even downloading a single track from. I was not impressed with the background music, opening title song, outro song, etc. The music composed just seems to play in the background and doesn’t add any sort of “enhancement” or “ambiances” to the show. With titles like these, music really isn’t the strong-point though. This was rather upsetting too because Hajime Hyakkoku (worked on K-ON and Kokkuri-san) is a great composer. Voice actors were pretty good. I think that they all did an amazing job with their perspective roles. Lastly, I think that each actor’s voices matched their characters personalities perfectly. Overall I think the sound could’ve been better however, music wasn’t the shows focal point.
Enjoyment -/-
I’ll say this; the show wasn’t the best thing out this season. Compared to the other shows I was watching, new game didn’t offer as much enjoyment. Yeah its’ cute however, that’s about the only thing it has going for it. The story was weak; the plot was a mess and the events happening lacked any excitement. As mentioned earlier New Game is literally just “Cute girls, doing cute things.” There is always “this” sort of show every season. Almost a majority of them are the same thing with different circumstances. I cannot say that I didn’t enjoy New Game however; I can say that it wasn’t as good as I would’ve liked it to be so I left enjoyment blank at the moment. I highly doubt I'll ever come back to edit this review.
Overall,
The show is a mess! The plot is all over the place, characters are the only main attraction and astonishingly, Composer Hajime Hyakkoku didn’t put forth his best effort composing songs. I simply was not impressed with a majority of the features that New Game had to offer. While I wanted to give this show an overall rating of 7/10 for introducing cute and friendly character appeal along with fantastic environments & animation, I simply cannot deny the fact that bad story-telling coupled with messy a messy story & plot were a huge fault. I gave the show a 6/10 "Fair" because I believe that the show could've had more to offer. They stuck with a route that people are more familiar with and for the most part it worked... and I think that is fair enough.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Sep 16, 2016
Berserk returns with a whimper than a roar! The return of Guts and his tale feels like a horribly put together fan project.
Story 4/10
Berserk initially had many fans, myself included, anticipating its return. In this installment of the once great franchise the story and plot lacked the intensity & excitement the original series presented. This series was supposed to follow the manga according to what is on file in the MAL/ANN database. For the most part, it didn't follow the original source as much and sort of pulled random things out its ass to improvise. I found this to be both unprofessional and lazy on
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the director’s end. Of the many, one of the most disappointing things about the story is its overall presentation. It comes off ass.. (He he, I wrote ass) as, lazy.
It appeared as if Berserk was only made just to cash in on the franchise some more. The story is painfully weak in terms of plot & narrative. The beginning and middle, rising action, parts of the story were perhaps the biggest turn off. The amount of action, gore and death in the story felt limited. This ruined a majority of my experience with the beginning and conclusion of the story. I strongly believe that the writing could have been much better.
Few moments into the introduction, the first episode pretty much plays homage to the original anime series. Guts arrive at bar or brothel saves a woman, etc. Except, now in the 2016 version Guts saves a woman, befriends a possibly homo-sexual fairy, who doesn't shout "Hey, Listen" and the two become buddies. I don't remember the time it takes for all of these events to happen, however I believe it was about 10 minutes into the show that I wanted to drop it simply because of that. The stories appeal is bad enough to make even people who haven't seen the show turn away from it. Lastly, the main story gets even worse when it gets taken over by an awful intrusive sub-plot that focuses more on some of the most uninteresting characters in the series. This isn't so much the case in the manga however, I digress.
Towards the middle of the series, during maybe episode 6-9 (69.. ha ha children, see I have sex jokes) the story focuses less on Guts and his goal to save or abduct his mentally disable, brown sugar skinned goddess. Instead the story decides to focus more on the supporting and non-supporting characters. This wouldn't be so bad if only the characters were not so annoying, troublesome rather. For example when the prostitutes arrive, and Elaine is first show, at this point in the story is where I felt things became horrible. . The settings that the story took place in were not as visually horrifying nor did they set the tone for any new developments. The narrative, or rather, the way that the story was told, it failed improve successful elements that the original story used.
The unfortunate thing is that although the story is somewhat part of the original work, the way that its' been directed so far, makes Berserk feel like a horribly put together fan project. Shallow story, coupled with bad action scenes, animation and horrible dialogue made me cringe.
Kentaro Miura should be ashamed for agreeing his work to be animated in CGI poorly. His Penmanship, his detail in the original work is God-Like! (No exaggerations needed.) The Golden Age Arc of the series looks like perfection compared to this ugly, unappealing and awful, simply awful visuals. Details, there was a lack of the detailed gore like dismembered bodies and such for berserk. The dark settings and somber tone berserk once had seemed to have vanished. For some strange reason, berserk, the settings seemed to have taken a JRPG style setting. Woods, forest, deserted battle fields etc. Detailed animation on these settings was very minimal and unfortunately took away a lot of the enjoyment.
In all honest though, the type of CGI, the art style is what ruined this once great series for me. I felt that I focused too much on how bad the art was that it completely turned me away from the story. It needed more work, it needed to feel more realistic not forced! Or over the type.. Or "Edgy" as the hip people say.
CGI, CGI, I still feel like CGI based anime is still a work in development. I would not be surprised if Berserk was used for this very reason and we were all the test audiences. If this is the case I do fear what else animation studios are planning to redo or "re-master" in full on CGI. I digress, using CGI over the traditional style that made berserk such an amazing series that is what hurt the series the most for me. There was simply no enjoyment, nothing to saw "wow what amazing settings or detail, and I feel that it was the CGI to blame for that.
The voice acting was on and off. Sometimes I felt that a majority of the actors were over-exaggerating when it came to screaming. When there were serious moments in the dialogue, I wasn’t convinced that events were as bad as the characters said they were. The soundtrack wasn’t impressive for the show. Fight scenes were not nearly as intense because of the music.
Enjoyment
I was not impressed with any of the characters. Lack of character development and bland personalities is what kept me from making any sort of connection. As mentioned earlier everyone was riddled with problems and awful traits.
The show didn't seem like it was ready for release. It's sort of like a video game... which ironically there is a game coming out. There were so many problems with it that it needs patches to fix them. I felt like what was released, wasn't the shows full potential. It almost feels rushed. Perhaps they didn't have any editors to look over it before release. I don't know what they were thinking when releasing this. However, it totally could use work on the story, animation, and settings. Maybe a dialogue that isn't so stale a cat wouldn't even eat it. Overall, I simply was not impressed with Berserk 2016.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Aug 12, 2016
Oh man, Trigger has done it again.
What I loved best about space patrol Luluco is that at the moment Trigger seems like they have found what direction they want to go in. Magical girls, transformations, supernatural and comedy. Right now it is as if Trigger is sticking with their roots for this title. I love how they are still able to do whatever they want with their shows. They like being innovative with their titles, I respect that.
The story is really simple but is purposely made crazy because you know, trigger... gainax.. Uchuu Patrol Luluco follows the life of Luluco, a.. you know what, you
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can actually get this information from the reading the description of the show.. anywho, I liked the story. I thought it was pretty interesting in all honesty. Before I get into it I'd like to say that I don't think Luluco is the best thing to come out of Trigger however it definitely had the potential to be something greater. Because the show was about 6-7 minutes 6 minutes of actual story lots of the plot for episodes and other related details are rush to the point where it sort of felt displeasing. I did find the whole "Seasons" thing unique. I think it was actually a smart idea to have them make like 3 episodes, end of season 1, 3 episodes end of season 2 etc because Luluco's not getting a "Real" second season simply because the show only has Thirteen episodes. Maybe net animations, hell maybe even an OVA here or there however with the presentation of the story and the rush, I don't see this series a long term thing.
Art was choppy & sloppy, yet creative. Character designs were unique, however they lacked a certain charm to them. This isn't a bad thing however simply because the characters seemed as if they were designed to fit their characters personalities. Luluco for example is an ordinary girl, so she's a little plain in terms of designs however, she's given a cute little perks in her personality to make up for what she lacks in design or appeal. With animation however, I simply was not too impressed with the work Triggs put into the show.
Pipo Password was perhaps the best song composed for the entire soundtrack. It was beautiful, and really fit the theme for the series. Bonjour Suzuki's vocals, her voice was so soft and soothing, and really complemented the beat produced by Teddyloid, who has done lots of work on shows for NAX before.. like P&S with G-Belt. The voice actors were pretty good delivering both serious and non-serious lines. The actors did an amazing job with adding speed & energy with lines that required it. I beleieve that is a reqiurement when auditions for a role for characters in a Studio Trigger title... but then again I probably just made that up.. do I suck or what? :)
Characters are as bizarre, odd, and insane.. Like any other trigger or Gainax title. They had energy, and I like that. Character developments were pretty strange, espeically when it came to Gun Morphing however it was still funny too watch. If there was any real reason to watch this series I'd say it's to see what becomes of the characters later in the series.
Overall I was impressed with what the team came up with because again, I do feel like Trigger has the talent to make really interesting shows with more than unique and bizarre stories and characters. Following the life of the adorable Luluco as she tries to save her Papa and find true love was certainly something I did enjoy re-watching. I gave the show a 7/10 simply because it wasn't too good nor was it awful. It's like right in the middle.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Aug 12, 2016
Monster Musume no Iru Nichijou, an unexpectedly amazing & very unique title that has lots of men buying tissues and lotion, than merchandise for the series.
Story 6.5/10
The story and plot was more of a prologue. The lack of major backstory about the monster girls homes & origins coupled with the quick introductions were another reason why I felt like this was just a prologue. In addition to that, the characters being introduced one by one and the story, by the last episode, feels like the start of the real story. It's overall presentation was pretty strange. There is no real character development nor is there
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any "set plot" for episodes in Monster Musume. What I loved most about the story is that it manages to be a good amount of sexually arousing along with being both fun & exciting! I like that the story, although a bit choppy, focuses more about having fun and really getting into understanding the bizarre lifestyle that Kimihito has to endure now that he's been forced into the whole human and monster living together program, thingy... In my opinion it sort of makes an interesting story, although not great, still interesting enough to watch. Considering how much this show is being talked about among-st mostly males in forums, I don't think Monster Musume is going out of style anytime soon.
Sound 6.5/10
Interesting, nothing too special though. I did enjoy the opening & outro songs because they were catchy.. Hey SMITH-SU.. the background music unfortunately, none of the songs stood out too much, audio fell flat for the most part and the erotic scenes, the music, sounded like generic stock music. I didn't think the composer did a great job making the soundtrack. Now the voice actors, if it wasn't for them then I would've given the soundtrack a 6.0/10 however I'm kind of glad that's not the case. The seiyuu's involved with this series did a phenomenal job bringing the characters to life. If Monster Musume has its well deserved season two then I would hope that no changes to the voice actors are made. The actors are able to synchronize their voices perfectly in order to fit the characters unique personalities. I give the most credit and respect to Junji or Kimihito's voice actor because he has had experience with titles similar to this. Roles were he has to go over the top with his voice, for example making crazy noises, yelling, moans etc. I was more impressed with the voice actors than anything else in the sound department.
Characters 8.3/10
Perhaps one of the best cast of harem characters I've seen lately! In my opinion Monster Musume's strongest appeal factor is the characters. If you like harems, and love monster girls, then Monster Musume is the show for you. I didn't dislike any of the girls on the show. The MC however was so one-sided in personality that he sort of dragged the other characters back. Personally I don't even have a favorite character because deciding who is best is just too much to bare! (Yes, boob puns intended.) Overall I enjoyed the characters. I would assume by reading this you've already established that though.
Art & Animation 8.7/10
Perhaps the biggest reason to watch the show (if you're into Ecchi) is how well the character designs are. While the proportions of the female characters were a bit over exaggerated, it doesn't negatively affect the qualities of the characters. They are monster girls so of course their bodies are different. Nonetheless, Okayado character designs for Miia, Rachnera, and the bunch of adorable monster girls were perfection. The animators who brought his designs to life did an excellent job making them appealing for all viewers.
The animation would be the second best thing. Special effects used in many episodes improved the feel, the mood rather depending on what characters were being shown. From the first episode we see Kim' and Miia waking up, together in bed. The sunlight in the room, the lighting, it really makes the settings have a realistic feeling in an already fantasy world. My personally favorite effect would be the episode where Miia decides to go all metal gear solid's Snake.
Enjoyment & Overall feeling 8.6/10
Enjoyment was a main goal in the entirety of the monster musume anime. Keeping the viewers entertained by wild and erotic means is perhaps the best thing about the show. Having fun, letting loose, and making the best of a bad situation is a few things that the series offers with pure adult entertainment being it's key ingredient for it's success among-st fans. Give it a watch, it's pretty damn enjoyable!
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jul 1, 2016
Watching ReLIFE was quite an experience. Although it wasn't "special" it had its moments.
Story 7.0/10
Story, wasn't anything special. The duration of the series follows Kaizaki Arata, a 27-year-old neet or shut in. He gets offered a pill from some odd fellow, Ryou Yoake, because you know, when you meet a stranger on the streets you accept pills from them. Anyway, as you may already know he's able to start his life over, from high-school again. Now it's not one of those, starting over again from a different world, more so, main character Kaizaki is goes back in time, kinda sort of. He's still the same
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age mentally, it's only his appearance that has changed. Nothing special is worth mentioning or pointing out in this story. The whole neet trying to redo his life gimmick seems overused and uninteresting at first however, the plot for each episode would have some interesting developments that were actually worth watching. The biggest issue I had was that sometimes intrusive sub-plots began taking over what was really important in the beginning which was the MC getting the opportunity to redo his life. It wasn't all that bad though, although the story-telling isn't consistent, the characters introduced later in the story, Arata's friends, their backstories and situations add for a very amusing, dramatic and emotional experience. From a comedic standpoint, the show is very light on jokes. Often times there were scenes that appeared to be made for laughs however, a majority of it felt forced and just didn't work out. I
Pacing in the story is really slow, if you want to have a good experience watching for the interesting narrative, along with other features this series has to offer, then I highly recommend that viewers watch it at their own pace. Furthermore, please make sure that you don't take users, myself included (obviously.) opinions and reviews and let them ruin or change your perspective of how you perceived the show. Towards the ending of the series, around episode 10 I noticed that there was a good amount of dramatic build up. There was a lot of potential opportunities for an amazing dramatic conclusion, however... NOPE! this potential was thrown out. I thought it would have made for great entertainment if the last few episodes focused more on drama however, this simply was not the case. Instead the last few episodes seemed like they should've been aired around episodes 7 or 9 or at the very least should've been released as an OVA or OAD. If any improvements to the story could've been made I would have liked to seen it focus less on branching out. Often times the story was all over the place. One episode the plot follows this character, doing this that and the other, next episode focuses on another character doing this that or the other. For me it came off as unbalanced, the story hardly focuses on the "Why?" and just keeps going forward. All and all, I wasn't impressed with everything that the story had to offer. Perhaps if there was a season 2 in the works then it would more than likely help me come to terms with the conclusion. Although predictable romances were made clear in the story, I still want to see the final outcome without reading the manga. The story earned a nice 7/10 from me mates.
Art 7.0/10
Art, animation and other related things were pretty bad. Character designs along with the animation quality for settings looked outdated. I thought I was watching something from 2007 or 2008. This would not have been such a bad thing if only the show wasn't released in 2016... you know, the year we are currently in. In addition to that, the reaction faces and backgrounds used for the characters looked like they belonged in the late 2000's period too. Over the top reaction faces with settings that matched them. Speaking of backgrounds, the settings for a majority of the locations, school, parks, festivals, all looked like hand painted cels from before you and I were born. Traditional cel animation... I hope to see the Blu-Ray release improve the quality of the settings and character designs. If this was rushed then I would totally understand. overall it's just unacceptable.
Sound 5.5/10
I hope you like pianos...
The soundtrack was pretty bad. It was like they were on a budget or something. I didn't really care for the opening and ending songs. In addition to that the background songs were not, in any way, special. Now ordinarily, I love pianos, if you've ever read any of my past reviews then you already know I'm a sucker for pianos, being a pianist and keyboardist and all.I'll be honest though, there is hardly any songs playing at all for the majority of the time. I kid you not, there are like 3 or 5 songs played in the background, all of them don't seem to match with whatever situations going on in the series. Often times it was as if the background music was added to prevent a scene for feeling bland or boring. It was too late for that though.... The voice actors were alright, I suppose. There isn't too much to say about them other than they did a pretty good job delivering their character's lines. What caught my attention in the sound department was how quiet the series is. Background characters don't say anything. No talking from background characters at the fireworks festival, school, it felt a little too strange to me. I mean, it's ordinary in lots of shows, however because the show was going for more of an authentic type setting, focusing on realistic settings, I think that background noise is necessary, especially since the show is very quiet in terms of sound.
Characters 7.0/10
The characters felt so one-sided. Each had one distinct trait about themselves that made the individual stand out, barely. Developing romantic relationships between the males and females were predictable and very, very, cliche. I mean, to the point where it wasn't cute, or sweet, nor emotional. You can easily tell whose going to end up with who based upon their actions with one another. The character development in the show is somewhat minuscule. Chizuru is like the only character in the show that has any major character development and growth. I found this to be somewhat disappointing because I thought that if anything Arata would have been shown to have the most beneficial developments in the series.
Enjoyment 7.0/10
Entertaining isn't a word I would use for the "enjoyment" part of ReLIFE. If anything, any sense of enjoyment was rather weak due the inconsistent and often times "strange" way story telling... or presentation. Not to mention that somewhat inconclusive ending. While watching ReLIFE it felt more like I was just in it for the ride. Nothing for me to think about other than how predictable the events will turn out and what characters will form a romantic relationship. Overall I wasn't too impressed with everything that ReLIFE had to offer in the Story, sound, art, and characters department. It felt rushed in those departments. Perhaps the producers were worried about time constraints and not finishing things in time, either way the final product just didn't live up to my expectations. The series just barley earned the 6/10 I gave it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jun 30, 2016
Oh Koro-sensei, He wasn't just teaching his students new things, he taught us fans new things too, even if we didn't realize it. Among-st the many things Koro-Sensei taught us, was how to laugh, learn & develop, always make room to improve, be inspired, challenge yourself, and most importantly use your full potential!
During the shows first season I was not interested in the anime nor manga. I felt that the story was absolutely ridiculous and a complete waste of time reading/watching. It wasn't until 2013 that I saw "Funny moments" or "best moments" in anime videos on Youtube and saw Assassination classroom on
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it and thought to myself, "ha, this does look pretty funny" "I'll try any show once", gave it a watch and was for the most part blown away.. like the moon... (Puns intended.)My favorite thing about the story and plot is that it connected to me, the viewer on a personal level. I could relate to how most of the characters backstories in E classroom were treated at school. For the most part, mainly towards the ending of the season 2 I felt that the build up towards the final episode were very well executed... or should I say.. assassinated.. wait, I don't think that word works.. whatever. The begining of the season 2 has ups and downs however for the most part, it remains pretty solid. I don't want to use the term "roller-coaster" but I think I will use that to describe it. For example, 1-4 episodes will be about the daily lives of certain students, or the students working on something unrelated to the story. It felt more like filler episodes for the most part. Now for the second part season 2 the backstories about certain characters past and the history of class E finally begin to unfold. We are introduced to more characters and both shocking, and sudden plot developments, as to be expected. For the most part each arc of season 2 is all over the place and honesty, I felt it lacked a sensible amount of balance. The plot for certain episodes can feel a bit confusing at times because one second the students are honing their skills then next episode they are helping re-build a shelter. So balance does seem to be a reoccurring problem within the story-line. Overall I l was generally impressed with the story, I believe that Yūsei Matsui did an amazing job with his work and that Lerche did an amazing job following the work.
Number one thing that annoyed me about the series overall is that the animation or lighting in Ansatsu Kyoushitsu, even without the show being censored it's really dark. There are multiple moments in the show where areas are unnecessarily darkened to the point where I actually start questioning myself "This is the uncensored or raw version right?" The background settings looked poorly done so maybe that's why the animators decided to use darkness in multiple scenes. Character designs still remain the same so I do not have much to add to the subject. I felt like the artwork, especially the background settings needed to be re-done. I hope to see whoever is in charge of editing the Blu-Ray discs, brightens things up.
The sound wasn't anything to special, I don't want to say lackluster however most of the times I'd be watching an action scenes I didn't feel like the music playing enhanced the situations(s) occurring on screen. I also didn't care for both opening songs and the latest ending song Mata Kimi ni Aeru Hi by Shion Miyawaki. The ending song from PT 1 was my only favorite track. Seiyuu's are always amazing in this show. Of course my main man, a hundred grams, N*gga's just don't understand, Jun Fukuyama reprises his role as the lovable and somewhat admirable Koro sensei. Perhaps my favorite thing that Jun does with Koro sensei is his laugh. Every time I hear "Nyeh heh heh heh heh" or "Nyu fu fufu fu" I burst out laughing too. Nagisa, Karma, I really liked that their voice actors went through good lengths of studying English so they could speak it properly for certain episodes. While Karma's actor Nobuhiko English sounded a bit "broken" I did however like that Nagisa's voice actor Mai
Fuchigami was able to enunciate or pronounce English better. Everyone else did a great job with their roles and I think that Ansatsu Kyoushi has one of the best cast of voice actors for an anime series. Each of the actors are able to express a good amount of feeling with their characters in order to make their characters feel more... realistic.
The characters are the most vital part of Ansatsu Kyoushitsu. The main focus for all characters in Ansatsu Kyoushitsu is growth & development. These two things are literally the key in what makes this series work out so great. As to be expected of course, during the beginning of the series season 1 until the ending, the characters are lacking strength, potential, and skill. My favorite thing about the series characters is that I felt like I got to experience growth along with the students, and the teachers in this series. The way the characters react when they learn new things or acquire a new skill, because I felt so involved while watching it made me feel like I learned something new too. For example, if Koro-sensei is speaking directly to the students about studying for an exam and he's giving them both words of advice and encouragement then I, the viewer am also receiving some sort of acknowledgement too. Another thing about the characters is that they're all made to be either relate-able and or likable. That way viewers like me feel like they are on the same level as the characters in the show. Out of all departments listed from the "rate the anime" category I would say that characters are my most favorite thing about the series.
Enjoyment and pleasure is always experienced while I'm watching Ansatsu Kyoushitsu. I don't think for a second I've ever been truly unsatisfied with an episode. I have to give the series some praise because for 25 episodes and not a single one for me to dislike, I think that's amazing. I think to myself, even while writing this, "hmmm, I know there has to be at least one episode I hate" but I just cannot think of a single episode. Overall I was very satisfied with Ansatsu Kyoushitsu. I think although it may not have been the best of the current season it still stood out enough to earn the 4th spot in my top 5 airing the spring season. 9/10 for a memorable and joyful experience.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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