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Danganronpa is a series I wanted to like more. It's by no means terrible. The story is interesting, some of the characters do have the potential to grow on viewers even if they're unfamiliar with the source material, and it manages to build up a serious level of excitement around each individual trial. Furthermore it has unique style which reminds the viewers of it's origins as a game. This is both one of it's greatest strengths as well as it's greatest weakness. While it lends itself to a distinct atmosphere and helps maintain a sense of energy that persists throughout the series which prevents one ... from feeling the whole show is dragging along. Some of the visual cues are neat in their own right. Yet, at the same time, it feels too much like one is watching a video game. While not a "formulaic" show per se, it lends itself to feeling strangely mechanical and predictable from time to time. This can also take the viewer out of the action so to speak. For people unfamiliar with Danganronpa this aspect can be irritating where it may have been intended to appeal to fans of the game. Some scenes appear as if they were torn directly from the source.

Then there's the fact that this series is heavily rushed. A lot of characterization, character development, and plot elements that the source material had time to flesh out are often barely touched upon, rushed, or outright excluded. This lends Danganronpa to feeling a little sloppy and it shows. While the source material may not have aimed for hyper realism, this unfortunately makes some scenes and important reveals feel utterly ridiculous and absurd in ways that only serve to hurt it.

Then there's the opening song. It's not bad but the lyrics some times seem like who so ever wrote it was trying too hard to make it related back to the story itself.

On the bright side, the plot is more-a-less faithfully adapted. No major liberties are taken with what is overall, a fairly well written story. The art style is pretty decent. At it's best moments it can be pretty damn fun to watch. Even if the execution sequences do like they were taken right from the game, they do make for an entertainingly absurd bit of dark comedy. What character development made it in was fairly well handled and most of the cast ends up being fairly likable. Just like the game that spawned it, Danganronpa has a sense of style even if it's not handled as well as it could be. Most of the voice cast (at least with the Japanese language version) does a decent job.

While it's more interesting than the average series, fans will probably enjoy it more than someone totally unfamiliar with the franchise. While I would not hesitate to call it a good series, it suffers in some significant ways from time constraints and stylistically clinging too close to it's source even as it uses this very same element to elevate itself in other aspects.

Well it's about time one of the longest running and most influential manga got a proper adaptation and sweet mother of all that is Divine, it's glorious! First and foremost, this series is just a treat for the eyes from the intense, over the top, and eye popping fight scenes to the unique art style. It's rare that one sees an adaptation capture the spirit of the original work so well. Fair warning: Jojo runs on narm. Wild, jaw dropping, gloriously unrepentant badass narm. This is a series that simply shouldn't work, but by virtue of whatever eldritch sorcery the animators and Araki ... (the creator of the manga), conjured up it works. It's something that has to be seen to be believed. As far as story and characters are concerned, it's exactly what you would expect of a series with bizarre adventure in the title. The plot while coherent and sensible in it's own way, is downright zany. I can't say I know of too many shows revolving around the l battle between vampires created by an evil ritual mask and those who made it to begin with and two generations of a family armed with magical arts powered by the sun itself. The characters are for the most part interesting and endearing individuals, if not quirky. While the Jojo franchise is not known for emotional depth, it's hard not to get attached to the characters.

Though I have already praised the fight scenes as particularly spectacular, I feel that I must emphasize that it gives shows famous for over the top action such as Gurren Lagann, Kill La KIll, Hellsing, and DBZ a run for their money at some points.

I implore you to give this one a try. The premise might alienate many, but for those willing to watch it the whole way through will be rewarded many times over with an entertaining viewing experience.

It's difficult to sum up Kino's Journey in words. The only words that come close are unique and stunning. The premise is simple. It follows the journey of a traveler and her talking motorcycle as they travel from place to place and encounter many unusual cultures and customs in the process. However, this simple summary falls short of giving a potential viewer any deep sense of what they're about to see. Each episode explores elements of society and human nature with a rare sense of beauty, touching upon the addressed themes with a sense of pathos that entire series dedicated to them may fail ... to really drive home until the very end. This is not a series driven by eye popping battles, but when they happen, it's not only exciting, but makes one to feel as if they are witnessing something deeper. The most certainly less than kid friendly violence is handled with a thoughtfulness that makes it truly thought provoking rather than a juvenile attempt to appear more gritty than other series. This is less of a show and more of an artistic experience. If anyone wants definitive proof that anime is more than just over the top fight scenes and fan service and is capable of reaching the level of high art, they need only watch Kino's Journey. Few works of any variety are handled so intelligently.

So I gave this one a low rating. This is one hardly anyone knows exists and perhaps I missed a lot since I never saw the series this is supposed to be based on, however it is hilarious. It's not hilarious because it's a great comedy but rather because it's so bad that it's good. It's a cheese fest that my friends and had a blast putting our own live improvised version of rifftrax. They try to do too much in forty five minutes and it shows. This is precisely why it's funny. It shows that cheese fests were not unique to the U.S. during ... the eighties. If nothing else viewers should be able to derive some form of amusement from how laughably awful this is.