Back to Papajan's Profile Papajan's Profile

Youko in Twelve Kingdoms is one of the best-made and best-developed characters I've ever seen. It starts off as something akin to a coming-of-age type of story, but Youko's development doesn't just stop when she starts being honest with herself. She goes from having one problem to another, and struggles through it as best she can. Then she goes to making mistakes and tries to fix them. It's just a very human story of struggle, and at the very end of her story, you feel inspired and think "wow, what a woman/leader".

Youko isn't the only reason I loved Twelve Kingdoms, just ... the biggest one. The stories and the world are wonderful also. The political aspects of the story are really interesting to watch - each kingdom's ruler (or previous ruler) makes different high-level decisions and you get to see how it impacts all levels of their kingdom. You get to see all sorts of different rulers - ones who are proud, ones that try their best to serve the people, rulers that have good intentions but become twisted, rulers that act as the "rudder" for their kingdom, and others. Another major plus of the storyline is that there's no significant romance in it. I like a good romance, but it's silly to inject romance into every kind of story out there. Along the same lines, it's nice to see anime that isn't injected with ecchi. This story stands on it's own two feet, and doesn't try to cover it's faults with those things. Similarly, I felt that it wasn't as predictable with the storyline as most stories (anime or otherwise). It's nice to watch something that feels fresh instead of feeling that you're watching the same mini-stories as dozens of other series.

The side characters, the voice acting, and the music were all also very good.

There are some faults in the series, but the story was so good it deserves a 10 despite any issues. Firstly, I didn't care much for the animation; it's the same style as Escaflowne, where a face has the skin color and the shadow color but no in-between. I didn't notice it much after the first few episodes though cause I was so engrossed with the story. The overall story is in four segments - Youko, then Taiki, then Youko again, then a small one on Shoryu. The Taiki storyline was never concluded or anything. Beyond that, there could've easily been another 45 good episodes about Youko and the events surrounding her. I guess that's my only major gripe - that I wanted more.

I went and rewatched Okaeri recently and as I was watching it, I was thinking that it wasn't as funny as the original. But then Touma's brother visited the Minamis and scene had me crying with laughter again. And Kana is always awesome, especially whenever she's surprised or gets an "idea".

Okaeri isn't a radical change from the previous seasons, just little things here and there. They seem to have moved to the 3-segment style instead of part a/b, which is kinda annoying cause now I have to skip sections twice instead of once. Chiaki looks even more different now, which is ... neat. They did a pretty good job of trying to animate someone growing up physically; she looks a little closer to Haruka now. I feel like Haruka has evolved over the course of the seasons also - she's now a part of some of the humor and has a personality instead of just cooking/cleaning/school.

Overall, it feels like they were trying to transition Minimi-ke from purely great comedy to something that's more slice-of-life. It might not be for everyone, but it's worth watching just for the gems like Kana and Hosaka.

Minami-ke Okawari is a continuation of the first season, and you probably won't enjoy Okawari if you haven't seen the first season. The majority of the animation/sound/characters/humor remains the same. I don't think I cried from laughing as much, but it was still hilarious.

There are little changes here and there. Chiaki's hair color has mysteriously changed and Kana has some crazy dog shirt instead of I AM BOSS, which made me sad. The detailed animation style for some scenes is more downplayed so it's not as weird. Chiaki sometimes seems cross-eyed in this season, which is disturbing like an itch ... on the bottom of my foot. Sadly, Ninomiya-kun has (apparently) been either killed by rocks or canceled from poor ratings. As compensation, Hosaka was much funnier, and is now trying to free himself from the constrictive nature of shirts.

Also a minor plus - it's easy for me to remember that this is the second season compared to a lot of other multi-season animes with different names.

Minami-ke is hilarious. I cried from laughing, even the second time I watched it. The characters are wonderful; it's not one of those comedies that feels like random gags, but slice-of-life where the humor is more integrated in day-to-day happenings (even though there isn't much in the way of story progression).

The artwork is very well done, but it's made for the humor, not necessarily to be pretty. Especially Kana's expressions crack me up. And her "I AM BOSS" t-shirt makes me laugh every time I think about it. Actually pretty much everything about Kana cracks me up. The voice ... acting is also excellent, and really strengthens the characters.

It seemed really awkward that they'd change animation styles when the animators were trying to poke fun at the characters being serious, but instead of becoming less detailed in animation (like normal humor), it became more detailed. Sometimes it was funny, but usually it was just weird.

King of Eden is difficult to rate - compared to most movies/OVAs it's very good but compared to the Eden of the East TV series it's very lacking. It's the same style and everything, just a bit more polished in the animation. The characters are more or less still the same lovable, quirky people.

The plot of the movie was the letdown for me. It felt as though there were ~3 story arcs going on at once - the main Selecao one, the King one, and the director one. The director one is predominantly a plain, average anime plot, but it felt ... like that story got the most screentime by far. The King one didn't feel like it advanced much at all over the course of the movie. The Selecao one was the interesting one, but just didn't have as much meat as I'd have liked.

I'm a big fan of animes that have an interesting "world". The idea of a world where you have magic and magic-like science is really interesting to watch. Aside from a few episodes, the story and characters are both touching and funny. If Touma weren't so absurdly impulsive, I'd probably rate it a 10.

The story wasn't too bad and the art was good, but more than anything I just couldn't stand Shana's character, which I'd classify as "noisy/annoying".

I think I stumbled upon RahXephon from a review of Neon Genesis Evangelon where someone said if you didn't really like NGE you'd probably like RahXephon. That advice was perfect for me.

All in all, the characters and story really made it for me. The characters and their decisions were believable and you go through a good range of emotions while watching it.

The vibe I got was a combination of Bourne Identity and animes like Code Geass and Death Note (except not dark at all). It was incredibly fun to watch. The only cons were that it was too short and some parts of the plot felt like they had been skipped.

The characters are realistic and quirky. The animation is excellent, like a refined version of Honey and Clover or Nodame Cantabile. The story is incredibly interesting. The opening is amazing, like probably the only one where I'd watch it for every episode.

For me, Ergo Proxy is one of those animes where I think "oh man, what could've been!"

Pros:
The artwork and music are stellar. I think I can rewatch it so easily because it's entertaining just to watch and listen to. Both very strongly support the environments, like the sterile-looking Romdeau or the utterly desolate wastelands.

In that setting, I could almost watch the anime alone if you took out all the characters but Pino. Pino is simply a masterpiece of voice acting, character development, and artwork.

Cons:
The story felt like it was trying to be recognized as a smart anime, rather than actually being a ... smart anime. The character of Re-l and Vincent were also huge letdowns.