Back to PokeL's Profile PokeL's Profile

First off, I've been a Pokemon fan for a lot of years, started out with the first season and kinda lost interest with B/W hence not follwing that season anymore.
XY made me start over again because the characters seemed very interesting from the PV's and the art was looking great as well.
In the first place, this review refers to those who have seen older seasons of Pokemon and want an opinion on wether or not XY is worth a watch. Therefore this is mainly my PERSONAL OPINION instead of a rather subjective review. If you do not agree with me that's fine. ;)

I ... have to admit, while I loved the way the show started out, it turned out kinda "meh" from a certain point. That doesn't mean that XY is a bad season - I just think it had a lot more potential.

First off, the story: Not much to say about that. If you're familiar with Pokemon, you know how it goes. Traveling, meeting new people, Team Rocket messing something up. Some arena battles every now and then, etc.
There's some really enjoyable episodes and some rather boring ones. It's nothing new really.

Art: The art is awesome. The drawings are detailed and pretty, the character designs are nice, the backgrounds look really awesome and the battles look simply amazing. They've done an awesome job here, really. I kinda wish they would've gone for a style that was more similar to the older seasons because for me that style "is" Pokemon, but that's just personal taste and has nothing to do with the actual quality. However, if you're in for the nostalgia, the drawings might bother you because they look nothing like the old seasons anymore.

Sound: The sound is pretty good, too. We have some very nostalgic tracks and the voice acting in Pokemon is done well as usual. I don't like ALL of the OP and ED tracks (but since there's quite a few of those that's okay!), but they are all really catchy and fun and put you into the right Pokemon-ish mood.

Characters: Now let's get to the core of my review. The thing that made me NOT enjoy XY as much as I wanted to. Don't get me wrong. The characters aren't bad. Actually, they are pretty awesome but well.. I just feel like they could've been so much MORE.
First off, we got Ash/Satoshi, who's still his usual self - well, kind of. Obviously he's still the hero, he's a little bit dumb and head over heels as usual, but idk, he's.. different. He doesn't feel quite like the old Satoshi and for me, that's a huge bother. I've always been a Satoshi kid. I mean, if he would've gotten some actual development, that would have been great. But even the "childhood" Satoshi feels different from the "old" one so it's not development but just changing his character. Not everybody might have noticed this, but I personally don't like it.
As for Serena, well.. at first I thought she was rather enjoyable, cute and I liked how they gave her some depth through the childhood thing instead of being in for the bike, like the other girls have been. However, she really annoyed me a lot in the later episodes because for about 40 episodes she did literally NOTHING. She didn't really battle, didn't catch a Pokemon, didn't have a goal, just NOTHING. She was in for the shipping and that was that. Which annoyed me to no end because all we got were some forced Serena shipping moments instead of any actual Serena-character. Then again, I love the way they've been handeling her lately. In the past few episodes she got a lot of development and I really enjoyed what they did with her. At this point, she might turn into the most well developt main character in a Pokemon season. Keep it up, writers! I just wish you had started this sooner than around 50 episodes in!
As for the other two, let's just say that I like both of them and I feel like they give something fresh to the show because while they do resemble some of the older companions in a way, they are still something new and it's interesting to see what they add to the group.

So much about the characters on their own, what I find just as important is the interactions between the characters - another thing I feel like XY is lacking.
Satoshi and Citron have some enjoyable interactions. Eureka and Serena have some enjoyable interactions. So do Citron and Eureka.
As for Satoshi and Serena, it's okay. Some people might disagree with me because I know how Amourshipping has gotten popular as hell but for me personally, it just feels really forced.. like, the writers tried so hard to add in a romance that it kinda destroyed it for me. I feel like they lack just the little, "unimportant" things, everytime they interact with each other it's turned into a huge deal and some of those "shipping moments" feel so forced to me like they add nothing to the actual episode and are just there to throw a romance into your face. About that, I also feel like that just doesn't fit into Pokemon. You can argue about every relationship Satoshi ever had with a girl (even with Kasumi) but it's impossible for anybody to NOT notice Serena has a crush on Satoshi. And I don't feel like that fits into a Pokemon show because for me, Pokemon is about FRIENDSHIP, not love. Love should be up to everyone's interpretation, imo.
I mean, I get why some people like it, but I just don't feel it.

As for Serena and Citron or Eureka and Satoshi... they barely have any interaction at all and that bothers me as well. The show focuses so much on certain relationships that they completely miss out on others. That doesn't really make me feel for the group as a group and since the group is a huge factor of the Pokemon show for me, it makes me not like the season as much as the previous ones.

Another thing I noticed was that XY kinda seperates between genders in a way the other seasons didn't do. It's kinda hard to explain, but we have a lot of girls this, girls that, boys this and boys that, while the other seasons were more neutral about this (eg. Serena once says how "all girls should be pretty" or something like this and the "new contests" are also pretty "girlish". It's not really a huge deal, but I just feel like that was not necessary - they never did it before, why do it now?

Enjoyment: Despite that, XY does have it's moments and it IS a great season. I think it all depends on how you manage to get into the group as a group and I know that some people love those 4 to pieces. If that is the case for you, XY might turn into the best Pokemon season to date for you - because it's definitly strong in it's other aspects. But even if, like me, you feel like those 4 are lacking, XY is worth a watch. It does incredibly well for a Pokemon season and it got me back into the anime for a reason.

So now that this show has come to an end, I feel like it is finally time to put my thoughts into a review to let you all know that you should watch this anime. Every singe one of you. No exceptions :)

Looking back it's kind of funny that I just started watching Nagi no Asukara because I loved their uniforms on the picture, not because I was all to interested in it. What I expected was some lighthearted, cute and simple entertainment. What I got, however, was one of the best dramas I've ever seen, which also managed to get into my favorites list ... about 5 episodes in and after this ending it is sure to stay there for a long time.
The first thing I noticed once I started watching was the breathtaking art in this show. The underwater scenery and the entire backgrounds look just downright stunning and even quite realistic sometimes. Definitely some of the most beautiful things I've ever seen in a TV anime.
The characters are really cute and fit the show perfectly, I especially love the way they did the eyes.
Animation was good as well.

However, NagiAsu is faaar more than just the art, which will get you into the anime. What will make you stay though is the story which starts out looking like a casual slice of life/romance show but it soon adds some great drama into the mix. The whole love drama kinda put me off at first but that changed very soon because while we still have the relationship between the characters as a focus, we soon get a very interesting storyline that will probably tear your heart into pieces at some part. And while I know that the ending was kind of unsatisfying for some people, I personally felt like it was a perfect closure for this anime as it just made sense for the characters to act the way they did.
The only thing that kind of bothered me about this show was the fact that there were some side plots that where either not necessary or not explored much further and therefore I felt like there was no need for them to be in the show (talking about Miuna and a certain person here for example). This is actually such a minor flaw that it is not able to lower my love for this show in the slightest.
What I think is amazing about NnA is that, while it is actually a show with a slow, calm atmosphere, it still manages to keep you on the edge of your seat, begging for more. For me it was pure torture waiting for the new episode week after week. So, if you do not like shows with a more calm atmosphere because it bores you, do not use this as a reason not to give this show a try. You might actually be able to enjoy it a lot more than you think.

As I already said above, the ending made sense in a way that it was really fitting the characters and here we go with another thing NagiAsu impresses. The characters. There's actually only one real thing to say about them: They feel real. The feel human. If you think about their actions for just a bit, all of them make sense, really. They all have their struggles to face, their strengthens and their weak parts, and they are delivered in a way that is just convincing. It also makes them loveable despite their flaws. Of course you will like one more than the other but I do not think that it is really possible to hate any of the characters.
Being part of the thing that makes them as convincing is their development. At the end of the show you see some of that in every one of them. They all mature in a way, but in a realistic way instead of being a totally different person from one minute to the other. For some this development happens much faster while it takes almost until the end for others. What I did not like as much here was the fact that for some of the characters this development was HORRIBLY slow as they kept taking five steps backwards sometimes which could be a bit irritating. But then again, isn't it like that in real life as well?

The sound in this show was pretty awesome as well. It did a great job putting across the atmosphere of the show. The tracks honestly made me shiver at times because of how beautiful they were and how great they were fitting the scene they were played in. OP and ED were both fine though I think the last ED is the worst track out of them, while still not being bad.
Quite a lot of the songs in NagiAsu have made or will make it into my music collection because of how much I enjoyed them.

Overall I can say that for me, Nagi no Asukara is a must see if you like drama and slice of life shows while not being too put off by some love drama as well. This is one of the best anime I have seen in a while and totally my favorite out of the fall season 2013. I can barely find a thing they did wrong here and all I wish for now after seeing the last episode is to start this show over again, watch it all in one part and then continue with the second season that does not exist because I already miss all of the characters so much.

For me this was totally a show worthy of a 10/10.

Art: 10/10 Sound: 9/10 Story: 10/10 Characters: 9/10 Enjoyment: 10/10 Overall: 10/10 :)

As one of the first manga I’ve ever read, Sugar Sugar Rune has always been a huge subject of nostalgia for me. However, it’s much more than pure nostalgia that makes me love this manga as much, even after years have passed since I’ve read it for the first time.

The story of Sugar² Rune seems to be very simple. Two witches come to the Human World to find out who is going to become the next queen of the Magic World. To do that, the best friends Vanilla and Chocolat need to collect the hearts of human boys and the one who collects ... the hearts of the highest overall value will win the competition.
So far the story sounds like a common, fluffy shojo, and in the beginning that is exactly what it is. It is cute and at times it is humorous, but nothing really special.
This changes, however, as the manga developes. Even though it still keeps it’s cute and girly touch (I mean come on, the characters are all named after candy!) it turnes out to be much darker than one would expect in the beginning. I don’t want to go into the why, as I don’t want to spoil anything, but the further you get into the story, the more interesting it gets.
Of course, it is still a bit fluffy, kind of childish story, but it definitely turnes more mature.
The story is also very well thought through, mostly everything makes sense and is understandable. You won’t be left with questions about what has happend once you’re done reading.

As the story matures, the characters change as well. My favorite example for this is the scene where Chocolat states that she, who has always been much more self-confident and outgoing compared to the shy Vanilla, might be much more of a crybaby than her friend after all.
Then again, neither of the characters really surprises you that much. Most of them turn out to be just what you would expect from the way they look. You also have the usual characters in there, like a strong, self-confient girl, a shy one, the usual, good looking and mysterious boy and a comic relief character. For me, only one character turned out extremly different from what I expected. I still ended up liking a lot of the characters, especially the boys, Chocolat and a dog who I think is extremly awesome.
There was one thing that really bothered me though. I would consider most of the characters to be very young. For the age I’d guess them to be, I believe they are focused way too much on the way they look, boys and such things. It might be a personal opinion to find that annoying, but I honestly believe that girls weren’t THAT bad when I was around that age.

Now to the thing that might really turn people off the manga at first: the art. I have to admit, when I first read Sugar Sugar Rune I didn’t like the art style AT ALL. But as you read on, you really start to see something appealing in it. It is kind of unique and some of the scenes are extremly lovely drawn. Then again, the way the faces are drawn (especially the lips) often looks weird and I don’t think you’ll get used to it even after reading the manga several times. I know I didn’t. I believe that the style really fits Chocolat’s personality though (that may not make sense to you, but I really like how the art expresses the main character of the story). The clothers (especially Chocolat’s) are creative and I find myself in love with a lot of them and the backgrounds are pretty and detailed as well.
Where the drawing is still a matter of taste, I can in fact say that the panels are just horrible. I got so confused at times and really had no idea where to continue reading next. I don’t know if that goes only for the translation (I’ve read the german version) but I honestly doubt it.

Despite it’s flaws, Sugar Sugar Rune is a manga I absolutly enjoyed reading and still enjoy reading over & over. I love the twist of mood, I love the characters and I really love that this manga is so different to a lot of other stuff I’ve read, but also without standing out –too- much.

I would say that if you enjoy stories with a dark touch but don’t mind romance and fluff, you will enjoy Sugar Sugar Rune. However, you shouldn’t be too picky as it absolutly has it’s flaws and you totally get the feeling that it’s meant for younger people (Like I said: characters named after candy!). But I’d give it a chance in any case because it usually gets judged solely by the drawings and the fact that it looks like a common magical girl manga at first.

My overall rating is 8 out of 10. I would give it a 9, simply because of the nostalgia, but I’m supposed to give a non-biased ranking so I’ll stick with the 8.

Rurouni Kenshin is a series I've just recently read and enjoyed a lot so I thought I'd give it a shot! My overall rating for the manga is a 9/10, and here is why:


Story (8/10): The story might not have been the most original but I believe Watsuki made the best of it.
The manga is separated into 2 main arcs.
Personally I prefer the first one. The characters are more interesting to me and I think it was developed better. However, the 2nd arc is a lot of fun to read as well.

What I don't like about the first arc is that the end feels like ... it was stretched a bit too much. No matter how much I enjoyed it, during the last few chapters I kind of wished it would come to an end already. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't boring. I just feel like it could've been a bit shorter.

The second arc started off slowly to me, though it had great development and a nice plot twist.

Compared to a lot of similar manga who tend to go on forever, Kenshin ended at exactly the right time. Of course, it was possible to add tons of chapters if you wanted to but the end was set where it was fitting. The end was at a point when the story wasn't stretched out to a point where it became repetitive and boring.


Art (9/10): I'm not so experienced with art in manga but I know for sure that I don't read manga if the style doesn't appeal to me. It's obvious that I really liked that art-style.
I also think that the art had a perfect balance between being detailed and simple. It was detailed where it was pretty and was simple where being detailed would've been distracting or would have made things complicated and hard to understand. You can also see development during the manga without the style changing so much that you feel like reading something entirely different (which tbh does not happen a lot but it still happens in some manga).


Character (10/10): What I believe is the strongest point in Kenshin.
The characters are all so realistic & understandable that you have a hard time hating any of them. They aren't separated into good & evil either - everyone has their motivations and reasons to act the way they do, as well as those twists that make a character round and interesting.

Nobody lacks development and the background stories of most of the characters are my favorite part of the manga. What I love is that the type of characters who usually wouldn't develop much still do.
This goes for a lot of less important characters and I really wish some of them were given more time and appeared a second time at least. They were too amazing to just appear and leave again, some of them would've even made great main characters!

The characters are all so different and yet most of them just fit so well in to the story (when I gotta admit that there is indeed some that don't really fit into the setting, but considering that they are amazing characters nonetheless, you can overlook that.) There's some really unique ideas that you don't see often in other manga. (I would give examples but I really don't want to spoil anyone.)

I probably sound like a stupid fangirl here but really, I was so in love with the characters in this manga - there's barely anything I can criticize.


Enjoyment (9/10): Well, I really loved the manga a lot. I got it from a friend who borrowed me all the volumes. I must have been so annoying because I always borrowed 3 or 4 at the same time and I had them finished the next day, asking for more and being really annoying when she didn't bring them along. The manga is just addicting like that. It's very deep and has both, emotional and goofy moments without either of them being out of place.

The setting is great and it really makes you interested in the time period. You already find out a lot about it and even want to find out more because it looks so amazing.

The only reason I gave it a 9 out of 10 is what I already mentioned - in the story, there's the one part where it's kind of slow which is the transition between the two arcs with one ending being too long and the next one starting a bit too slow. Other than that, it was a lot of fun reading it.