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Dec 22, 2011
For me, plot and character development are what makes or breaks almost all forms of entertainment. Steins;Gate implores both of these elements with such intensity and profound curiosity it is almost unimaginable. The plot is rather complex and can become confusing at times if one was not paying attention. This only makes this series that much more enjoyable for me. Because of the plot's mannerisms it character development can be equally tricky to follow until one has a complete grasp of the plot.
Both voice acting and dialogue play a paramount role throughout this animation. Meaningful dialogue enhances the plot
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and character development while the voice acting makes Steins;Gate even more enjoyable. Everything else hardly matter to me. This is not to say that if other elements such as sound quality, animation, and artistic appeal were to be removed or changed that the series would remain unaffected. But, more so a complement to a plot that was so enthralling that I hardly noticed the expertise put into these categories. Of these, voice acting is one of the more easily noticeable.
Stein;Gate is one of the best anime series I have ever had the pleasure of watching. There is hardly a show I have found to be more intense and utterly engulfing than this show. I watched all 24 episodes within a 48 hour period and loved every minute of it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Oct 12, 2011
Many, if not most fight/action anime are so horribly done. The main character spends 5 episodes powering up and his hair changes colors then the antagonist proceeds to do the same thing. (Dragon Ball Z anybody?) This anime finished airing on 1995 making it quite old. But, by no means, does that inhibit this from being one of, if not, the best fighting/action anime ever made. Some current series could take a note from this series; Yu Yu Hakusho should be used a template to help guide other artists creating a series in this genre.
Due to the sheer age of
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this anime it would easily be expected to find extremely dated animation. Fortunately this is not the case. This series at the time it was made looked great both in terms of animation and artwork. It might not currently be the pinnacle of animation technique but by no means is it the worst thing you could see. It is honestly still quite nicely animated in my opinion. Voice acting throughout the series is stellar. Both the subbed and dubbed versions are great but, in the subbed version you can expect to see a lot more “crude” language. The dialogue can be “cheesy” at times but, it is not over done; it is serious when needed and humorous at just the right moments or, in some cases the wrong moment.
Creativity is a win here. In fighting/action anime series it is so easy to fall into a repetitious state. Yu Yu Hakusho varies all the fights to make them all different. This is often defined by the different peoples Yusuke (the main character) and his friends fight against. Almost every character in this series has a unique personality that is clearly defined. This amazing feat is what truly makes Yu Yu Hakusho one of the best animes around; I mean through all genres. Not the fighting, which definitely is a strong point of this series but, the character development. How the many different people, be they good or bad, are effected by their interactions with Yusuke. The creators of this series go so far as to throw a moral into almost every single part of this series though some are so subtle you hardly notice. All of this is completed and neatly packaged and tied with a pretty little bow by a dazzling, intertwining, and creative plot. The plot does everything possible to expand the character development throughout the series as well as keeping this series from becoming tedious and boring.
All fighting based anime should be made like this.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Aug 22, 2011
Fullmetal Alchemist is one of my favorite anime series of all time. When I heard there was a new Fullmetal Alchemist coming out I was excited but then I read that this would be a recreation of the original series but following closer to the manga I was disappointed. How could they possibly make this series be better than what it already was? This will be a complete train crash. I could never have been more wrong.
I would recommend watching the original series before embarking on Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood as it allows for you to make a good comparison between the two
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series which are both worth watching but, it’s not necessary.
The overall plot here is essentially the same as the original Fullmetal Alchemist with some improvements in the sub plots. The Brotherhood series is also longer than the original by 12 episodes so there is a bit more to watch. Brotherhood has moments of excitement, action, and drama blended together with perfection making it one of my favorite plots in any anime series. Character development throughout the show is considerably noticeable through the long adventure Ed and Al partake in. The villains are also superbly developed doing that much more for the overall plot.
One of my favorite parts of Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood is the music and dialogue. The music is seamlessly sewn into the show providing emphasis when needed and enhancing the overall mood of the show. The music is blended in so well that if you aren’t looking for it you most likely won’t even notice it. Considerable time must have been put into the development of the dialogue. But the subbed and dubbed versions are very nicely done and are not overly cheesy as in many series.
There are 3 distinctive animations styles used throughout the series that may or may not be accompanied by different art styles and are often situational. Each different style complements its situation. I really enjoy the exaggerated and semi-elongated style used in combat. It helps to provide a sense of intensity.
Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood is a very fun and exciting series. It is one of the beast shows anime has to offer and I would recommend it to anybody whether they are just getting into anime of have been watching it for a while.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Aug 21, 2011
Excel Excel is the main character in this series and IS without a doubt the most ANNOYING character I have ever had the displeasure of watching. Excel Saga is supposed to be both a parody and a comedy unfortunately the only thing this series really is, is annoying. It has its moments from time to time being funny but as a whole this show is bad. Any witty humor attempts are quickly forgone due to Excel’s excessive and extremely high pitched screeching, yelling and blabbering. The plot in this series is an attempt to be “random” which isn’t necessarily bad thing if
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there is substance (such as art content) to the randomness but, everything was tied up in the last 4 episodes. This act of tying up all the plots would seem random itself if it wasn’t for the fact that there were several horrible plots already running in parallel just filled with excessive annoyances. In all honesty the manner in which these failures of plot attempts were tied together was quite clever. This would have been a great place to end the series yet, the show went on with an attempt to conclude in a moderately serious tone. Art animation and sound are all generic. As a whole Excel Saga is one of the worst anime series I’ve ever watched and, I would never recommend this series to anybody. What a flop.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Jul 6, 2011
This is a particularly difficult movie to review due to it being a semi-autobiography. But, I can certainly review the movie from a historical standpoint. I am a history buff and Grave of the Fireflies provides a unique perspective from the eyes of a Japanese child during the WWII air raids or slaughter bombings as the Japanese called them.
To start with a bit of background information for those to better understand the setting in which this takes place. When most people think of Japan during WWII two things come to mind, the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and being
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part of the Axis of Evil. But what most people don’t know is the US carried out (about) a 4 month firebombing campaign over Japan (using napalm).
Prior to these attacks a list of Japan’s 67 most populace cities was compiled and the US Military firebombed the top 25 (at least). The nature of these raids was to bomb the Japanese into complete submission. To give you an idea of how brutal these attacks where when the US dropped the atomic bombs over Hiroshima an estimated 90,000–166,000 people died in Nagasaki 60,000–80,000 died. Only about half of the estimated casualty total from each bomb actually died from the direct drop of the bomb. The firebombing of Tokyo in three hours killed 83,000 and injured an additional 40,000 people destroyed nearly 1/4th of the city creating a firestorm engulfing 15 square miles leaving another 1 million plus people homeless. (Keep in mind Tokyo at the time is roughly the size of New York City.)
This is the setting in which Grave of the Fireflies is set; the firebombing of Kobe. The movie attempts to give you perspective of the hardships the Japanese people faced after these horrific bombings. (It has been stated that if the US would have lost the war we would have been prosecuted as war criminals due to the use of Incendiary Bombs. The use of such weapons was later banned by the UN. The US is one of several countries who refused to ratify the law banning uses of napalm firebombing.)
The plot for Grave of the Fireflies is an adaptation of a semi-autobiography novel written by Akiyuki Nosaka that holds the same name. The book was written as an apology to Akiyuki’s younger sister as the fate of his sister is that of the girl in the movie. It is hard to review the plot of the movie in terms of creativity or originality as it is in part an autobiography. (I have not read the novel so I am not sure how closely it follows the original story but, from what I’ve read they are very close to being the same.) For an animation released in 1988 the depictions of the scenes in Grave of the Fireflies are quite vivid. The plot follows Setsuko and Seita providing a unique yet tragic insight into the hardships forced upon these two children by WWII. The plot is both emotionally stirring and horrifying as the US did not receive any war on our soil after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. It really forces you to ask yourself how humans can be so cruel to one another.
The quality of the animation at the time would have been top of the line using the best available technology but, pales in comparison to the animation often seen today. Audio is a bit hard to hear at times and you often have to adjust to volume (at least I did). Music seems to be used at proper times to help amplify the emotions of scenes. The sounds of the B-29 stratofortresses flying over are well done as well as the air raid sirens allowing for a more authentic experience.
Grave of the Fireflies is often viewed as an anti-war movie in addition to its historical qualities and is overflowing with much symbolism. The fireflies can be seen to represent many things; the most obvious being the life of the young girl. There are many connections through symbolism to be made here which further adds to the movie in terms of a work of art. (In my opinion the movie also depicts multiple lessons of pride. You are welcome to agree or disagree with this. In NO way do I commend the bombings of Japan and I am against war in general.) There is also a history lesson to be learned here about the cruelty of fire bombings of Japan and how massively it affected the lives of the countries citizens.
A horrifically well made film is what I would call this. No pun intended, as Grave of the Fireflies does an excellent job connecting to the viewer emotionally to the characters portrayed. You can feel their pain, distress, and hopelessness as the two children attempt to survive the in the cruel WWII/post war era of Japan. The insight this movie provides into the eye of a Japanese child during this time is emotionally profound and horrifying. This is one of the best overall anime series I have ever watched and would recommend this to anybody, even if you hate anime.
Resources (I used quite a bit for the history part and I do not wish to plagerize.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grave_of_the_Fireflies
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_raids_on_Japan
http://www.bookmice.net/darkchilde/japan/war6.html
http://www.ditext.com/japan/napalm.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napalm#International_law
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Jun 20, 2011
What shall we add to this stew tonight? Action, romance, mythology, violence, and blood; this is roughly the theme for Fate/Stay Night. However odd that might seem it manages to work itself out in the end and is a solid anime series.
The plot of the series is semi-complicated but the manner in which the story unfolds makes it incredibly predictable for the most part with a small assortment of odd twists. Character development follows roughly the same path as the plot yet complements it when necessary providing the proper amount of background knowledge and character growth for the viewer to
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be able to easily follow and understand the story.
Music and sound effects are used at the proper times throughout fate/stay night. Animation is solid as well as the overall art style of the show. The voice acting for the subbed version is of good quality.
In all honesty there is very little to say about Fate/Stay Night. It is a solid series as a whole nothing is really so exceptional that it sticks out. At the same time nothing is done poorly making nothing gather negative attention either. Fate/Stay Night is a solid series providing for enjoyable viewer experience.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jun 20, 2011
There is so much wrong with this series it is hard to remember it all. From reading the short description on Netflix I concluded that this would be an adventurous series with the possibility of a good plot. I was wrong…very wrong. I’m going to try to tell you why NOT to watch this series and keep it short at the same time.
I am not sure what the plot is or if it ever existed at all. The plot is supposed to be continuous from episode to episode but, it is impossible to tell how the plot reached the current point
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from the previous. It seems like somebody wrote a series of short random events modified and arranged them into a short story board putting forth as little effort as possible.
Character development is a far more serious problem than the plot itself. Characters make leaps and bounds forwards in one episode then might regress twice as fast back in the following episode. Or you wonder where the characters came to a certain conclusion and can only conclude that it was in between the episodes when there was a massive plot jump. This makes it even harder to understand or relate to the main character. The character all seem to be drawn the same as well and then modified. Copy and paste is not working in their favor. (I was wondering if this was just me but then I saw it in somebody else’s review as well.)
Theme; tits. I’m sure this is the theme…every episode seems to finish off talking about Cecily Cambell’s breast size. One episode has entire dinner scene talking about Cecily’s boobs… as well as a pool scene and many others. Boobs are actually shown in this series which does nothing to enhance the show. It is a poor and failure of an attempt at comic relief.
Dialogue is horrible and when it is not horrible it is so absurdly cheese it is intolerable. Music enhances anything and everything that is cheesy and is vastly overused. The animations are possibly the only redeeming fact about Seiken no Blacksmith.
If you still want to watch this series after reading this review be my guest, but I do not recommend a 4/10 rated series to anybody. Somebody wanted to make some fast easy cash off developing this series and, therefore put no real time into it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Jun 13, 2011
Bleach is a LONG anime series. As of this moment there are 325 episodes with plenty more to come (I hope. There should be another 10-20 at the very least.). It is very difficult to write a review for this series do the expansive length and many plots combined with sub-plots and an extensive list of characters. (If you don’t want to read all the details skip to the last paragraph for a brief summary.)
A good guesstimation is that at least 10%-% of the episodes are fillers. This being said, the filler episodes are completely irrelevant to the series as a whole
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and are not needed to be watched as there is no inherent benefit in doing so unless, you enjoy the very cheesy and generic humor thrown into these sometimes hastily put together episodes. The transition from regular episodes to filler episodes can also be somewhat abrupt at times leaving you wondering what just happened. Ignoring all the filler episodes, the story line is rather creative and divided into several events that occur in succession. Throughout the several main plots multiple sub-plots come about giving background information and history about many of the characters in the show. The sub-plots sometimes even lead into additional sub-plots. It can be somewhat confusing at times due to the massive amount of plots occurring at once but the complexity gives it a depth that is much deeper than many other series.
The characters in Bleach are numerous and it can be hard to keep track of who is part of what group and especially their names. The group of main characters consists of five persons while on the other hand there are roughly 50 or more supporting characters. Character development and progression is relatively profound and meaningful. This specifically stands out as the characters discover new power locked within themselves. Complex relationships are also formed throughout the shows progression as well as old relationships revealed. All of this further helps to fuel the plot of Bleach, adding layer upon layer to an already complex plot.
The animation of Bleach is very nicely done with some starkly contrasting art used in the fight scenes and humorous moments to provide an entirely different feel from the rest of the show. The sound as a whole is well conceived and defined; it is often used to help further amplify and highlight specific scenes throughout the series. There can be some significant differences between what is said in the subbed version versus the dubbed version, even though the meaning might be the same, how the words are emphasized can be quite contrasting. The voice acting is well done in both versions regardless of what people say about the dubbed version’s voice acting being “horrible”. (Personally I recommend the subbed version due to the difference in wording, not because of the voice acting.)
Bleach is a long yet exciting anime series with a deep, rich plot and extensive character development. Animation, art style, and sound effect/music are key elements used to enhance specific situations throughout the series and are well calculated. Bleach has some magnificent fight scenes, some of the best made in any anime. If your attention span is shorter or do not care for the filler episodes I would suggest skipping them, doing so will not amount to any loss of the plot. I would suggest choosing to watch the subbed version of the series due to wording differences in some cases. Bleach is a solid mainstream anime series that is easy to get into and provides for good entertainment. I would recommend this series to anybody whether they have been watching anime for a long time or just getting into it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jun 11, 2011
I originally refused to watch the Naruto series all together simply because the characters appeared annoying and childish to me. I eventually tried watching it and failed the first and second time. I eventually saw the fight scene between Naruto and Sasuke on youtube and this allowed me to give the series more of a chance. I rather liked it.
This is one of the harder series to write a review for due to the sheer length of it. There are too many recaps throughout episodes; these take up sometimes 10-15 minutes of a 23 minute episode which is rather annoying.
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Filler episodes are also littered throughout the series which can be beneficial or annoying depending on how many and how bad/good each episode is. The last 40 episodes consist of about 20 filler episodes which was horrible. The length also gives it several benefits character development is one of the most notable (Maybe not for Sakura…). Character growth and evolvement is visible in many of the main and supporting characters especially Naruto and Sasuke.
The animations throughout the series are solid and there are several instance of using unique art styles to help enhance fight sense and humor. The voice acting is well done but, the dialogue can be very cheesy at time, making one possibly slam their face into a wall.
Naruto is an exciting series that has a solid and creative storyline complimented with excellent character development. Regardless of any shortcomings previously mentioned Naruto is a solid series and worth watching. It also has some of the best fight scenes in anime.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jun 10, 2011
A high school/college student with the power to kill anybody who wants, is a genius, and has an extreme god-complex; all the ingredients to make the most generic and awful story of all time. Thankfully, Death Note does not fall into this unremarkable category. Instead Death Note is one of the best anime series around; a rather dark theme is present through the entire show which is complemented by a complex and suspenseful story line. Character development is premeditated and well conceived to such a point that you even sympathize with Light up to the very end. The animations in the series
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are above average but not top notch. The art style and animation even though not the best are appropriate for the theme and setting for this series. One of the best points for Death Note is the music; the timing of the music is well placed to increase the intensity of different situations through the show. As a whole Death Note is one of the most addictive and intense anime series one could choose to watch.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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