We've all been told at one point or another to follow our dreams right? Well if you haven't, allow me to be the first to do so! Well, the creators of this anime took that to a whole new level. They made dreams more than something to pursue, they made it an integral part of your body's ability to function; a life source of sorts. To lose your dreams was almost the same as losing your soul....and in a way it can be rather reflective of life. Without dreams or any form of guidance, we have nothing to pursue and no rewards to gain. Moving
...
forward...
We've got a pretty interesting bunch of characters... surprisingly, several of the supporting roles have quite a bit of stage time and importance rather than an honorable mention. For the sake of space and getting to the point, I'll leave those supporting roles as an honorable mention in this review.
To open, we've got Yumeji Fujiwara. He's your not-so-average-but-not-by-much Sophomore in High School...what separates him is his goofy ability to predict the nature of someone's dreams that night. Remember when we were 5 and would meet our index finger and our thumb to imitate goggles, glasses, binocs, etc? Whelp, he does that and is able to predict based off of the colors he sees surrounding your body. Kinda goofy and not all that impressive but it does prove to have a use. He's lighthearted and overall pretty nice guy, he doesn't give up on people and keeps his promises. His life changes a bit when he meets Merry, who I'l go into next, as she 'falls from the sky' and promptly puts him on his back as a cushion. We move onward from there...a little bit more perspective will be in her description.
Next on the list, we've got Merry Nightmare, later dubbed "Dream Eater Merry" a la Yumeji. She's what is known as a Dream Demon, creatures that live in the dream world (who'd have thought?) that we all visit when we crash out at night. Here's the thing, instead of the humans creating their own dreams and these creatures happen to walk in, the humans, without knowledge of the fact, enter the territories of these particular dream demons when they sleep. These demons can come over to the real world by using their visitors as 'vessels'...in short you share a body. Some force their way in, some don't. I'm getting somewhere with this...and here it is, Merry is special in this because she is in the real world WITHOUT a vessel. She hasn't the faintest clue as to why she's there and she has been here, not to give anything away, for a VERY long time trying to return to the dream world. Well after some short-term tsundere with Yumeji, they create a 'contract' between each other to return her to the dream world. Story progresses from there.
For our few sentence honorable mentions in perspective to face-time, we've got the not-so-important-but-so-important Yuri Kounagi, Engie Threepiece, Ryouta Ijima, Isana Tachibana, and, later on, Mistletine.
I described the plot more or less in the main character descriptions now that I look at it. I will say this to reassure and to establish that this does have what I would call a 'solid' plot, simply because it's not episodic...it does progress. I make it a personal point to not go into excruciating detail on the plot simply because I think it gives too much away and takes away the splendor of discovery by actually watching.
The plot could get a little sketchy here and there as to what direction in which it's really going. Are they going to try getting X, are they pursuing Y, or are they going to take down Z. Get the picture? It was could be a little ambiguous as to who the actual main antagonist is based on sequence of events. I guess they finally settled down and made a group decision, for at least this season, they were going to choose Mistletine and Ryouta. I say that simply because she came a bit later in the game. Maybe they tried a little too hard to keep things open for a second season or maybe that's just how it turned out.
Again, it could very well be to keep things open for a new series, trying to not reveal too much in terms of story, in which they engage the actual head honcho. If not, then you can decide for yourself on how you react towards the ending...not necessarily fair to write a review and use the body of the story or the ending as an aversion to actually seeing it for yourself. I intentionally beat around the bush. Yeah I get it, time is great, but you're also sitting here watching this instead of doing something that could be multitudes more constructive..correct? I thought the beef of the story and the ending was nice and I'll leave it at that for my feedback.
Enough of my rant and back to the task at hand, Art and Sound! I thought the art to be very attractive and pleasant to the eyes. Bright, colorful, not jagged, they made sure they didn't color outside the lines...I'll just reiterate the fact that it is a very attractive form of drawing in my eyes. It gave the characters a much warmer feel. I suppose, the art was the strongest part of the anime in my eyes. The sound wasn't without clarity and the effects, albeit a little generic, were in sync with what was actually going on. Nothing really felt out of place when it came to battle music or execution of sound effects. The intro music and ending music were both pleasant and matched whatever opening and closing cinematic they were paired with.
Overall, I found this to be a rather enjoyable anime to watch. It's a nice break from the serious and takes the viewer back to a much lighter and youthful setting in which to relax in. You get to experience comradery among friends for a common interest, the strength of the heart, and, most importantly, the power of your dreams! Thanks for reading, enjoy the show.
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Oct 14, 2012
Yumekui Merry
(Anime)
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We've all been told at one point or another to follow our dreams right? Well if you haven't, allow me to be the first to do so! Well, the creators of this anime took that to a whole new level. They made dreams more than something to pursue, they made it an integral part of your body's ability to function; a life source of sorts. To lose your dreams was almost the same as losing your soul....and in a way it can be rather reflective of life. Without dreams or any form of guidance, we have nothing to pursue and no rewards to gain. Moving
...
Oct 13, 2012
Black Lagoon
(Anime)
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Shoot 'em up bang bang is best way for me to describe the theme of this series. I have a hard time digging around to find some gun-slinging anime that I can enjoy. My example of one would be Cowboy Bebop and the like.
Now in terms of the story...the series is pretty episodic but it does seem to progress in the manner that they do recollect to previous events. It's not like they have one episode and everything resets in a different environment with no recollection of the past...and it does build on itself in a way but not in the manner that a serious ... 
Aug 26, 2012
Story: 3
It only took me two episodes to figure out that there was virtually no story or development. Personally...I don't mind episode-by-episode Anime (if you can call this that, it's borderline) so long as it's obvious..which it is. I'm easily entertained to say the least. Art: 3 I'm not particularly a fan of not matching the setting. They are High School students. Kouta and Nozomu look like they're 5. Chizuru is the one that fits the model in my opinion, problem is, it makes her appear as a total pedophile given the art style. 17 year old looking girl trying to have aggressive sexual relations with what ... |
