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Sep 30, 2019
Question, how many Buddy Cop anime can you name off the top or your head? In the traditional sense some older anime viewers might be able to list off Dirty Pair and maybe a few more. Cop Craft is an attempt to breath new life into a fun genre that is often overlooked in the anime community. The story originally written by Shoji Gatoh (Full Metal Panic) promises a new reverse-isekai take on what many thought would be the surprise show of the season. Sadly a truly great show is unable to flourish as the studio in charge of adaptation were
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clearly in over their heads.
(As of this review I have seen all 12 episodes, but have not read any of the light novels)
Cop Craft's premise is a rather refreshing take on the older Buddy Cop genre. By infusing the newer-isekai genre along with it we get the perfect setting for a modern haven for injustice. Thanks to an interdimesnional portal opening up 10 years before the show starts we are able to get a younger, justice-seeking "rookie" in Exedilica (a sword wielding elf-knight from beyond the portal), a seasoned veteran police officer in Kei, and a city (San Teresa) that is rife with crime, vice, and graft. The opening episode does an excellent job of establishing the darker underworld of what is supposed to be "Earth's Front Door" for the visitor's from beyond the portal.
No Buddy Cop story would be worth experiencing if the character's and writing were not well written, and Shoji Gatoh does not disappoint in this regard. Kei and Exedilica's banter is extremely well executed, and the chemistry between them is apparent from episode 1. A diverse cast of character's populate the rest of the city and (especially) police station allowing multiple chances to see the naivety of the young Exedilica, or glimpse into the previous life, partners, and relationships of Kei Matoba. Sadly the antagonists of Cop Craft aren't exactly on par with the rest of the cast, apart from one who appears in the first and last arcs, the rest are fairly one-dimensional criminals who only serve to drive the plot. While this isn't a major detriment, it would have been nice if the writing of the antagonists matched up with the rest of the cast.
Unarguably the biggest drawback for Cop Craft was the fact that it was animated by Studio Millepensee, a smaller studio founded in 2013 who clearly crumpled under the monumental task of adapting the Light Novel Series. Several episodes of the series were extremely compressed due to animation budgets and studio staff limitations. Almost none of the action scenes were animated, the studio instead opting for panning over a still frame with blur effects. Odd scene transitions also permeate the season, with focus on a character's head as they are entering a car or building. In one especially egregious example of the struggling studio, Kei's mouth was moving before and after a sentence his VA had finished reading. What's truly saddening is that, if given the time or if they had partnered with another studio, I do not doubt Millepensee could have done an excellent job adapting the source material, the excellent opening animation alone is a testament to that.
Cop Craft was a big undertaking for Studio Millepensee, and they did a fair job adapting it. Unfortunately Cop Craft will forever be remembered as a perfect example of "What if" in anime (Unless we somehow get a Season 2)
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jun 30, 2019
I do not think I can ever give a 10/10 as quickly as I can for Part 2 of Season 3 of Attack on Titan. It has set the new standard for adaptations. Isayama's master storytelling, the exquisite soundtrack by Sawano, the emotional tight rope the studio had us walk throughout, the sweat-inducing action, and the perfection of the voice cast. Everything in this season has been fine tuned, and the end result is one of the greatest animated feats that I have ever had the pleasure of watching.
I have read the manga up to its most current chapter as of this review, but
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this review will be largely spoiler-free for both anime and manga viewers.
Part 2 of season 3 is the culmination of everything that the previous seasons, over all these years, had been building up towards. The answers that the cast, and the viewers/readers had been (sometimes) patiently waiting for finally came to light. The origins of the titans, the battle for Shiganshina district, the basement, Eren's family, all of these reveals were foreshadowed absolutely perfectly by Isayama over his entire run on the manga and he somehow used the anime to fine tune those reveals even more so into the masterpiece presented here.
The characters themselves are extremely well done by the VA's and Studio WiT, no one character is an afterthought. Traits, habits, facial expressions and personalities are exquisitely captured at the moment a character is on screen. No one eyebrow raise or smirk should be ignored. The seriousness of combat and massacre is engraved onto the faces and hearts of everyone involved, hysterics, escaping into themselves, or marching forward through the destruction they have witnessed. All the characters present are so incredibly well crafted that by the end of the season, we feel that they truly are HUMAN.
Words honestly cannot describe how well done Sayano's OST has been for this season. Every piece was carefully selected, created, or remixed for particular scenes. The emotion evoked at even the final scene of the final episode is made 10 times more powerful by the incredible work done by the composer. An exemplary case of composition throughout the entire series, nothing more needs to be said.
Part 1 of Season 3 left a high standard for many with it's streamlining of what many (Even the author himself) felt was the weakest part of the story. Between Studio WiT and Isayama they were able to raise the bar and create an excellent build up for one of the most anticipated arcs in the entire story. Somehow, someway, EVEN THOUGH I knew what would happen, the build up could not have prepared this reviewer for how well Part 2 was executed.
Studio WiT has absolutely, without any doubt, created one of the greatest arcs in animation. I wish I could thank them and Isayama for giving this to us.
10/10, an absolute masterpiece and a pleasure to have experienced from day 1.
Now the real story can begin.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Jun 19, 2019
Rising of the Shield Hero starts out with a very strong premise designed to get the reader hooked. A gritty, revenge driven take on your standard isekai, our MC is thrown headfirst into another world and immediately framed for a crime he didn't commit, left practically penniless as a result of his sentencing, and his name spread far and wide as a criminal scum. Unfortunately all this promise is lost as the series drags on, with increasing frustration the story, world, and characters are dumbed down to an extant that it almost feels like a different show by the time the series is
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over.
(Reviewer's note - At the time of this writing I have watched 24/25 episodes, but feel confident in my opinion. There will be very minor spoilers in my review.)
The story of Shield Hero begins simple enough with a rather simple video game-like premise that doesn't actually get any major twists until the very end of the series. To the shows credit, at the very start of the series it does a good job of making the viewer believe that the world and people around our MC are out to kill him just as much as the Waves are.
The problem therein is that the deeds of this world, and it's inhabitants is so poorly executed that it almost becomes a parody of itself. The Non-Wave villains are evil for the sake of evil. "Team Rocket"-esque is the best way I can describe the villains presented to our MC, with their motivations trivial, their methods mundane, and their escape/punishment lackluster in it's eventual conclusion. By the time an actually competent villain is introduced, the series is nearly halfway over and they disappear for almost the rest of the series, leaving us wondering why we had to put up with all the other disappointing villains this whole time. The introduction of a competent antagonist highlights both the first villains stupidity, and sadly Naofumi's fellow protagonists idiotic shortcomings, simply that the 3 other humans sent wit Naofumi are all equally useless. Apparently in the LN it is explained better, but to the anime viewer we are given nothing in terms of their motivations or reasons. They are idiotic and thick-headed in all their actions, and their sole purpose seems to be to make our MC and his party look better, or merely get in their way.
That isn't to say that Naofumi's supporting members are the opposite, they also seemed to be stripped of a lot of their personalities in this adaptation as well. Raphtalia, a once diminutive, malnourished, slave girl, has loads of potential in interacting with Noafumi. Redemption, self-sacrifice, personal growth, all these traits are simply brushed over within 3 episodes of her introduction. She, like the other party members that are introduced later, are reduced to harem-like shells of themselves that are merely their to be eye candy, momentary glimpses of what they COULD have been, comedic relief, or the offense that the Shield Hero cannot create himself.
The shining glimmer of Shield Hero is the music, done by Kevin Penkin. The music DOES take some getting used too (Saxophone used in a combat theme??), but I began to really enjoy myself with his scores around episode 10.
This well done combat music however is wasted on the actual substance of combat in the Shield Hero, almost all the fights are reduced to talking/bickering between party members, the enemy attacks, the protags grunt and grimace, they respond, enemy either falls down or responds in kind, more talking, etc. There is almost no strategy present, which is a glaring omission since all the Heroes are specialists in their weapons (Shield, Sword, etc.). All attacks, with the exception of the MCs of course, are merely beam shots. The series even stooped so low as too all have them use the same name for their attacks, "Meteor _____" (This may be the problem of the source material, and not necessarily the anime but it still bears mention).
The Shield Hero Light Novel is an extremely popular series that was predicted to be a strong bridge between Japanese and Western audiences. Sadly this anime is a major disservice to a (supposedly) intriguing story and has not encouraged this reviewer to pick up the source material at this point in time.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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May 27, 2019
Sin: Nanatsu no Taizai is an attempt by company HobbyJapan to cash in on their line of extra-lewd figures and make a fanservice-heavy ecchi show. Unfortunately attempts to subvert tropes and introduce an actual plot into the show derail both aspects leaving it a clunky mess that does a poor job of both the ecchi and any hopes for an actual story.
I went into Sin knowing that it was borderline hentai at points, and for the most part the first 3 episodes did just that. Plenty of nudity, suggestive moaning, and innuendo set the stage for what I thought would be an
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enjoyable show.
However after the first 3 episodes things begin to slow down to a snails pace as it was apparently decided to cut back on the ecchi content and attempt to build up to an actual story for a few episodes. This shift in tone is poorly done and is arguably the time my hopes of enjoying myself begin to dwindle.
The final few episodes attempt at creating a grand story but by then it is too little to late. The grand conflict is boring, the power tiers don't make any sense, and there is almost no fanservice in the final episode at all.
One major point of contention I have is that our main character Lucifer, is somehow capable of defeating Demon Lords, yet this is never explained why she is able to. The Demon Lords are almost incompetent with how easily they are dispatched, making you wonder why Heaven and Hell were ever at war in the first place. Nor is it ever explained why these demon lords are subservient to one of their own kind. One would think this a minor point in a show that would love for the chance to have female demons dominating each other, but when such a heavy focus of ACTUAL plot is placed upon the hierarchy you would hope it is actually explained why it is necessary.
A highlight of the show is that some of the Demon Lords are actually quite well designed with Belphegor (Sloth) being a stand out for me. Her VA Ai Kakuma delivered a great performance that gave the character a unique personality, and perfectly captured the voice of a wonderfully designed Demon Lord. It made me wish Sloth could have her own SoL show, eating chips and playing video games while the world passes her by.
However a few of the Main Characters do detract from the supporting ensemble and help to further bring the show down. A chief culprit of this is Leviathan, whose whiny "Onee-san" gets more annoying each and every episode. Her story is yet another example of the show not fleshing out either it's fanservice or its plot well. (WHY is she so obsessed with Lucifer? If Leviathan has the powers that are almost on par with a Demon Lord why does the show make it seem like none of the ACTUAL Demon Lords have ever interacted with her before.)
Arguably worse is our human character Maria, who becomes bound to Lucifer through her heart being stolen and Angel blood being placed into her body. Another plot point that is barely explained, yet apparently essential for the actual "story".
In the first 3 episodes it appears to the viewer that she will be the "prop" for the Demon Lords to fight over (Lust attempting to "break" her sexually so that she can lay claim to Lucifer's property) and while this isn't the most original idea, it could have played out well if cleverly incorporated into the other Demon Lords realms (Rage, Sloth, etc.). However when the show dials back the fanservice in the middle of the season we begin to see a rather disturbing case of unintentional Stockholm Syndrome begin to happen, with Maria somehow siding with Lucifer and growing closer to Lucifer even though this person has robbed her of her freedom (and potentially any chance of innocence or a normal life). In the middle episodes Leviathan gets stereo-typically jealous of Lucifer paying more attention to Maria, and Maria's innocence and naivety gets her into more trouble that Lucifer has to rescue her from. Somehow Maria makes no attempts to regain her freedom and instead begins to grow closer to Lucifer as a result of these actions (Oh she rescued me, she does care about/she isn't all that bad).
A highlight is that each of the Demon Lord's specific episodes does feature an original song sung by each of their respective VA's. These are all very well done and help break up the monotony of the orchestral score we often get in series such as this.
In the end Sin: Nanatsu no Taizai is a completely forgettable show from a studio that shut it's doors before it could even air all 12 episodes in a timely fashion. It's attempts at subversion failed to entice, and it's attempts at fanservice weren't enough to make it memorable when compared to all the other quality shows that are able to do both simultaneously.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Apr 29, 2019
Killing Bites is without a doubt, the trashiest, schlockiest, cheesiest, most over-the-top dumpster fire of a masterpiece I have EVER seen.
Everything about this show is created in a way to amplify it's rediculousness. The story contains as many twists and turns and betrayels as some whole series do in multiple-seasons. The character design is perfection, take a hot waifu, and slap some abs on her (The ED is glorious btw). Humor is interlaced throughout, and is cleverly done too alleviate the EDGE that most fights contain, and the show even throws in some nature documentary style explanations to give some scientific
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background on animal characteristics.
Words can barely express how much I loved this show. From start to finish it takes it's ridiculous premise, and RUNS with it. Killing Bites doesn't look back for a second as it takes you on one of the most fun rides I have ever experienced.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Apr 28, 2019
(This review will be spoiler-free)
Strike Witches, the first part of a multi-season franchise that takes teenage schoolgirls, strips them of pants, and straps-on some k̶n̶e̶e̶h̶i̶g̶h̶s magical leg propellers. It's a fun show that has a pretty diverse cast, some interesting fanservice choices, but albeit is a forgettable experience.
The story of Strike Witches is a definite example of "playing it safe". We get a few intro episodes that do a decent job introducing the world, premise, and squad-mates of our MC, several episodes in the middle to further develop relationships and highlight some tension, and finally a "big bad" is introduced near the end (as
...
well as a poor attempt at some political backstabbing) to cement our casts values in one last big battle.
It's not a bad story by any means, and can actually be quite fun at times, but it is certainly not the most memorable story I have watched.
I did have a gripe with how the show tried to convey it's atmosphere at times. It is established early on that the Strike Witches are a magical special ops team solely designed to combat the worldwide threat, but there seemed to be very little structure at all when reinforcing that military mindset. The girls adhere to an extremely loose military protocol, and almost no penalties are administered for mistakes/in-fighting/or insubordination. Our MC does get in quite a bit of trouble near the end, but even then it feels like an underwhelming punishment. And that punishment (and its consequences) are immediately swept away by the appearance of the "big bad" in those final few episodes.
The show did a solid job of reminding you that the world was at war against a common enemy, but would then alleviate that tension with some awkwardly placed nudity (Group bath scenes appear frequently during "heavier" episodes). This doesn't necessarily detract from the overall experience, since none of the girls (even background characters in episode 1) wear pants, but it can be a bit jarring for your average watcher.
The animation is actually a point that really bounced around for me throughout the show. Some episodes/scenes were incredibly well animated, with characters running, jumping, or flying at a much smoother frame rate than a show of that era would believe you to have. Unfortunately these scenes stand to highlight how average the rest of the animation is, with an excellent shot of a character running to greet her friends followed by a rather cheap-looking shot of everyone standing around in the background while only one character moves at a time. Keep in mind none of these excellent scenes are even used as high-points in episodes, they are usually done during in-between shots (I am not sure if that is the right phrase to use, I'm talking about scenes in-between important ones, sort of build-up shots).
The cast of characters in Strike Witches suffers from the typical problem that a show like this (One with 8+ characters to flesh out) in that a lot of the supporting cast seem way more interesting than our lead. Because our MC is a fresh faced recruit, she spends a lot of her time being barked at, or trained, while the rest of the cast is able to show off their individual personalities, relationships, and specialties. Of course our MC is given preference over other girls when it comes to missions or important events, and while this is standard fare for a show of this type, it is still a bit tiring to see an excellent cast of characters pushed to the way side.
If you are looking for a fun, easy-going, ecchi (Nudity does appear in the DVD release), action-oriented ship-girl anime than Strike Witches could definitely scratch the itch you are looking for but it will be a temporary fix at best. Be prepared to struggle to complete the show, and want to find something a bit more memorable to watch almost as soon as it is over to scratch the itch anew.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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