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May 30, 2021
86, in my opinion, should be seen as an example of a lackluster story with a great production value. That being said, I still personally enjoy this series as one of the top contenders for my favorite anime from this season.
For the most part, the stylistic choices and direction are definitely the highlights of the anime. The animation and Hiroyuki Sawano’s soundtrack both add to my enjoyment of this anime, although this is just preference and isn’t objective. Because of Sawano’s OSTs for other recent mecha and mecha-related anime series, the vocal tracks during the fight scenes of this show feel familiar and with the
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Sawano tracks being almost like a necessary motif for modern mecha fights.
Symbolism and symbolic juxtaposition are also used heavily in the early episodes. The use of flowers, dropping food, a black cat, and a joker poker card are examples of this. Of course, it’s hard to describe exactly what these things symbolize in context without spoiling plot points, but I appreciate the intensive use of plot devices in the writing.
Some other elements of great direction also help add to the enjoyment of this anime. For example, the protagonist has frequent conversations with her squadron during both missions and during her own time. Oftentimes, because these conversations happen as audio transmissions, the show only shows one side of the conversation visually, before switching to the other side and replaying the scene from the other perspective. This helps illustrate and juxtapose the differences between the lives of the squadron and the protagonist which is a major thematic focus of the show.
However, outside of the superb style and direction, there isn’t much to be impressed by from the story or the characters. Although the characters are superficially likable, none of the characters feel unique. The protagonist’s “I’m the only non-racist in a racist society” archetype is way too cookie-cutter. Even the fact that this serves as her foil during multiple scenes STILL feels cookie-cutter at this point. As someone who has seen plenty of anime attempting to address the themes of prejudice and idealism in a cruel world (anime such as Attack on Titan the Fate series), I can’t simply relate to a character because they’re an overly idealistic “not racist”. I feel the same way for the supporting cast, including the members of the squadron that the protagonist commands. I could already tell that there would be a scene in which a character death superficially shatters the idealism of the protagonist long before it happened, and I’m not even going to say something like this is a spoiler at this point because this cookie-cutter story archetype almost spoils it for itself.
I do ultimately want to see where this story goes, but as it stands, the show is a mixed bag with different qualities of individual narrative elements. They work decently together since even for the narrative elements of the story and character development, it’s more so that they’re predictable than that they’re actually bad. I recommend giving this anime a chance if you enjoy mecha shows or war stories since as a whole, the show is pretty good overall.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Dec 30, 2020
Aboard a critically damaged airship, a lone mysterious red-haired girl in a military dress uniform walks forward with her weapon drawn. A song, reminiscent of “Amazing Grace”, plays in the background, juxtaposed against the carnage aboard the ship between what appear to be plant-like monsters and anthropomorphic bestial soldiers. We hear the girl’s internal monologue professing her love to someone. She takes a final step forward to the edge of the ship, with a single strand of blue hair fluttering in front of her lifeless eyes. As she falls into the crimson sky against the shimmering backdrop of the setting sun, the final chord of
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the song accompanies the ending of her monologue.
“Which is why I can say for certain, and no one can convince me otherwise, that I am the happiest girl in the world right now.”
It’s not unheard of in anime to begin a series with a non-chronological cold open, but, without any context, my first reaction upon witnessing this scene was murmuring out loud to myself, “wow, that was beautiful.” The amount of information, albeit uncontextualized, that SukaSuka (the romaji abbreviation for the title of this series) presented in those thirty seconds was incredible. The technological advancements of this fantasy world were shown through the existence of firearms and airships. The apparent coexistence of multiple different animal-like races were shown alongside the threats of the monsters wreaking havoc. And of course, the willpower and conviction of the red-haired girl was shown through her words and actions.
Although the start of a series may not be nearly as paramount as its ending, the story does ultimately have to present a hook. The brilliance of SukaSuka in my opinion is how it worked around this flash-forwarded cold open to great success. The narrative of this series was a quaint yet personal one, taking many defining themes of tragedy, classical heroism, and chivalric romance, written in a way that created a unique story with a lasting impression.
NOTE: VERY MINOR spoilers (in the sense that they are plot points given with no additional context) will be hinted at in the sections to follow. Of course, since many readers are likely attempting to determine for themselves if this show is worth watching, I will attempt to limit this to a minimum.
Story:
It’s hard to describe what SukaSuka is exactly in a concise way. I’d consider SukaSuka to be in the post-apocalypse fantasy sub genre, with themes still rooted in classic fantasy/JRPG-like anime. Willem, the protagonist of the series, is revealed early on to be a survivor of a bloody purge that occurred over five hundred years ago, and had his body preserved in stone when he led a party of heroes on an expedition to save the world. Generic as that may sound, the story of SukaSuka is not about Willem’s past life. However, Willem, upon realizing the consequences of his actions, initially avoids involvement with the military organization present in the floating islands that the society of this world now inhabits. A friend of his refers him for a job as a weapons caretaker at a warehouse to which Willem reluctantly agrees. The weapons turn out to be a group of young Leprechaun women. The story is ultimately about the struggles the Leprechaun women have to go through, as “weapons” used to defend the floating islands against attacks from the monsters, as well as Willem’s experiences in this new post-apocalyptic world following humanity’s collapse five hundred years prior.
The premise might be somewhat simple, even generic if one were to use very broad archetypes or squint hard enough to find similarities within this genre. However, SukaSuka executes this story with precision and explores all plethora of themes associated with this world. The characters are diverse, the ideological views of different organizations vary, etc. For example, since sacrifice and war itself is a theme, the approach that different officers give to their soldiers on what their duty is also varies. Willem, for one, even though officially representing the military in some capacity as a technical officer, cares more about the lives of the Leprechauns under his care versus whatever ends they have to achieve on the battlefield.
Character:
The characters are introduced gradually and their identities are MAJOR plot spoilers, so I won’t even bother to describe them beyond Willem. However, even through Willem himself, it’s easy to see the amount of care that went into the writing of the characters. Willem’s identity being that of someone with a past life in a world very different from the one he inhabits now, often results in him seeing parallels between the two. When one of the Leprechaun girls that he cares for goes off to battle in a later episode, she requests that he make her butter cake when she gets back from the front lines. This makes Willem think about back when he was an adventurer and a brown haired girl at an orphanage used to make the same butter cake for him. These minor little details in continuity really flesh out Willem’s character holistically and drive in one of the major themes of the show being how Willem deals with his past.
To remain mostly spoiler-free, I’ll say that the rest of the characters (including many of the supporting cast) also have unique traits and are well characterized. For the most part, the supporting cast remains relatively static while the main characters are relatively dynamic. This results in overall conventional (though effective) writing for most of the character development.
Animation:
The animation itself looks very crisp overall. The shading is always precise, with some scenes appearing with a color-pencil like shading to give off a rustic feel. The greatest aspect of the animation for me as a whole has to be the diverse color palette and special effects on the more fantastical elements, such as the Leprechauns’ wings and swords. My one complaint would be that not enough attention is put into the design of some of the characters. Often times, Willem appears on screen in a very rigid and unnatural stance, and this becomes pronounced even more in the fight scenes.
Sound and Music:
The sound design is solid, although not something that has been extremely notable for me. The melodic chiming of the relics from the Leprechaun swords were the only thing particularly memorable.
On the other hand, Tatsuya Katou did a masterful job with the music in my opinion. In addition to the wonderful OST, he composed a few vocal insert songs (with vocals from Yamada Tamaru). Of note, his arrangement of “Scarborough Fair” in the first episode, when Willem and one of the Leprechaun girls (not using her name to avoid spoilers, probably an unnecessary effort at this point) explored the town was very fitting for the mood and tone of the scene. Additionally, the song I described as being reminiscent of “Amazing Grace”, titled “Always in My Heart”, is used liberally throughout the anime as a character theme, or “leitmotif” as would be described in music theory. The song itself opens with an introduction from what sounds like an Irish flute (the song plays with the introduction at the end of episode three), which in addition to the choice of arranging “Scarborough Fair”, creates a musically appropriate soundtrack for the Celtic-inspired theme of the show. There are multiple instrumental versions of the motif from “Always in My Heart” used as well to really solidify its musical significance alongside the plot.
Additional discussion (flaws):
Although I've mostly praised SukaSuka as a hidden gem, this isn't to say that the show doesn't have flaws. Although much of the pacing in the show is done well given the 12 episode runtime, the way that information is introduced can sometimes feel very jarring. In the same way that I thought the cold open in the first episode introduced the world using the literary technique of "show, don't tell" very well, properly introducing the amount of exposition needed to craft this world as the author intended through an anime standalone definitely presented a hard task. Whether it was through cryptic flashbacks into the characters' memories, or even attempting to force exposition into dialogue, SukaSuka struggled to naturally create the organic feel of the world easily. Even with the mixture of "show" and "tell", there were still moments where I'd rather just see what was happening versus being told, and conversely, also moments that I wish were simply narrated to give me a better understanding of what a specific scene was trying to tell me as a viewer. I think this is because SukaSuka lies somewhat on the border of low and high fantasy. The world itself is full of magic and floating islands, but there are some things that are still considered common knowledge for us as viewers of the show. The direction of SukaSuka as a whole sometimes cannot discern this difference, so there is almost an uncertainty of whether or not to include/exclude necessary/unnecessary exposition respectively.
Conclusion:
With the long obscure and niche titles of light novels (and their respective anime adaptations) becoming a running joke in the anime community, SukaSuka once again demonstrates the principle of not judging a book by its cover (or an anime by its title in this instance).
Looking back at 2017 in the year of anime, there were a plethora of large titles contending with one another for the greatest anime of the year. SukaSuka was never able to attain that popularity because the show’s sub genre was simply too niche and there was no attempt to execute it in such a way from the director to make it appeal to a general audience. That could also be why the light novel scored almost a full point on MAL higher than the anime adaptation. The long light novel title itself fits the show quite well, as strange as it is to say after referencing how SukaSuka should not be immediately discarded based on its title. It is a story about a time at the end of the world, that concerns Willem’s choices to embrace or reject the ideals and people he truly cares about. Anyhow, I highly recommend this series for anyone interested in the fantasy genre, who doesn’t mind it venturing off in a bit of a different direction than your typical fantasy anime.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Aug 7, 2017
Utawarerumono is an enigmatic story simplified into the fantasy/adventure genres, before flashing nuances of science fiction themes, leaving more questions in the end than answers for the viewers, no matter how attentive or enthralled by the story they are.
Judging by this very critical synopsis, it may seem that I enjoyed the story more than I should have. But the truth is, at the end of the day, Utawarerumono could still be described as a tale of an amnesiac who would work to the ends of the world to protect his newfound family. Of course, the latter description by itself, sounds like something senseless and unexplained,
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which unfortunately, is one of the key flaws of Utawarerumono. However, in a very warped sense, it's as if the director/game developers (for the source material) themselves knew of this flaw, and for whatever conscious reason, decided to keep working on the story with that in mind.
Without spoiling too much, the thematic and genre discontinuity as well as the overall illociticy regarding the cause of the characters' interactions are perhaps the greatest downfall of this show, which without these factors, Utawarerumono could have still set up the same degree of mystery that is presumed to be desired. What I mean by that is, in simple words, the motives behind the protagonist's actions seem slightly out of place, as the question of his drive is never truly raised besides the fact that he wants to discover the truth in his past. In this sense, it feels like Utawarerumono doesn't attempt to expand any further beyond the sub-genre specifics involving amnesiac characters.
I really do want to discuss the ending a little bit, because like the 2016 sequel to Utawarerumono that I watched before the original, the ambiguity of the ending (which I will not critically tear apart, as I'm still presuming the creators understood the repercussions of attempting such an ambiguous ending) leaves an empty feeling in my stomach. The feeling isn't as if the story is incomplete, or even sad and meant to be empty, but moreso due to the imcomprehensible nature of the story. That, in addition to the fact that not just themes, but entire GENRES are added in the closing episodes of the story, are again, the only reason that I believe this anime is flawed from being considered a great example of what it's attempting to do.
It's really hard to word these feelings, but I will say that this anime is quite enjoyable, if one is a fan of the fantasy/adventure genres, especially if you enjoy an occasional plot twist. I think for those of you who have seen this anime, this review is probably a lot easier to understand, but nonetheless, this is a recommended series from me.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jul 9, 2017
I hope I don't sound too arrogant in reviewing this, but personally, I always like to put out a prerequisite for myself before giving out a 9 rating with any anime, and consequentially, I have seemingly subconsciously turned this prerequisite into more of a "check one of these boxes and you'll automatically get a 9" requirement for all the anime I've rated. The strong presentation, development, and overall execution of the literary themes in this anime is the requirements one of those requirements that this anime presents well, meriting it the score I am giving it.
With that out of the way, I want to explain
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why I'm specifically giving this anime a high score before going into the show's flaws that may have inhibited it from gaining a strong score overall within our community. As I have already mentioned, the strong themes of this anime were its main selling point for me, specifically with regards to the complex idea of what a story truly is. Though ambiguous and undefined initially, the statement of this idea adds a starting point for the anime to develop, allowing for basic and intermediate themes to be included, further supporting the anime's main focus. These themes range in terms of both relevancy and relatability, such as with the themes questioning what truth is, presented by Magane's character, and taking responsibility for your choices, as with the main character's backstory, both of which respectively adds to the motif of thematic development.
These ideas synergize well in the overall developmental process of the story, but of course, the unique premise of this anime itself presents an abundance of storytelling possibilities. This area, despite me personally believing the anime handles splendidly, is also room for major critique in terms of creating a hook for the audience. While I watched the first 12 episodes, I noticed that the mood and apparent goals of the anime drastically changed throughout the season. This is also why despite the anime's acclaimed popularity, I had initially dropped it, casting it off as simply another generic action-adventure anime. Other viewers may have also dropped this anime, with the reason being that they had already come to watch the anime with critical eyes. Ei Aoki, the director of this anime, is already a prolific figure within our community for his direction of anime like Fate/Zero and his storyboard design for Angel Beats! In addition, Hiroyuki Sawano being the composer of the music to this anime and countless amazing anime also peaked the expectations even higher. This may have already subconsciously created a pseudo-placebo effect within the minds of us viewers, with us forcing ourselves to believe in the flawlessness of this anime. Due to this, when the given conditions in the execution of the exposition did not match our preconditioned expectations in how an exposition should be done, we simply drop the show altogether. In reality, this backfires a lot more with a well-known staff for any given anime, as our expectations are so high that we're not given room to think for ourselves of what the director truly wanted. Our job as viewers is not to criticize, but moreover to ask if a show in presentation, is allowing us to see the vision that the creator had. Interestingly enough, I think the point I'm making loops around also as a key theme WITHIN THIS ANIME, which is what led me to analyze this specific anime slightly differently than I would for most.
Anyway, I'm getting off track. Even if you are in the group that originally dropped the show out of disappointment, I think that the initial impression of this anime was very wrongfully presented in creating an exposition for the myriad of philosophical questions the anime wanted to share. Many of the lower scores for this anime are probably given by those who dropped the show initially around the third or fourth episode. Of course, this is not the fault of the reviewers, but simply the default within our community of "dropping a show by episode 3 if you're going to drop it". If you've dropped this anime already, or don't plan on watching it given the supposed generic execution of a premise with lots of unique potentials, then I highly urge you to reconsider, and at least watch until episode 10 or so before deciding on forgetting about this series. In my (not so) humble opinion, this anime is a hidden gem, which may possibly be forgotten, washed away by the tides in the sea of seasonal anime, so while it's here, please experience it!
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Mar 24, 2017
This film is quite an anomaly for me personally, because not only do I rarely watch anime movies, but I have also never given a full 10/10 score to an anime before. This may be because I am simply critical as a reviewer by nature, but I think that moreover, it is really just because no series has been able to develop every element of their show like Kimi no Na wa has.
Overall, the concept of Kimi no Na wa is less to me an original take on an idea, but actually a developmental process combining elements of the traditional high school anime setting with
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the elements of the exploration of the mechanics of time and space. Utilizing both a traditional Japanese cultural standpoint in addition to the anime themes we all are familiar with really serves to enhance the near-flawless development of the story.
A second developmental technique used to distinguish this film from many of its rivals is the repetition of ideas very early on in the movie, in addition to rapidly setting up a world that we as human beings can both relate to, but also question at the same time. The questions and answers proposed by the story are somehow perfected in timing to the point in which me, as a first-time viewer, can still maintain captivated by the development.
One dislike, however, from my personal standpoint, was the execution of the ending. Not to spoil anything in particular, but for me personally, an ending should be a resolution, not a recapitulation. The development of THEMES seemed to present themselves in such a prolific manner, that I felt a sense of emptiness at the end, even when the effective but simple literary technique of repetition was untilized near perfectly from an analytical perspective. This, however, really did lead me to wonder how the story itself actually ended. I suppose the producer does deserve the artistic liberties to present his own story how he sees fit, but once again, I must state how simply desolate and empty I felt upon the conclusion of this film.
All in all, Kimi no Na wa is a superb film, with a rapid developmental process and thematic presentations that can easily enthrall viewers. The film contains little to no downsides, and even though the story may seem to progress slowly at times, the masterful execution of the film as a whole will easily disguise any minor flaws.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Dec 27, 2016
Personally, after watching any enjoyable anime series, I like to non-critically analyze the overall mood of the anime. What I mean is I tend to not concern myself too much with the actual assessment of the components of the anime, but moreover of what I feel in the moment. This tends to make many of my anime scores different from the expected score of the average viewer. Rakudai Kishini no Cavalry is definetly one of those cases.
For starters, I'd like to assess the overall setting of the story. Being that the plot takes place in a magical high school where students battle each other using
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weapons generated by scientific devices, this premise seems extremely generic, despite it being as specific as it is. This is why originally, I had dropped the show while it was airing, and I was relatively heisitant to pick it up again, because I had nothing better to do over winter break. However, Rakudai in particular decided to borrow a character archetype that was not common among this specific sub genre. In this anime, despite the main character's lack of a quantifiable amount of ability, he manages to be quite competent in his own way of fighting. This breaks the general mold of character archetypes which usually contain something along the lines of an overpowered character, or a completely underpowered character.
By establishing something in between the two common general character archetypes, Rakudai manages to leave room for development while still containing a solid base used as distinctive characterization. This also allows the juxtaposition a new character archetype into an anime setting that the anime community is already very accustomed to, leading to a branching path of plot possibilities.
As far as my personal opinion of the visuals of the anime go, I'd have to say that they're relatively expected for this day and age. The anime has plenty of brilliant, flashy fight scenes, but it also captures a very light mood overall at the beginning (I'll refer back to this mood later). However, the same can't be said about the music. The music by itself is relatively good, but in my opinion, the anime doesn't have too much of what I like to call "melodic continuity". Even though I'm an orchestral musician who has studied violin, viola, and piano for many years, I can't honestly say that I remember too many of the themes, and that the themes themselves didn't pack any continuity. Looking back at the anime, I don't know if it's simply that there were not enough prevalence in the melodies themselves, or if it was that the soundtracks were just used incorrectly in terms of timing and execution, leading to no real connection with the plot.
Now the predominant reason why I have such a high assessment of Rakudai is the fact that this anime really switches up the mood towards the end of the show which is something I personally like to see. As a combination of both the writing, art, and music, Rakudai breaks apart from its casual mode and becomes something of a serious matter, showing the consequences of social boundaries and the lack of talent in the world of this anime. Given the sudden change in mood, it allows the viewer to take a second and really root for the protagonist, as if the future is uncertain for an ability he can't change. It pits the two primary contrasting themes of the show (which just for the record, was only established and not really reinforced before the end of the show) of hard work versus natural talent against each other, giving the viewer an actual possibility of doubt. Given the short run time of the anime, the change in both the tempo of the plot, and the stylistic changes to the thematic focus really crafts an enjoyable show to watch up until the very end.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Mar 22, 2015
No Game No Life was a hell of an adventure. Even with a semi-predictable/generic setting, the execution and phrasing of everything was simply brilliant. Everything seemed to be timed and packed with suspense so that there wasn't even a moment when I thought, "Man, when will this monologue finish?"
I would be giving this anime a perfect ten if only the development as a whole was as steady as the phrasing of the plot. What I mean is that it almost seemed inconsistent on the amount of attention every character got. It was very bland in terms of the roles the characters played. Sora and Shiro
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was the good guys, Kurami was the tsundere, Steph/Jibril were the fanservice etc.
Another problem about the show (at least from my perspective) was the overemphasis of the fanservice. Now I'm not saying fanservice is a bad thing, but is it really appropriate to put so much of it in No Game No Life to the point where it distracts the viewer from the main plot?
My last problem I had with NGNL was the fact that the show itself treated the viewers like they were stupid. Although I have to admit that I couldn't keep up with everything going on, I at least would feel better if Sora had stopped using monologues/Steph as a 3rd party device for the viewer to understand what was going on.
So overall, NGNL gets a solid 9 from me. The major overarching problem is just that it wasn't very sure of it's audience. From my point of view, I can't really tell if NGNL was supposed to be an ecchi fantasy harem or a brilliant show for people who want to put their minds to the test a bit.
Well, thanks for reading! I know my arguments were slightly inconsistent, but I'm still very happy that you took the time to read my review!
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Feb 9, 2015
Dog Days Season 3: Nothing Really Exceptional Here...
In all honesty, the first season of Dog Days touched my heart. It told a very subtle, light-hearted, romantic tale with a basic plotline that really defined the value of simplicity. With the story being so brilliantly executed with minor flaws, I could easily consider it one of my favorite animes.
However, I've noticed that season 2 and 3 share a similar problem- the plot never gets anywhere. Everything just feels so bland, and from an analytic perspective, makes it feel very lacking. Both the characters and the story remain shallow, and development was minimal.
One good quality that all
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the seasons of Dog Days share is the music. In my opinion, I think the music was phenomenal. All the openings sounded great, and the OSTs themselves were a simply magnificent collection. From the fanfares to the marches, to what even sounds like ancient medieval church hymns, the music really did enhance the powerful feeling of love and chivalry.
Argh... Getting off track.
My point is that Dog Days season 3 still possesses the same kind of potential as season 1, but the problem is that we're getting a jumbled up, rushed series, with practically no plot. After 5 episodes, the only real positive thing I can say is that I'm happy to be revisiting the world of Flonyard. The setting is one of the strongest points of this show.
Well guys, thanks for your time in reading my REALLY sidetracked review! I hope this gives you a better perspective on what to expect from this anime. If not, I do sincerely apologize, but still, thank you for your time.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Jan 14, 2015
Ok, so don't be too judgmental. This review is gonna be very bland, but here goes:
The Story-
OH WAIT, THERE WAS A STORY?
Art-
Decent, not exceptional. Well balanced art style for a generic anime
Sound-
Less QQ more Pew Pew.
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Character-
Though the characters are generic and mediocre, the concept of personifying the personality/trademarks of a gun has not gone noticed. Good attempt!
Overall-
Average anime. I think this anime would really appeal to anyone interested in firearms. Of course, like with any anime, not every fact stated is true, but I have to give this show credit for a fine attempt at a new concept.
6.4/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Dec 19, 2014
First anime review! I kind of rush typed this in 10 minutes so excuse me for the typos/grammar errors or lines that don't make sense.
So I won't use the specifics of the Anime Rating System of myanimelist to write this review. Instead, I'll focus on a couple of categories (tl,dr: Just watch the anime it's pretty damn great.)
Setting- 9.8
I couldn't ask for a better setting. A hero from another world is summoned and has to protect his sadist master. This show is literally the sadist version of Dog Days (http://myanimelist.net/anime/10155/Dog_Days). The type of beauty and complexity in a vast and new environment really sets Zero
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no Tsukaima apart from other anime, and really stands out in the "Another World" genre as well. Though not much is focused specifically on the setting, it creates a great bridge for both Zero no Tsukaima's plot and character development.
I really think this deserves a 10, but because the setting had little to do with the plot, and the fact that I enjoy it for personal reasons made me bring down the score by fractions of a point.
Plot- 7.5
Ehh... Why not? The plot is fairly good if not great, but there are minor flaws. I think this just might be personal opinion, but I really don't enjoy shows to their maximum potential when "filler stories" are more evident than the overall plot. Don't get me wrong, Zero no Tsukaima implements the smaller stories taking place between episodes into the main almost perfectly, but the filler itself takes interest away from the story which then would be both be harder to find and not as significant in the 13 episode run.
Character Development- 8.25
The character development in Zero no Tsukaima is phenomenal. Even with a tsundere like Louise, I still feel like they developed her potential as a sadist, dependent character. Saito on the other hand, is partly meant to contradict Louise, being the more "outgoing" and "cheerful" character. I really enjoy watching the interactions between these two characters specifically, and it makes me laugh at times, but sometimes I feel the lack of personification with the characters, like when they obviously do something stupid. The two character's interactions with one another leads to conflicts that just make you stare intently at the screen.
Art and Sound- 7.5
For a 2006 anime, watching this in 720p and 1080p makes it look like it's from the 2010's. Sound quality is fair as well, but the graphics make the anime stand out a lot. Art style isn't as unique as titles you would find today, but they're fairly decent if not good.
Enjoyment- 9.5
This has been one of the most enjoyable shows in a long time for me, since I've already finished all the other anime on my "anime to watch" list. The only reason I'm not giving this a 10/10 is because of the lack of "plot efficiency" in the show and lack of planning. The show feels very rough with the transitions, but I'll still give it a high score for its potential.
Overall- 8.25
Great show. Go watch it if you haven't already
Thanks for reading!
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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