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Jul 7, 2014
Mekakucity Actors was an anime which I started watching with high expectations and expecting to enjoy, since my best friend had been talking a lot about it in a very positive manner. In fact, I watched it because of her, which may or may not be a very good thing.
The story of Mekakucity Actors was, as I believe most people know, based upon an anthology of vocaloid songs. I think that this is already a very fresh, new adaptation, since most anime are based off light novels, manga, visual novels, etc.
However, this new concept doesn’t seem to be a very good one. I have heard,
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on a number of different sites (including MAL) that it is hard to understand if you haven’t read the manga (I think?), you will find it confusing. I’m going to verify that.
As someone who had neither listened to the songs, nor read the manga beforehand, I’ve got to say that this is possible the most confusing storyline I have encountered so far.
For starters, the layout of the episode is all wrong - they still have a vitally important story elements after the ending theme. As someone who prefers to skip to the next episode rather than sitting for another two minutes listening to the ending theme (unless I absolutely love it), I almost missed it.
That aside, the story is very disjointed. Flashbacks come and go without warning, so it often took me a few moments to realise that I had just watched a flashback, after having wondered why a certain event is going on at that moment. This contributed to the overall confusing aspect of this anime.
The story element also managed, somehow, to be incredibly slow-paced yet rushed, sometimes simultaneously. At the tenth episode, I was still wondering when the real action was going to start. It did in episode 12, but was so confusing that I didn’t value it at all.
In truth, the storyline didn’t meet my expectations at all. I was foolishly thinking that their red eye powers would come into use more than twice. I don’t think Seto’s powers came into play even once.
At first, I liked the fact that every episode concentrated on a different character, but I think that in the end, it pulled away from the actual storyline, as well as took away screen time from a considerably large amount of characters (Hibiya especially).
Had the series been executed more intelligently, perhaps even with more episodes, I am sure that it would have been a lot let confusing and much more enjoyable. The first few episodes were understandable, but the last few, notably, were incredibly rushed and even more confusing. Story gets a ‘4’.
The art element was very mediocre. Usually, scenery is a saving grace for most anime - not for this one, though. This was quite obviously a low budget anime, and so the art was not as enjoyable as it should have been. Characters were also affected. Their art was nothing special, and some traits were very strange, such as the tear ducts, or the often absence of pupils, changing eye colours (not including red eyes), and the very annoying background people. The producers hadn’t even bothered to give them traits, so all they were were gray figures. However, at the end of the day, I drew both Ene and Ayano, so it wasn’t all that bad.
The colour themes in particular were quite depressing and badly chosen. Often, there were colour themes, such as yellow, and as a result, the sky, sea and ground were yellow. In one of the episodes, the sky was red, in another, there were a whole bunch of tombstones, all black. Other times, elements, including characters, were simply white with black outlines. These were mainly scenery elements, but Marry appears to have white-white skin, which just looks weird. Features were also very ‘straight’ in a sense - instead of curves, there were straight lines and angles a lot of the time. Apart from a few characters, I did not enjoy the art.
The animation also wasn’t very good. Whilst it wasn’t extremes such as things passing through body parts, every time a character was running, it looked as if they were jogging on the spot, unless the viewpoint was from the sky.
I also give the art a ‘5’, since they put so little effort into it.
There was a fair bit of music, presumably since the whole series was based of a series of songs. Personally, the songs weren’t my favourites, but some of them, like ‘Ayano’s Happiness Theory’ and ‘Kisaragi Attention’ grew on me after I had heard them a couple of times.
My personal tastes aside, there was a good amount of music. At times, I found that the music was unfitting. And sometimes, it broke the silence only to make the ensuing silence all the more obvious. Similarly to the storyline, it wasn’t executed in the best way possible.
I really enjoyed the voice acting, though, and found that the voices were very fitting to the characters.
I think sound deserves a '6.5'.
I quite enjoyed the range of characters. Some of them were a little stereotypical, but all in all they were different, and likeable characters who had their own traits.
In line with the storyline, focusing each episode on a different character affected them both positively and negatively. Certain characters appeared all throughout the anime and got very good character development, such as Ene and Momo, others gave a wrong first impression of being notable characters before being forgotten in the shadows, such as Shintarou and Hibiya. I honestly wondered what Shintarou was doing in the anime (except for getting us to discover Ene’s existence), and thought that perhaps Hibiya had been forgotten. Needless to say, this created a huge imbalance between the development of the characters.
Since there were a few good characters which made up for the badly presented ones, I give this element a ‘6’.
Despite getting confused at times during the first 7 episodes, I still found the anime enjoyable and watched several episodes back to back, despite the anime having little to none OMG factor[1]. As the quality of the story line plummeted and the anime got more an more confusing, I started enjoying it less and less. I did not force myself to watch this, yet I did not find it all that enjoyable.
I give enjoyment a ‘4.5’.
Overall, this anime was poorly executed. As a result, the storyline was extremely confusing, the art was very mediocre, there were major imbalances between the characters and I did not enjoy it as much as I should have. I would warn all viewers that they may be disappointed, and I was very much so.
Story: 4/10
Art: 5/10
Sound: 6.5/10
Character: 6/10
Enjoyment: 4.5/10
Overall: 5.2/10 (rounded to a 5)
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[1] OMG factor: what keeps you watching an anime, in essence. Especially predominant at the end of episodes when they leave you with cliffhangers. Personally, what makes me look forwards to watching the next episode.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Jun 30, 2014
I started watching Pupa even after having seen the extremely low rating on MAL and the numerous reviewers watching others not to watch it. Unfortunately, I naively decided to watch it in hopes that maybe it’s not so bad after all.
Now, kiddies, don’t make the same mistake as me. Trust MAL. People know what they’re talking about. Let’s face it, most anime have a score above five, so seeing one at four has got to mean something.
The story itself isn’t so bad, it’s actually relatively good, but that’s all thanks to the original manga. The people making this anime had no sense of
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story whatsoever. First, 4 minutes per episode is pure trollops. Even RWBY episodes are longer than that. Secondly, there are so many holes that I was left feeling quite lost. Concepts are pulled out of their arses just to vanish into thin air, forgotten.
This anime fulfils it’s role of ‘psychological’ and ‘horror’ to a tee. Normally, I like psychological, horror I guess I can cope with, I mean I didn’t find Another that bad, but this was just horrible. After a few episodes I was left feeling quite distraught and questioned whether I should keep watching.
Thanks to the terrible episode layout, which I shall talk about later, the storyline went kablooey and all over the place. To finish it off, it was also superbly rushed.
I just have to give story a 3. It’s really a shame.
The art of characters wasn’t so terrible, but the art in general was. The scenery was some kind of uneventful watercolour background which may as well have been absent. Some of the shots just plain looked like stills. Basically, they put some - SOME - effort into the characters, and none into anything else. I also think they concentrated a little too much on the gory scenes. Let’s face it - Pupa is graphic, no doubt in my mind, and absolutely not for those of the faint of heart. Maybe not even for me.
Art gets a 4.
Sound was pretty terrible. Whilst the actual quality of it wasn’t so bad, the choices were. Let’s start with the opening/ending themes. The opening theme, even though I still stand by my point of view that it was useless music wasting 30 seconds, it was fitting of the anime. Yet, towards to the end of it, it speeds up dramatically in a way that never ceases to surprise me. It seems as if they cut a four minute song which gradually sped up. The ending theme is so unfitting, and it feels like it was once more a longer song. This time, they don’t even bother to end it properly - it simply fades out, once again catching me by surprise every time.
There are also numerous short violin pieces within the episode itself. I think they’re supposed to be suspenseful but are more like failures. Sometimes, they are unfitting, and other times, they are cut short, much like the other themes of the anime.
Aside from music, the sounds of cries of pain which are predominant in much of the episodes are so well done that I feel sick to the stomach upon hearing them. So much that I actually decided to watch the anime without sound.
I just have to give sound a 2.5.
I’m pretty much in shock about the characters. I can’t even begin to describe them. Sadly, I mean this in a negative way. I don’t know what exactly to say about the older brother - can’t even remember his name. He is sweet in the sense that he’s protective of his younger sister to the point of letting her eat him alive, but sometimes this character trait is so emphasised that it seems to be his only trait, not to mention way overboard. The sister is super weird - she eats her brother, causing him immense pain, as she keeps thinking "Onii-chan, onii-chan…” which is practically a contradiction. I swear sometimes it’s the only word she knows, and I just want to smack her sometimes and yell at her to shut up and perhaps even turn her brain off.
Characters also gets a 2.5, just because I would like to be nice.
I did not enjoy watching this anime at all. Firstly, the episodes are too short, and yet about a minute out of each of them is wasted on the super strange opening and ending. The plot goes wishy washy all over the place, and concepts are introduced only to be forgotten in the next moment. The episodes are so badly planned out as well - most of them spend a whole three minutes showing the sister eating the brother as he cries out in pain. There is a lot of the sister eating people.
I understand that this is supposed to be horror and psychological. That’s why I wanted to watch it. It honestly sounded interesting and I honestly started watching it without prejudice, thinking that surely it mustn’t be all that bad. I’m so sorry to say that I was wrong. It is psychological to the point that it is deeply disturbing, and I find myself shaking. That is just a no.
I would give enjoyment a 1. The thing is that, I did watch the first few episodes in a row. I found it intriguing. That would deserve at least a 2. But once it passed the ninth episode, I honestly questioned whether I should watch any more. I didn’t want to, to be honest, but since I had already come so far, I thought that I might as well finish it. (Note: As of yet, I haven't actually finished it)
I honestly didn’t want to give this such a bad score. I honestly didn’t. But, all I’ve got to say is that if you’re going to make an anime, might as well put in some effort. This was dreadful.
Story: 3/10
Art: 4/10
Sound: 2.5/10
Character: 2.5/10
Enjoyment: 1/10
Overall: 2.6/10 (rounded to a 3)
If you look at my anime list, you’ll see that I tend to give anime good scores. I want to. Sure, I won’t dish out 10s easily (in fact, I don’t believe I ever will) but I’m not harsh either. I’m willing to accept imperfections.
This is truly a new low, which is really a pity. So, take my advice: the cover art for this anime is better than the anime itself. Don’t watch it, save yourself the pain.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Jun 27, 2014
--- CAUTION! THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SOME MINOR SPOILERS! ---
I don’t know what I was expecting based on the synopsis when I started watching Nagi no Asukara, but I sure didn’t expect this.
Of course, I knew it wouldn’t be dark and mysterious like some other anime, but I never knew I would wind up watching slice of life - one of the genres I avidly avoid because my action-longing heart just can’t take it. Or, maybe I’m too immature. Whatever.
In brief, at the start, Nagi no Asukara seemed to be just a slice of life with a little bit of fantasy and too
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much romance in it. Something that made me want to bang my head on the table. I support that, still, but only for half of the anime. But, let me elaborate on that in a less confusing way. So, as tradition goes, let us start with the story element.
What I’m going to do for this review, in particular for this story part, is divide the anime into two parts. Part one, episodes 1 - 12 and part two, episodes 13 - 26. I have to do this because the parts are vastly different in many aspects.
Let’s start with part 1. As I said before it’s a slightly boring slice of life with a little bit of supernatural in it - there are some people who live in the sea. This causes some minor complications such as prejudice, getting a fish in your knee and Ena drying up.
There were also some interesting but seemingly useless plot line points such as the preparations for the Ofunehiki which felt like plain filler. Well, not exactly in that sense - I felt like they were trying to use that to establish character relations, which may be a good thing, I guess.
What was abundant in this anime was romance, so I will be focusing on this a lot. Whilst I did like it some of the time, the thing is that it was plain annoying the rest of the time. Right from the first episode a guy in my anime club said, and I quote, “Those damn love triangles.” And that’s from the first episode.
In truth, it’s waaaaay past love triangles. As I like to say, love pentagons, but it’s actually love heptagons. Seriously. All the characters have some ties in between them, drawing a complex web. It’s very, very annoying, and I hate it. It had me bashing my head on the table and exclaiming “Seriously?!” more times than I can count, especially at times when nine year-old girls fall in love with fourteen year-old boys at first (okay, okay, maybe second) sight. That, I cannot accept.
There was also an overload of mush in both parts. Characters talking about their complex feelings for other characters which just plain pissed me off.
Sometimes, the romance did lead to other points - such as the apparent tabou of sea/surface relations - but once again, tastes like filler, not entirely, but mostly. Not that I’m complaining though, because in the end, it does serve to something, I guess.
To finish off my rant on how I hate romance, I’ll say this: it wasn’t all bad. Some parts were cute. I admit it. *tsundere style* But it’s not like I enjoyed it or anything…
Overall, I found the first part of Nagi no Asukara a slice-of-life anime, which however has some complications coming up. I wasn’t forcing myself to watch it, but the first episode didn’t quite meet my expectations, and it didn’t contain any of what I call the OMG factor. This is the thing that leaves you hanging at the end of one episode and you just have to see the next.
On the the second part. This is where things take a drastic change for the better. It suddenly acquired a good dose of mystery and thus OMG factor.
Firstly, it’s not really slice of life anymore. It has more of the supernatural element in it and whilst the love heptagons still stand, I guess it’s not as bad. It was great seeing some of the characters grown up.
This was far more interesting because, as I just said, it abandoned the slice of life part, and added a little bit of mystery, I daresay. There’s the whole element of the forced hibernation and the snow and all that. It is great when characters start reappearing again, but I find it a little weird that of course it’s the main protagonists who show up. Why not the others? But then again, that would probably lead to some more wasted episode time.
Episode thirteen is pretty much a bridge between the two parts, and it did get more interesting. I have a few complaints on the cliché-ness of the show which I just have to mention here, because I hated how Manaka offered to be the Ojoushi-sama. That ‘unexpected’ heroism has been done about a thousand times before.
Back to the topic. Whilst the general plot of the second part was a lot more interesting (incidentally I won’t elaborate on it much because I would have to recount the whole story), it still had several issues. One was the Ena. I swear, suddenly all the characters have it. Just jump in the sea and almost drown to get free Ena.
Another issue was that Miuna became the main character. It’s not that I don’t like Miuna, but she became really annoying, especially how she keeps thinking about her love with Hikari and how he doesn’t love her back and yadda yadda yadda tears and torment etcetera. I understand she is in love with Hikari, that was decided in the first part, but she just became so annoying with her thoughts that I felt like either shouting at her to shut up (or stop thinking) or slap her. Of course, I could do neither, so I bashed my head on the table instead.
The final issue is the romance - it hasn’t changed much. Hikari is overly obsessed with Manaka. Almost all the girls are in love with Hikari. No one but Sayu loves Kaname, who in turn feels like a third wheel (hahahahahaha third wheel). Everyone doesn’t realise that someone else loves them because they are too obsessed with someone else. There is a general soppiness and love tangle, but not as bad compared to the first part.
There also was one point where I just smacked myself on the forehead because pretty much the same thing was going on as in an earlier episode, but I won’t elaborate for sake of spoilers.
To summarise the plot part in general, I feel as if I have been too sarcastic. Whilst it may not be exactly the genre that I like, it was slow-paced at the start and I found myself exclaiming “Seriously?!” a number of times, the plot was quite good, very sweet and funny at times (I laughed a fair bit), sometimes, especially in the second part, I felt very strongly about certain things. All in all, I did not force myself to watch it by any means. I really cannot decide on what I feel about the story. At the start, it wasn’t so great, but I really enjoyed the second bit. I give the first part a 6 and the second an 8, which makes an average of 7.
Art was really high quality - the animation was good, scenery was absolutely beautiful, characters as well. I absolutely loved the eyes. Some of the characters were so cute! It also fitted the context.
I was impressed with the art and thoroughly enjoyed it - for this, I give it 9.5.
As usual, I don’t have all that much to say about sound. It was good, and although I would have loved to hear more music, the music that was there was beautiful. Some of the themes were quite emotional.
One thing that did bug me was some of the voices. Like how Miuna’s voice is deeper than Akari’s, who is an adult. But, since it does happen in real life (kind of), I’ll let it slide. I really hesitate between 8 and 9, so to avoid too many decimals, I'll give it a 9, because I really did love the music.
On to characters.
Character development was very good. I feel like I got to know a bit about every character. Nevertheless, I feel like I just can’t put my finger on some of the characters. Like if someone asked me to describe Chisaki’s or possibly Kaname’s character, I wouldn’t be entirely sure what to say. For this reason, I just can’t be 100% happy. Also, I didn’t develop a favourite character until much later in the show, which isn’t a very good thing.
Another problem was how the characters were a little too similar. This isn’t entirely true, but sometimes I just felt like they possessed too many similar traits.
The final issue for me with the characters was Manaka. She was cute and nice and all, but I just could not stand her childishness.
Making sure to include the positive things, let me say that I did feel quite strongly for the characters after a while. For instance, I was dying to see Hikari cry, for some reason. I also think I understand why all girls are falling for him. :3
I would give characters an 8 because they were quite good, and I liked them (in general), however I feel as if they could have been so much better. Because of this, I lower the score to a 7.
Enjoyment wasn’t all that high at first, I would give it a 6 or a 6.5, because as I said, it was a slice of life, and there was so much fluff that sometimes I felt as if I was eating cotton balls. However, the second part was much better, and I enjoyed it a lot. I watched quite a few episodes in a row every night and couldn’t wait to get home from school to keep watching. Once, I even watched an episode at school. I would put enjoyment at a 7.5.
Overall, to sum up everything I said in this review:
This anime wasn’t quite up to scratch for the first twelve episodes, being very slow-paced and sometimes a little melodramatic in my opinion, and there were a few cliché elements, but after that the story became much more interesting. The romance was a little bothersome considering there were so many love triangles I was bashing my head on the table, but it wasn’t all bad. Characters had good potential and good development but could have been better. Art and sound were great, but I wish there was a little more music. Enjoyment went up with the plot line. I’m glad I watched this anime, and I enjoyed it.
Story: 7/10
Art: 9.5/10
Sound: 9/10
Character: 7/10
Enjoyment: 7.5/10
Overall: 8/10
A/N: I was actually originally planning to give this a 7, (and actually still think that maybe I should do so) but after having to rewatch a few episodes because my internet was really slow so it kept pausing every 5 seconds, I was surprised to realise that I actually liked it more than I had originally thought.
Thank you to animele220! It is thanks to youthat I found out about this anime! *clap clap*
Oh, and thanks to all who take the time to press 'Helpful' or 'Not Helpful'. If you have some time on your hands and pressed the 'Not Helpful' button, please comment on how I can improve my reviews! :3
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Apr 26, 2014
I found Kyoukai no Kanata: Idol Saiban! Mayoi Nagara mo Kimi wo Sabaku Tami (long name -right?) a very refreshing ONA (or is it OVA? Don't know the difference). It didn't add much to the plot line, and it didn't really add to character development either, but I still found it a joy to watch. It does give the some characters, particularly Ai, more screen time, and it makes up for the not-so-great jokes in the original show.
Unfortunately, the episodes did get worse and worse. The first was the best, the second one not so great, the third... well, in one abbreviation: WTF?!
The
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art was quite nice, especially when the female characters are doing the dance, it feels almost 3D.
Overall, while it doesn't contribute much to the original anime, it was still fun to watch with some cute moments as well as weird moments.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Apr 26, 2014
WARNING!! THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS!!
I'm very sorry about this, but I just felt like I couldn't write a decent review without including some spoilers.
So, let’s get straight to it. Starting off with the story element.
The story of SAO is one that I believe I have seen too many times before. The element of being trapped in a game is about as commonplace as the ‘Battle-Royale type’ genre, if you could call it that. Nevertheless, the story is somehow able to remain fresh, full of interesting plot points and ‘twists’ (well, not exactly, but I don’t know what to call them). In general, it was an
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interesting plot.
Unfortunately for the anime, there are numerous points which manage to bring it down.
Firstly, there are numerous time jumps. While portraying a whole two years of game may be a little long and unneeded, just skipping them from one episode to the next draws away from the story line, hinders character development, and left me confused many times, to say the least. The worst part is that time jumps continue to happen throughout the anime. Like, seriously, read the dates shown on the screen or die.
There are numerous (small) inconsistencies in the anime as well, not only related to the time jumps, such as Kirito’s sudden changes between solo and working with a guild (especially near the start). And at the end, when he suddenly gets to use ‘ID Heathcliff’. Completely out of the blue. Or when Suguha (Leafa) doesn’t know that her brother’s alias in SAO was ‘Kirito’. Like, EVERYONE knows that!!! Nothing too bad, but not good either.
Another thing which seriously bugged me was that (and here is the spoiler) in an anime called ‘Sword Art Online’, only half of the actual anime is happening in Sword Art Online! Honestly! Not that I have any problem with ALFheim (or whatever) Online, I actually like the concept more than Sword Art Online, but why call the anime ‘Sword Art Online’?! It seems relatively unfitting.
Random Kirito quote:
“I’ll bet on my virginity-“
Wow, Kirito. What a deep and meaningful start to a sentence you have there.
To conclude with this story element, the romance, in particular between Asuna and Kirito. I feel like this really brought the show down by a lot. While it is seemingly realistic and has the good element of a mutual feeling of love, it is soooooo soppy. As far as I am concerned, Kirito meets Asuna, forms a party, then leaves to be a solo player as he usually is. Two years later, he’s working a little with the Knights of the Blood Oath, and on polite terms with Asuna. Then, less than a month later (or so it would seem, the time jumps probably made it longer), they’re talking about marriage, subtly *cough cough* (not really) implying to each other that they want to get married, then kissing before getting physical and actually marrying each other. (Me: Come ON guys! You’re like sixteen!)
Oh well, I guess Kirito can’t bet on his virginity anymore. Too bad…
And then there are those scenes where I’m banging my head on the table because of the “If you don’t come back I’ll kill myself” dialogue. So cheesy.
(Extra note: Did anyone notice that at the end when Kirito’s trying to kill Sugou and pictures of Asuna as well as what the guy did to her flash through his mind - the last picture, which really sets Kirito/Kazuto off, is that of Asuna smiling the morning after they made out?!)
I have mixed feelings about the second part of SAO, ALFheim online. On one hand, I really like the concept of it and I liked that it continued the show (since I didn’t really want it to finish), on the other hand, it is a little out of place in an anime called Sword Art Online (as I mentioned earlier). It is also so similar to SAO. Now, whether this is good or bad is debatable. On one hand, it is good because they are both within the same show, so something completely different would be even more out of place. On the other hand, it is too similar in the sense that the concepts are pretty much exactly the same, there is the same kind of ‘villain’ who is controlling the game, etc. It’s like two virtual reality games which are exactly the same. Not much for originality. It did have a few good points like promoting character development and such. Meh.
Art… Hmmm… It wasn’t the best but I actually liked it a fair bit. Not my favourite, though. Scenery was very nice, characters were decent… Nothing amazing but very good nonetheless.
Music was pretty, and I would like to say abundant, since it is often playing, but the battle theme is always the same. Not that I have anything against the battle theme - it actually sent pleasant tingling sensations up my back - but I do wish they would have had more music. Way more. There was such good potential. Eh, in all, it was good. I guess.
On to characters. Looking back now, I realise that the character development is actually quite decent. Even characters who don’t get much time on screen get an acceptable amount of development. However, despite this, I haven’t actually developed a favourite character, which is a rarity and a very negative point. Special mention goes to Yui, though. She made me squeal repeatedly and wish I could hug her.
I really, REALLY hate Kirito, though. Firstly, just after the group has defeated the first boss and he is called a ‘beater’, he suddenly becomes all cold and somewhat villian-like. But I’m willing to let it slide.
Kirito is such a stereotypical hero, and that’s what I hated about him. Of course he defeats both games, I mean it would be stupid to let someone else do so, right? (sarcasm). He attracts girls like moths to a bulb, and although you could say he stays loyal to Asuna, it’s still very annoying.
The other characters were good, I actually quite liked Kayaba Akihiko in the end, despite the fact that he was technically the antagonist. The first antagonist, at least.
However, there are frequent personality changes which seem out of place. Yes, different situations stimulate different emotions, but these changes… No. Just no.
And…
That’s all I can say.
Overall, this was a good anime. While the story itself wasn’t the most original, it was still very pleasing. The character development was good, but the hero was sickeningly stereotypical. Some inconsistencies here and there. Despite my somewhat poisonous review, I actually enjoyed this anime immensely and hated sleeping because it was a time where I could not keep watching.
Story: 6.5/10 (would give 7.5 but romance and inconsistencies brought it down by 1 point)
Art: 8/10
Sound: 7/10
Character: 6/10
Enjoyment: 8.5/10
Overall: 7.2/10 (rounded to 7)
A/N: I apologize for all the parentheses and decimals. I think this was the hardest anime to rate yet. XD It was also probably the most 'personal' in the sense that I was making a live commentary whilst watching it and felt it would be interesting to include at least some of it into my review. Again, please comment, comments are loved and appreciated!!
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Apr 21, 2014
Ah, doesn’t everyone just love an adaptation of Romeo and Juliet by the ever famous play writer William Shakespeare? I can’t really say I do, because if there’s one genre I can’t stand, it’s romance. Well, kind of. I’ll never pass up an opportunity to do a little character shipping or see some really sweet scenes, but soppy romance just makes me want to throw up. Romeo and Juliet is FULL to the brim of soppy romance, so I guess I am inclined to give this anime a lower score.
Let’s start off with the story. As mentioned in the previous paragraph, and heavily implied
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through the title, this is an adaptation of Romeo and Juliet. Needless to say, it has the same basic plot line. For that plot line, I would give a 5. However, I’m able to move that score up one notch because of the differences presented between this one and the original. I really did like the new setting of Neo Verona, in a sort of future environment, that the Capulets have been almost obliterated. In short, I found the numerous tweaks on the story intriguing and ultimately better than the original (gotta say, I’m not a huge fan of Shakespeare, possibly because of the amount of plays bearing his signature I’ve had to study and will have to study in the future). I add one more point to the score because of the plot twists. No, setting it in a different environment and shaking up the story weren’t enough - we also discover that the natures of characters are not as it may have seemed - they are actually quite complicated.
However, this is another failed ending. While it does include some of the tragedy of the original play, it doesn’t make that much sense. It’s nowhere as confusing as the ending of Kyoukai no Kanata, but it’s still puzzling and kind of disappointing. I would use this to bring the story down by 0.5, but since I’m feeling nice today, I won’t.
Next comes art. It’s quite obvious that this was a low budget anime. The art style isn’t too dreadful, in fact scenery and particularly buildings come out quite nicely, but the characters… Well, they’re not that dreadful. For once, they look much too old, and they do not bear the traditional anime-style traits. I will admit that some characters are cute and/or mildly good-looking (I think ‘mildly hot’ would be a little bit of a contradiction - don’t you?), but the rest, well, I can only say one word - Meh. A big fat ‘meh’. Juliet looks nice, I would say, only in the opening when she has hair up and is shouting. But, I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder. No more than a 6 in my opinion.
Music was okay, I really don’t have much to say about this subject. I liked the first ending theme. Perhaps it’s because I have so little to say about this that I give it a 5.5.
Next comes character. This is perhaps the first time I am criticising character because of a different factor other than development. The character development here was decent, it was okay. No it’s not that which caused me to give this a 5. In fact, I could almost say that it’s because of the character development that I give this a 5. Now I’m starting to sound like someone who is never happy, which is not the case, so let me explain.
I’m aiming mainly at Juliet here. Her character is sometimes so grown up and other times so childish I firmly believe that her age changes constantly between 5 and 30. I watched this anime with my dad, and most of our time was spent yelling at Juliet and laughing at her ridiculous decisions. She may be good in battle, but in strategy, even I, the person who never plans, am better at her in seeing future scenarios. She makes such stupid decisions at times, what are supposed to be dramatic scenes turn plainly comical.
She is also so lovestruck with Romeo, it’s past hilarious. While he is also in love with her, his case is nowhere near as bad.
I also think that too many characters have little or no relevance to the plot. For instance, Regan, or Hermione. And I LIKE Regan, so I’m not being biased her. I also think that Antonio could claim child abuse. I mean, making that tiny, little, cutie-pumpkin fight? It’s criminal.
Romeo is also one of those perpetually lucky protagonists, which is another cliche element that I cannot tolerate.
Sometimes I think that the most decent character in the anime is Cielo - the dragonsteed (a horse with wings). *scoffs*
Really, some characters made this anime comical, which I don’t think was intended.
To conclude, while this was an interesting adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, it did have some confusing elements, okay art, and sometimes ridiculous characters.
Story: 7/10 (would give 6.5)
Art: 6/10
Music: 5.5/10
Characters: 5/10 (I’m being nice here)
Enjoyment: 6
Overall: 5.9/10 (rounded to a 6)
A/N: Thank you to all those who have commented on my reviews! I hope to make them consistently better, and only you can help me do that. Thank you in advance.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Apr 20, 2014
I was slightly reluctant to watch this anime at first. I had seen the first half of the first episode at anime club. At home, I was desperately hoping to watch SAO, but I made myself a resolution that I would go through every anime I start. In the end, I don’t regret deciding to finish this series off.
I really want to give the story element a good score. I really do. But unfortunately, it doesn’t deserve more than a 5.5. Right from the very start I found quite a few aspects confusing, especially about the nature of youmu and Spirit World Warriors. I ended
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up googling them before I could understand. I think what they’re trying to do is immerse the viewer into the world of the anime so that they figure everything out on their rather than explaining stuff. Eh, not my style, and quite confusing in the end. I’m not a huge fan of when characters explain stuff more than they need to, but in this case they didn’t explain stuff enough. In fact, I think that the ending was ruined for me because of the sheer amount of stuff I didn’t understand. They introduced a lot of new concepts in the last episode, which is fine by me IF they answer the questions that are posed before the end of the series. Kyoukai no Kanata failed to do this. Whilst it wasn’t boring, there wasn’t a particular direction to the plot line either.
Apart from those flaws, I found the story interesting and original. While it is relatively dark, there are plenty of light-hearted moments. Sure, the jokes aren’t that great and are quite shallow, so I didn’t laugh a lot, but I did smile often.The element of humour was very much welcome and did not go overboard.
An element that was very much appreciated in my eyes was the art. I’m sure it’s not the best out there, but it is the best I have seen so far. It had a realistic quality whilst still remaining in the anime genre. A 9, I would say.
I believe that one of my favourite things about anime is the music. I relish the chance to find beautiful music, which, when I hear it, can relate to a particular scene or anime. For me that is very special. Kyoukai no Kanata lacked tracks, which was quite disappointing, but the tracks that it did have were beautiful, and I have downloaded all the ones I could find. Considering how much I like the tracks present, there just wasn’t enough to quell my desire. A 6.8, I’m sad to say.
But, the thing I enjoyed the most about this anime is the character development. This is an area which has often been below a decent level in the other anime I have seen. Considering the amount of characters, Kyoukai no Kanata excels in this aspect, which I believe to be very important. I cannot stress how happy I am with the characters in this anime. This is the best I have seen so far. Not only do the main characters get a good amount of development, but the supporting characters also get their fair share. To prove my point, my favourite character is a supporting character who doesn’t really add too much to the plot line. Yes, I know that Ai-chan does get quite a bit of screen time, and she is quite likeable, but still… I do agree that they could have done a better job for the adults, but I am more than satisfied with these strong characters. I shouldn’t really give this score, but I can’t help it. 10.
To conclude, Kyoukai no Kanata was a very good anime and I enjoyed watching it. The art was beautiful, the music as well though there wasn’t much of it. The great character development almost makes up for the terribly confusing story line.
Story:
Story: 5.5/10
Art: 9/10
Sound: 6.8/10
Characters: 10/10
Enjoyment: 8/10
Overall: 7.86/10 (rounded to 8)
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Apr 15, 2014
Well, I got this as a recommendation after I finished watching Danganronpa. Supposedly, it would be similar. Well, as I found out, really anything but.
I've been wanting to watch something of the horror genre of late, but not anything which would plague my dreams. This anime pretty much satisfied that. I was glued to my computer the whole day.
Whilst I did like this, I must say that I wasn't fully satisfied at the ending. I also found this very confusing. It got clearer as it went on, but being confused about things isn't exactly a positive note for an anime. That's why I gave
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'story' a 7 instead of an 8.
There was also a severe lack of character development. I know that there are way too many characters to develop all of them, since it is a class, but even the main ones, I didn't get to know much about them. This is the first anime where I do not have a favorite character, and this speaks volumes.
Overall, a decent anime, though crippled by the lack of character development. In the horror genre, but not too scary. Definitely not for the faint-hearted.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Apr 15, 2014
So, here is another anime which starts off relatively innocent and becomes rather dark. The idea of it being in the world of the dead is very original and interesting - I liked this aspect a lot. Pretty much all the characters were original, and there were a lot of moments which made me laugh. The art is beautiful. I really enjoyed this anime, however there are some negative points, notably the lack of character development.
Now, I know I put this in almost every review, but it's a real problem in so many anime. Though the character development wasn't too bad, some characters were
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severely lacking. For instance, I really like Oyama because he's such a sweety pumpkin, but I know practically naught of his character. Every character gets SOME development, but for some it's really under the bare minimum. There aren't so many characters anyways, so I don't understand this. Even Naoi, who appears halfway through the anime, gets more development than others who debut in episode 1.
But, in contrast, there are some really good, deep characters. For this example, I will choose Yui. Though she's not around too long and doesn't appear at the very beginning, I still got an immense taste of what she's like. This was great. I got so many feels when she... well, I don't want to spoil it. Let's just say, 'the marriage thing'.
Back to the bad things: I got confused. Now, I'm not dumb, and I don't get confused very often, but I had virtually no idea as to why they were fighting Angel despite the 'explanations'. Yes, at the end, I got it. Kind of. But, I don't like being confused.
Music was abundant and beautiful, the art was really nice as well.
It was a real feels trip at the end, and I cried (now I'm just starting to sound like a cry baby, but let me assure you, it's not how it sounds). It's amazing how this anime goes from being practically comedy (I was laughing A LOT), to something so heartfelt and, and... *sniff*. I recommend it to pretty much everyone. While there are deaths and some dark things in it, it's overall a very enjoyable anime. Even my mom (blatant anime hater) thought some scenes were sweet.
Story: 7.5/10
Art: 9/10
Sound: 8/10
Character: 7/10
Enjoyment: 9/10
Overall: 8.1/10 (rounded to 8)
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Apr 15, 2014
Okay, well this was the second anime I watched. I was still reeling in shock from the utter greatness of Danganronpa, and was not prepared to think that any other anime could be as good, so you could say I was a little prejudiced when I first started watching this.
What can I say? It was great. There were numerous features I liked:
- Plotline: I love how not only this is a complete different take on the magical girl genre, but it starts of sweet and ends up dark. Do not let the cute characters, and definitely not Kyubey, fool you. And that brings me to,
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Art: It wasn't state of the ART (get it?), but it was quite good. I particularly liked how the characters were very easy to draw. Their kawaii-ness also helped with the sweet, sugary first impression of the anime.
- Music: OMG, the music in this is like 20 over 10. It's ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL. I am constantly humming it and it has sent me on a rampage to learn the pieces on my violin.
- Character development: Since this anime doesn't have too many characters, character development was very good. Whilst Madoka was a little stereotypical, it wasn't too bad. I particularly liked Homura's character. However, I feel as though Mami didn't get enough development.
Overall, this is a great anime which I really enjoyed. It becomes dark quite soon and will hit close to heart. This is the first anime which made me cry, and let me tell you - I never cry. It's so heartfelt and amazing and.... Just watch it, okay? You won't regret it. Trust me. :)
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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