Marco_a_Phoenix's Profile - Reviews

Last OnlineApr 22, 7:20 PM
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BirthdayNov 13, 2002
LocationYasoinaba
JoinedApr 4, 2017

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Jul 29, 2019

Dragon Ball Z (Anime) add

Mixed Feelings

If you haven't seen or even heard of Dragon Ball Z despite being even an avid fan of anime, then you must be living under a rock because DBZ is probably the only reason as to why most anime viewers today are even into anime. It is the godfather of all shounen anime, but it's also that one shounen anime that people always refer back to when it comes to what started all of the problems with today's shounen anime. It's popular because people remember watching it from their childhood. It's popular because of the epic fight scenes, the fantastic power-ups, the Super Saiyan transformations, ... the awesome villains, and the enjoyment that comes in watching such scenes unfold before one's eyes. But... is it any good substance-wise? The straightforward answer is... no.

Dragon Ball Z is the sequel to Dragon Ball, which is almost a completely different anime than Z ever was. It starts off right in the middle of Goku's life after... okay. I don't need to summarize its synopsis because its already there in its main page. So what is it about anyway? Easy. It's about a bunch of aliens fighting other aliens. Literally. That's what's it all about. It's that simple.

There is absolutely nothing special about the story. It's just Goku and friends fending off aliens hailing from different planets while they are in different planets. They fight off these villains while having epic moments, epic screams, epic music, and epic execution to create some of anime's greatest fight scenes to ever exist. They fly around in hyper sonic speeds while blowing up planets and destroying the environment around them, and they shoot laser blasts towards their enemies. You do not need to know more than this if you want to get the gist of the story.

Like all Shounen anime, this anime has these separate arcs, which often have subplots that distract the viewer from what the main plot is about, if it even has a main plot itself. The same formula is used for every one of these arcs, which means that none of the arcs are distinguishable from each other. The formula is simple: Some random ass aliens visit Earth or threaten Goku and his friends and the planet they are in, and often times, the heroes aren't strong enough to eradicate them. So what do they do? Oh, I don't know. They train a lot and use random ass power ups, which are nothing more than ass-pulls just so the heroes can stand a chance against the villain. Each of the arcs have villains with different personalities though, so that's a good thing, but only one of them ever stood out to me, and that was Frieza, who I believe to be the series' best villain to date. He probably deserves an Oscar for his performance.

The characters here are kind of a mixed bag. First, we have Goku, who is the main protagonist of the show. He might be one of my favorite characters in all of anime, but he's nothing more than a two-dimensional character whose only purpose is to fight off the everlasting number of villains in the show. He never goes through any development unlike his main rival, Vegeta, who is the exact opposite of Goku himself. Throughout the plot, Vegeta shows realistic traits that every good characters should have. He has his own flaws, which are often internal, and he can never get over the idea that Goku is better than him, which is the main driving force of his character. He develops more than any other character in the show, starting as nothing more than a villain to a family man, and it was truly a pleasure seeing him grow. The only other character who even had nearly as much development as Vegeta was Piccolo, who, like Vegeta, started off as a bad guy only to eventually turn into a good guy. The only difference between the two is that Vegeta was an interesting character all throughout the show, whereas Piccolo grew to become a boring character once the writer thought he was no longer as useful as he once was to advance the show's plot. Another notable character here was also Mr. Satan (who I almost forgot to mention), who starts off as a dick but then turns out to be a really likable character in the end. There's also one more character who I'd like to mention, and that is Gohan, who is the son of Goku. He was actually a decent character in my opinion, but like Piccolo, he was treated poorly. He started out as a bitchy boy, only to become a tough boy, then went through character regression to become a bitchy boy again just to become a tough boy again until he eventually became useless.

I'm not gonna mention every one of the characters in this show because there are simply too many of them to describe and it's also because I'm too lazy, but if there's anything I have to say about each of them, it's that all of them except for Vegeta were two-dimensional and/or were often put to the side because the author either forgot about them or because he didn't know how to use some of them properly. With that being said, let's move on to the other aspects.

A huge reason for why this anime became one of my favorites was because of its animation, and let's give Toei their props because they animated some of the most epic fight scenes in anime history. It is thanks to Toei that the fight scenes never became too boring despite the fact that some of them were drawn out. Speaking of drawing things out, this anime was notorious for doing exactly that. Even though the fights were nothing short of fantastic, they were also insanely long, with some of the fights spawning up to over 4 hours in length. What this means is that there would be episodes showing only the fights and nothing more. It was like that for over 200 episodes! Yeesh. One of the fights in this anime was also given a lot of flack because it was over 20 episodes long. Yes. You heard me right. One of the fights lasted over 20 f*cking episodes, which is like the exact same length that most anime are today.

If there's any reason why Toei should be criticized for making DBZ, it's that they significantly slowed down its pacing to the point that they were only adapting less than 2 chapters per episode from the manga. If you were like me and you read a shounen manga, then you'd know that around 17-18 pages are drawn into a chapter, and if you read it without any constant interruption, it would usually take you less than 5 minutes to read just one chapter. The fact that less than 2 chapters (which are around 34-36 pages) were adapted to make an episode lasting 20-ish minutes must've been hell for all the children who were watching it back when it was still airing because the pacing was devilishly slow. This might've been the biggest reason for the fight scenes being extended so unrealistically, but that was a good thing for most of us because the long ass fight scenes were why I was constantly on the edge of my seat.

The soundtrack, like the animation, was magnificent. Depending on which version you watch it on, (Funimation dub with a revised soundtrack or original Japanese audio) your enjoyment can either be stunted or amplified. Personally, I found the English dub for this anime to be the best version. Its soundtrack fit the fights and also sounded better, and the voice acting was far superior than the Japanese version. If you've watched the anime in both the Japanese dialogue and the Funimation dub, most of you would say that the Funimation dub is better especially since many of you will agree with me that Goku's voice is much better when it actually sounds manly and not high-pitched. (If you can't stand Goku's voice in the Japanese version, then do not make the same mistake by listening to it for 291 episodes. It never gets any better.)

The amount of enjoyment that this anime generated was perhaps the biggest catalyst for it being one of my favorite anime. With fight scenes lasting for over 9000 minutes in conjunction with the epic OST that was Bruce Faulconer's, this anime ranks high among one of the most entertaining, if not, the most entertaining things I've ever watched. I have yet to find another anime out there that comes even close to what Dragon Ball Z accomplished in terms of enjoyment.

So, do I recommend this show? Absolutely. I'd recommend it (Funimation Dub with Bruce Falcouner OST) if you are an adrenaline junkie looking for something with all-action and little dialogue. If you aren't a fan of that, however, then do not watch this anime. You will not enjoy the overly long fight scenes and its dreadful pacing or the fact that it basically has no story. If you are a casual viewer looking to watch this anime just to see what it's like, then you should definitely watch it with your "brain turned off" as that is perhaps the best way you can watch it.

Final Rating: 5/10

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Jul 20, 2019

Big Order (TV) (Anime) add

Not Recommended

I'm gonna make this review short.

Story 1/10: It technically didn't have a story, and if it did, then it was probably the most poorly executed story that I've ever seen. It's basically an anime where the characters do a bunch of random ass stuff with superpowers called Order or some crap. These powers are never explained, and the way the characters used them throughout the plot made them seem like they were asspulls, which they most definitely were.

Art/Animation 5/10: The art for this piece of shite anime is better than the show's story and its characters even though it's generic as hell.

Sound 4/10: ...

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Oct 18, 2017

Kiseijuu: Sei no Kakuritsu (Anime) add

Recommended

This is one of the few seinen anime in recent years that has been universally praised by fans and critics alike; some people have criticized it for being rated higher than how it should be rated. In my honest opinion, I think that Kiseijuu is a decent seinen anime. There's definitely something about it that intrigues me.

As you've heard before from the synopsis of this anime (if you actually did read the synopsis), Kiseijuu tells the story of strange small parasites who take over a human's body and mind. In this anime, the story is based off of Izumi Shinichi, who is an average ... high school student. He is unlike any of his other fellow humans because he has a creature on his right hand. That creature is known as Migi, who is one of the parasites that exists on earth. Unlike Migi's fellow parasites, he (it's a male) has failed to take over Shinichi's mind, so Migi instead takes over Shinichi's right hand. These parasites or creatures are what a normal human would expect them to be. They are heartless, and their only goal is to survive in a world where humans have dominated the entire population. To achieve this goal, they resort to becoming a human themselves by taking over a human completely.

Typical of a seinen anime, Kiseijuu has a lot of bloody gore that is not to be viewed by people with weak stomachs. Anyways, as simple as the premise may be, the story itself is rather decent. It is a rather serious anime with some emotional and gut-wrenching moments. If you were to ask me, I would say that an anime with a rather simple story but with good execution can definitely be a decent series indeed and Kiseijuu does just that. Also, Kiseijuu does not really have a "main plot" because it is character-driven. Most of the anime is not just about Shinichi being forced to live with a creature on his right hand but rather, the characters involved around him.

Because of the fact that this show is mostly character-driven, we were also able to get some very decent character development. For example, a parasite such as Ryoko Tamiya was once a creature who would basically only live to survive as she didn't really care much about humans. As the series progresses however, she begins to develop human-like traits such as laughing, smiling, and she even develops an affection for them. This trait also applies to other parasites as well because some of them, other than Ryoko, begin to develop human traits which sets them apart from their other fellow creatures. Another example of some excellent character development is when Migi, who starts off as an emotionless being who only protects itself along with its host, ends up being much like Ryoko and even gains some affection towards Shinchi along with the humans near the end of the series. On the other hand, Shinichi becomes the complete opposite, and ends up becoming more and more like the parasites who have populated earth.

Other than Shinichi and the parasites, there were also some humans that have appeared in the show. Most of the humans in this show don't get as much development as the parasites but then again, they all do show some development as characters regardless. It was also somewhat strange, but some of the humans had a special trait that allowed to them to distinguish a human from a parasite. The characters who were capable of doing this were Kana, who has a crush on Shinichi, and Uragami, who is an imprisoned criminal. There are also antagonists that exist in Kiseijuu, and if you didn't already know, they are all parasites (not really a spoiler).

The art and animation is nothing amazing; however, for an anime adaptation, the art/animation was rather impressive. The anime itself is an adaptation of the manga from the 1990's and because of the fact that Kiseijuu was made in 2014, the art was updated to look more modern. The blood and the gore looked pretty damn realistic too because I kinda got sick from watching people die. Anyways, despite being animated by Madhouse, I don't think the animation was great, but I know for a fact that it looked better than the manga. The sound on the other hand was definitely great. The OST in Kiseijuu was filled with a lot of dubstep music, some of which I thought were very decent, and for an anime with some dubstep music and whatnot, I think the soundtrack had fit the anime perfectly considering how it was a seinen. The opening is awesome as I think that it perfectly fits the anime. The ending was soft because it was sung by someone with a high voice, but I think that it was also pretty decent. All in all, the sound was definitely something that I liked.

In conclusion, I enjoyed the crap out of this anime. I liked its characters, its soundtrack, and I was definitely a fan of the story even if it wasn't anything magnificent. I did not really have any problems with this show because I couldn't really find anything wrong about it that was worth mentioning. This is an anime that I could easily recommend to anyone who is looking for a seinen that they could enjoy.

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Sep 19, 2017

NHK ni Youkoso! (Anime) add

Recommended

Preliminary (20/24 eps)

NHK ni Youkoso! is an enjoyable slice of life series that is surprisingly decent. In this review, I will be stating my points about NHK ni Youkoso and why I think it's a good anime. Anyways, let's get started.

Story 8/10: The story of NHK ni Youkoso! is about a young man's life. His life is horrible. He refers to himself as a hikikomori, or someone who withdraws from social life as he has literally isolated and has even confined himself in his apartment for almost four years now. The man's name is Sato. In this anime, the plot focuses on the story of Sato's life ... and how he changes his ways throughout the course of the series. We are also introduced to characters whom he has met before and even some characters who he hasn't. Sato himself is apparently a strange person as he has come to believe that an organization called the N.H.K is responsible for making his life miserable; however, this is just one of those conspiracies that he believes in.

Just like in every typical fairy tale, Sato's life starts changing when he meets up with an 18 year old woman named Misaki who also happens to be the female lead of the anime. She's the one who tries to save Sato from his miserable life by attempting to rehabilitate him once he agrees to sign a contract that she herself makes.

Now unlike a lot of anime with a similar concept, NHK ni Youkoso! is rather different. It is a slice of life anime that is mostly realistic as nothing out-of-the-ordinary ever happens; however, despite being a simple slice of life anime, it also happens to be one of the funniest anime that I have ever watched. With that being said, the anime is basically intended for audiences who are looking for a good laugh, but it can also be occasionally emotional. Some of the best episodes of NHK ni Youkoso have resulted from some really serious moments but then again, it is rarely emotional.

NHK ni Youkoso is also a fairly well-paced anime. If you're going to watch it, then you're mostly going to be happy because of the hilarious content, but you might as well start feeling emotional from some of the sad episodes it contains.

Art/Animation 7/10: The art/animation is decent for an anime like NHK ni Youkoso. The style of the art is rather simple, as it looks really realistic for a slice of life anime. The character designs are great for each of the characters' personalities as they are all perfect matches. The art in some of the episodes was also pretty strange; however, I think that this was purely for comedic effect. The animation was also simple. Nothing about NHK ni Youkoso looked amazing, but the art/animation was still pretty good even for a series that was released over a decade ago.

Sound 7/10: The characters were perfectly voiced in this anime. All of the voices had fit the characters. Even in the dub, the voices were great, despite how many anime fans hate English dubs;however, NHK ni Youkoso! is one of those series that you could watch in either dub or sub, because both have great voice actors. The music was nothing spectacular, but most of the OST's that were added into the anime were rather catchy.

Character 8/10: The characters in NHK ni Youkoso! are good characters because they are realistic, and they are also very relatable. One character that is notable for being relatable in this anime is Sato. The author's way of portraying Sato's life is extremely accurate which is a reason for why I rate the character section of my review an 8/10. One of the best characters in the series is perhaps the female lead, Nakahara Misaki. She's a bit of a mysterious character in the series, especially considering how she tends to act around Sato. However, despite her being somewhat mysterious, she is a very likable character. She is a really pretty girl, and her kindness for Sato is what makes her that much more likable as a character.

As for the other characters, they are also good; however, none of them are as good of a character as Misaki. As I said before, most of the characters are good because they are realistic and relatable. They are also fleshed out enough as none of them ever felt useless to the story. As a matter of fact, all of the characters (including the characters with little screentime) served their purpose.

One of those characters is Yamazaki (Sato's best friend). He, like Sato, is a pretty weird person. He is quite obsessed with ecchi games-- games that children shouldn't be playing-- ,and he is also a person who could create those said games. He is a useful character because of how significant he was for the plot. He's the one character who is pretty much responsible for making the anime funny.

Another one of those characters is Sato's senpai. Similar to Sato, she is also someone who believes in conspiracies; however, she's not as crazy as he is. Her name is Hitomi. She is a pretty depressed character because she isn't very satisfied with how things are going. Just like Yamazaki, she plays an important role in the story.

All in all, the characters in the story are good because despite how simple they may seem, they are all really relatable, and that is what makes them realistic.

Overall 8/10: I had a really good time watching this anime. It was absolutely hilarious, and it was also sad sometimes. I would highly recommend this anime to anyone who likes slice of life anime. They might like it just as much as I do.

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May 14, 2017

Hametsu no Mars (Anime) add

Not Recommended

A downright appalling experience from start to finish. I should've known better than to watch this garbage. Seriously, who made this anime and why does it even exist?

Story 1/10: I don't have anything positive to say about the story because it makes absolutely zero sense. I mean come on, whoever wrote this must have intended it to be a complete joke. We have some aliens on earth, and they fight 3 girls.... And then there's this kid in a large technologically advanced suit and they all team up and fight the aliens.... It seriously gets worse from that point.

Art 1/10: The art is just ...

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