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Jul 11, 2019
I only recently got to K-On!, despite it being an influential part of the anime landscape for a decade now. I was not particularly excited going in, but I wasn't hugely pessimistic either. After all plenty of fairly inane slice of life shows have managed to solidly entertain me for their duration - Lucky Star, Azumanga Daioh, Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid and so forth. The character designs looked cute and I figured it'd probably have some catchy pop-y numbers to go along with the day-to-day antics.
One episode in, however, I was already having my doubts, but I gave it the benefit of the doubt. I
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probably shouldn't have, because things didn't pick up from there. K-On! is the moe genre stripped of all extraneous parts, watching it is like mainlining moe. It literally has no qualities, but its moe-ness, and if that isn't enough for you as a viewer to subsist on, this is going to be a spectacularly disappointing experience.
Let me put it another way. Have you ever gone to a fast food joint with a post-mix soft drink machine that has malfunctioned? When you go to fill your cup it shoots a steady stream of syrup into your cup, but not the other component. You end up this revolting, sticky and undrinkable substance. Well that is the essence of K-On! I think by the end of watching it I hadn't only contracted diabetes, but my diabetes had diabetes.
This is, of course, KyoAni, so the animation is impressively fluid and never looks cheap or like corners have been cut. That isn't to say there's anything outstanding about the animation - rather there's a high-level of technical sophistication bereft of any particular artistry.
There's also less music in this show than you might expect, given its subject matter. What there is is once again perfectly competent, but largely uninspired. You're not going to see these girls performing anything as memorable as Haruhi's 'God Knows'.
Finally we have the characters. The MC, Yui, is utterly insufferable. She is so miserably incompetent at the most basic tasks that watching her bumble through even a few hours of her life is a grating, enraging-ly frustrating experience. The other characters are not significantly better. They're all so mind-numbingly naive, saccharine and just straight up pathetic as to be utterly insufferable. Anything that this show does have to offer is completely drowned out by its failure right out of the gates - these horrible, horrible characters.
Look, I'm not gonna say don't watch it. It's a landmark work of the moe revolution and at least you'll know what people are on about once you've let this glutinous mass ooze over you. But just... have the insulin ready.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Jul 3, 2019
I'm not going to be ambiguous in this review: Death Parade is one of the very rare anime that just blew me away. I was hooked from the very first episode to the last.
Not withstanding its amazing and incredibly fun OP, this is a very serious show. It is also a wild emotional ride for the viewer. Because of its heavily episodic nature though, it does a brilliant job of interlacing intense, impactful episodes and more light-hearted, fun episodes without feeling uneven or tonally imbalanced. But in addition to its emotional intensity, Death Parade is also deeply thought-provoking. Whilst it never commits to any
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specific philosophy, it does seem to alternate between presenting both Judeo-Christian and Buddhist ideas about morality, life and humanity itself.
For me personally few shows succeed in being so simultaneously entertaining and emotionally and intellectually deep. I think in part it succeeds because of the aforesaid episodic nature, that gives it a certain flexibility. Beyond that though it is content to leave certain things a mystery and isn't fixated on over-explaining its setting. For some this will seem like a deficiency and shortly after watching the show I watched Glass Reflection's review and Arkada viewed the lack of explanation around the setting as a negative. For me, I honestly don't see that the show would have in anyway benefited from more explanation of the minutiae and logistics of the overall set-up. I will say though that I definitely have a higher tolerance for ambiguity than most, so this aspect won't work for everyone.
If the show has drawbacks, it is that it doesn't fully utilise all of its characters and plotlines. As stated, the series is heavily episodic, but it does have a strong through-line which builds in the final episodes. If anything disappointed me, it was that some of the work earlier episodes did in set-up never really paid off, so that side plots mostly ended up feeling more like (fascinating) window dressing. One character in particular gathered a certain air of menace that never really came to anything, to my mild disappointment.
But overall the impact of the show renders most of these issues as only minor quibbles. Few anime have ever got me to tear up and yet I felt it coming on in a few moments whilst viewing Death Parade. What is remarkable is that in less than half an hour it can introduce characters, give you a sense of their lives and then dismiss them at episode's end, and yet you become wholly absorbed by them. The efficiency of writing in this show is probably the best I've ever witnessed in anime or any other medium. The amount of investment this series can conjure up in the span of a single episode takes other shows entire seasons and arcs to attain.
Overall, I can't recommend this series highly enough. Having come to the table relatively late - almost half a decade after its release - this may not be a hot take. But this is one of only a handful of anime that I know will really stick with me for a long time. It's not gonna be for everyone, but damn was it for me.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Jun 25, 2019
I was genuinely excited going into No Game No Life. It seemed to have a sufficiently interesting and distinct premise to rise above the mass of isekai we've have in recent years. Add to that its stunning and unique visual style and a banger of an OP (which for good reason is pushing 100 million views on Youtube) and the combined package seemed like something I could get into.
My excitement abated fairly quickly. I think the first alarm bells were the introductions of the two main characters. I was not five minutes in before I was getting distinctly concerned about where these characters would
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be taken. Certainly, at this point it was obvious that Sora was not going to be nearly as far removed from your run of the mill isekai protagonist as one might have hoped. And with Shiro, I wondered, were we going to get a one-note support act along with some wholly unwanted Loli fan-service and incest themes? Well Sora has perhaps even less character depth than the much-maligned Kirito, while the entire supporting cast seems to exist purely to praise him on how clever he is. Meanwhile, I wasn't off the mark on Shiro either. Our protagonists are of course not blood-related so we have that wonderful trope at play, but one trope we don't have at play is the, "Yeah, she looks like a Loli and all, but she's actually 800 years old." Because, no, Shiro is actually just 11. And sure enough there are multiple scenes of sexualised (sorry, 'comedic'/'entirely justified by the not-at-all wildly improbable context') nudity from this literal child. Gag.
Anyway, I suppose I should offer some commentary on the other characters. We have Steph who exists to lose her clothes and be the butt of jokes and for seemingly no other purpose. The writers occasionally make a half-hearted attempt at demonstrating her relevance, but these are dubious at best.
Then there's Jibril who always steals every scene she's in. Indeed she's probably the only remotely memorable character in this show. It almost seems like a shame she was wasted here - I think it could be genuinely interesting see a character like her given a more interesting cast of characters to interact with. Oh well.
Kurami fills out the main cast and is... fine. She's marginally more compelling than our two protagonists, but not by much and is not nearly as memorable as Jibril in her somewhat vacillating role in the show's narrative.
So what of the show's setting? Well as one of the elements that initially intrigues me it largely stands up, at least in the big picture. An uncharitable critique might be that it is overly formulaic and doesn't feel very real, but given this is a world entirely based on games, rules and structure are essential to making this premise work and it is interesting enough to facilitate the suspension of disbelief. This is not a world intended to be realistic, but if one engages it on its own terms, it genuinely works.
The problem comes with the minutiae of the world-building. The world doesn't feel very big or lived-in. Despite frequent crowd shots and references to the three million citizens of Elchea, there are so few actual characters that these all just end up feeling like NPCs at most. The other issue, that exacerbates this is the pace with which the show escalates its scale, leaving the viewer with no actual time to get a sense of the place before we are forced into the bird's eye view the characters soon adopt.
The races in this fantasy world are derived from the usual millieu of Tolkien/D&D types, but they are given enough distinctive traits for them to feel relatively fresh. This also means each new encounter is genuinely interesting, when the viewer gets to discover more about the world's inhabitants.
The narrative is where things are truly let down. It is staggeringly predictable and provides for very little suspense, moving clumsily from one set-piece to another. Early on there were some indications that these set-pieces might be constructed in a genuinely intriguing manner to take maximum advantage of the show's games gimmick. Instead, however, we are rapidly presented with 'brilliant' game-winning stratagems from the protagonists that couldn't possibly have been discerned by the viewer from the information given by the show before they are revealed. Many seem to rely on wildly improbable luck or frankly suspension of disbelief-defying levels of super-human mental acuity. This latter aspect puts a lie to the show's recurrent theme of overcoming weakness with ingenuity, since the protagonists' successes never really come to them through any genuine ingenuity, rather they come because they essentially have magical powers that no human could possess.
As said before, a significant part of the role of the supporting cast is to praise Sora for his brilliance. This is how the show tells the audience that they too should be impressed. But it really does nothing to earn this. If it gave the audience a sufficient understanding of the games to begin with, it might be possible to appreciate the strategies at play, but after dabbling with this idea early on, it soon abandons it. After that it seems to mostly make up the rules of the games we're shown as it goes along. There are some exceptions, but they are few and far between.
The series ultimately seems more interested in keeping up a steady serving of fan service that ranges from the ho-hum to the downright icky, than building on its characters, creating an engaging story, or further fleshing out its world. There's a lot to look at here with its beautiful animation, but that wears thin when there's no substance underneath.
Overall, if a second season ever does get released (and word seems to be that it's finally happening), I'll probably watch it because I still feel there's potential burrowed deep down in this premise. But it'll have to make some pretty drastic changes to build on this incredibly lackluster first season.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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May 30, 2019
Whilst looking through Netflix I came upon this show and started watching it knowing absolutely nothing about it.
It probably would have been better if I'd continued knowing nothing. My life is certainly none the richer for having spent any time with this show.
Where to start?
Well I suppose the appearance of the show. It looks disconcertingly ugly. Every character moves like an NPC in a mid-2000s video game. The facial expressions are borderline uncanny valley territory. Everything just looks and feels off.
Then there's the dialogue. I've only watched this in dub, so maybe it's an issue with the dub, but I think it probably goes beyond
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that. At any rate, there's barely a line delivered that sounds like it came from the mouth of an actual human being. To describe the dialogue as clunky is honestly generous. It's shockingly bad.
The actual story is not the worst part of this show, but that's honestly not saying much. There's certainly nothing intriguing or novel about it beyond the purely conceptual.
Beyond all of this is the protagonist. If he were bland that would actually be an improvement. From the very first moments he is actively irritating - and it doesn't get better from there. The supporting cast is mostly too bland to warrant mention.
If, like me, you find yourself browsing Netflix one day and see this I strongly advise you keep browsing. It's not worth the time. The best I can say of this is that unless I re-read my MAL reviews one day in the future, I'll probably forget this show even exists.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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May 15, 2019
So, I'm going to start a review of Mahou Shoujo Site by talking about jokes and comedy, but bear with me.
Jokes have a certain anatomy, a standard structure which is essentially setup and punchline. In something like a knock knock joke these elements are easily distinguished; in something like the subtly brilliant British sitcom Peep Show, they're harder to pick out, but they're still there. This basic structure is the bare bones of all comedy.
Both parts of the structure are important. The setup can be skillfully and efficiently executed for rapid fire comedy or it can be deliberately long-winded and circuitous so as to
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leave the viewer not expecting the punchline when it finally arrives. But that's the key - the punchline is almost always a non sequitur. If it's predictable, you're unlikely to get laughs or those you do get will be diminished. It's that twist, the unveiling of the unexpected, that makes the punchline work. In other words, if you can see the punchline coming a mile off, its unlikely to land.
Now if you look at Ancient Athenian theatre masks you have the two classics that have basically become symbols for drama or the theatre - the laughing mask of Comedy and the drooping, weepy mask of Tragedy. The two are, in their simplest, least embellished forms, perfect inversions of each other. And this is the key to understanding tragedy - it is in many ways a mirror to comedy and at its core shares the same basic structure: setup and punchline. The only real difference is that the best punchlines of tragedy will bring forth breathless sobs and not breathless laughter.
I consider myself to be a bit of a connoisseur of tragedy. For whatever twisted reason I love to put myself through it; the stronger the soul-crushing pathos of its pay-off (or its punchline, to use our earlier term), the better. The only three series I've ever given 10s to (as of writing) on this site all share an element of tragedy and none of their most tragic moments would work without the setup. If you skipped straight to a certain elevator ride in Made in Abyss, straight to the moment a certain character mutters "I was stupid, so stupid" in Madoka Magica, or straight to the words "You're gonna carry that weight" in Cowboy Bebop, it wouldn't work. It's the setup - which for those who haven't seen one or more of those (what have you been doing?), I'll leave out - that makes the tragedy hit home.
Mahou Shoujo Site is filled with tragedy. But like a lame or cheesy comedy none of its punchlines hit home. In part it's because it doesn't bother with setup, at least some of the time. The rest of the time it's because its setup is so clumsy, its tone so thoroughly established, that nothing comes as a surprise.
So let's talk about those no setup punchlines. Discounting a little flash-forward prologue, the first lines we hear from our protagonist, Aya Asagiri are, "Everyday all I think about is dying." So you can consciously acknowledge that what was just said there is sad, but there's no setup for it, we haven't been primed to care. We don't get any gut punch of tragedy when the punchline is delivered. Now that could be an effective start, an intriguing one even, if we were then whisked away to what seemed to be a reasonably happy point in the past and were left wondering how it all came to that. That isn't what happens.
Instead the first episode is a pretty much uninterrupted parade of horrors from start to finish. The only times any setup is attempted, what we've seen already has so primed us to expect a tragic denouement to any given situation that it comes as no surprise whatsoever when that's exactly what happens. At risk of spoiling the first episode, by the time the credits roll Miss Asagiri has been bullied in such a relentless and sadistic way that even her bullies are made to embody the audience's sentiments and get bored. A stray cat she took solace in has been... asploded on a railway. Two of her class mates are dead. Another is seriously injured. She narrowly escapes an attempted rape. Her parents are oblivious and uncaring and her brother is a sadistic nutjob who pitilessly and violently assaults her every single night. It's so mind-bogglingly over the top that it becomes difficult to care. It completely desensitises the audience to Aya's suffering. There's no point of comparison, no happy times to harken back to. Above I mentioned the role of the non sequitur in joke structure, well there's absolutely none of that here. Everything follows on precisely as expected. Frankly there's so much torture going on here I actually WOULD expect the Spanish Inquisition.
After initially dropping this show after episode six, I recently pushed myself through its remaining episodes whilst suffering writer's block, vaguely curious as to whether there were any real surprises in the latter part of the show. There really aren't.
In fairness, I suppose, there is some rising action in the plot as things progress. There are some episode to episode questions the viewer is left with. But we can always be confident that whatever happens next, it will be fucking awful. There is no contrast in this show - no light to make the shadows seem deeper. It's just darkness and in uninterrupted darkness our eyes adjust.
I mentioned in the review of WataMote that I did immediately prior to this that Richard Eisenbeis from Kotaku had called that show the most mean-spirited he had ever watched. Writing in August 2013, just one month after Magical Girl Site began its manga run, he wasn't to know about this travesty of a show, but let me say here and now - this show is truly, deeply mean-spirited, and yes, maybe the most so I've seen. There are gorier and more violent shows, but this one seems so sadistic in its treatment of its lead and her suffering. So indifferent to it, yet so gleeful in its infliction.
Of course we also need to address the big hairy mammoth in the room. And yes, in my now informed opinion this is indeed a knock-off of Madoka Magica. But worse than that, it's a knock-off of Madoka Magica that fails completely to understand what makes Madoka Magica good. It's a sadistic edgelord's interpretation of Madoka Magica.
Now just in case you were wondering - Mahou Shoujo Site began publication in July 2013, as stated above. It was a spin-off, I am told, of Mahou Shoujo Apocalypse which began publication one year earlier in July 2012. I think that timing, in the immediate wake of Madoka Magica's massive success is not exactly a coincidence. Without having myself read either manga, it appears Apocalypse is far more loosely tied to Madoka Magica and only really shares the "let's make magical girls dark" theme. Site, however, uncannily closely resembles its obvious, superior progenitor. I mean, it replaces Incubators with Administrators and blurs the lines a bit with another Madoka Magica concept, but overall it's hard not to see the plentiful, too close to be coincidental similarities in many of the concepts on display here. Conceivably you could call it an homage, but that entails a degree of respect for the object of that homage that is not at all on display here.
At the end of the day, I put myself through it for reasons that still aren't entirely apparent to me. I thoroughly advise that you do not.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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May 14, 2019
There's a moment in WataMote where the humour revolves around someone's mother walking in on them whilst a very, very cringey bit of audio of an unusual sexual nature that they spliced together plays over the speakers instead of their headphones. It goes on much longer than is comfortable and it's very funny.
The humour in WataMote is overwhelmingly of the cringey variety and how you deal with that will likely effect your enjoyment of this show. How do you deal with The Office, particularly the British original version? That might get you some of the way to appreciating just how much cringe this show will
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put you through.
For my part I mostly don't deal with cringe-comedy all that well, perhaps because I myself - especially in my teen years - was so painfully cringey and can relate a little too fiercely. Yet despite the above moment being executed in such a way as to elicit a genuine laugh from me, for the most part I didn't find WataMote particularly funny, at least not laugh out loud funny. Unlike, say, KonoSuba, this provided me with just a few good laughs, and less than one an episode.
So why have I given it such a high rating, you might ask? Especially since I a) don't like cringe comedy in general; and b) didn't find this particular example to be mould-breaking in terms of how funny it was? Well, it goes back to that aforementioned relatability I mentioned.
Now, this is a somewhat controversial point. Writing over at Kotaku (in 2013 - yes, I am late to the party), Richard Eisenbeis described this as the "most mean-spirited anime [he] has ever watched." Well on this count, I think it may have flown over his head. Or perhaps it flew over mine. Perhaps the very fact I didn't find it supremely funny meant I didn't perceive it as poking fun at its protagonist. Certainly the show mainly consists of terrible things happening to our protagonist, Tomoko. Certainly she's not much excused from this parade of nightmares, with at least half of it being brought on herself by her own actions. Certainly, the show isn't much interested in helping Tomoko out of her predicament. So yeah, I can see how Eisenbeis comes to his conclusion. But I still think he's wrong.
I mainly think that, because I think this show offers a surprisingly, unusually realistic portrayal of extreme social anxiety.
Characters, especially female ones, who are socially isolated and awkward for one reason or another have been done plenty in anime and manga. From Komi-san, to Shouko Nishimiya, to Rikka Takanashi, to Yui Hirasawa, this is a pretty established anime archetype at this point. But Tomoko is wildly different to those examples. This aspect of her character is not meant to make her some moe object of our protective instincts, she is not designed to be an object of our sympathies (though she may well become that), and this isn't a story about how some life-changing event or person can magically 'fix' her.
Let me explain who Tomoko Kuroki is. She's someone suffering from very pronounced social anxiety who has arguably half a friend - if that - and who wonders why the only people she can speak somewhat normally to are her rather stand-offish brother and her oblivious mother. She deals with her inability to make friends, to be popular, or to find a boyfriend by placing the blame squarely on others. She fantasises about terrible things happening to the 'popular' kids (pretty much everyone capable of normal human interaction) - like, for example when she imagines the teacher announcing their class is now in a 'Battle Royale' scenario. In her internal monologue she employs a wide range of insults for everyone around her. She always assumes the worst of people - more a reflection of her own outlook than reality. The English translation of the full Japanese title of the show sums this all up: "No Matter How I Look At It, It's You Guys Fault I'm Not Popular."
So, right about now you may be thinking that mean-spirited sounds like a pretty accurate description of this show. This is not a character made to be sympathetic and yet she's not some privileged and powerful target worthy of mockery. No, the show by targeting her is very much kicking downwards.
The problem is, this only works if you run with the assumption that the show really is targeting Tomoko. I don't think it is. Because, in truth, Tomoko is -unlike many of these other characters - very, very real. We've all known people like this, even if back in high school we may not have given them much thought. Some of us, to one extent or another, have been this character. I know I've more than once fallen into the trap of blaming others for my flaws, of assuming if I don't fit in, it's because the group is not deserving of having me. Hell, half the time when people rail against 'normies', I think this phenomenon is at least partially at work. It's easier to assume we're part of a special, enlightened elite that the sheep-like masses can't understand. This phenomenon is certainly behind 'nice guys' and incels. It's a re-assurance we give ourselves when the world seems to be against us, and it's easier than accepting our flaws, much less working on them.
But that's the thing - Tomoko does work on her flaws. Relentlessly. Whilst her anxiety is chronic and heightened she never actually tumbles into full-blown depression over it, with each episode seeing her renewing her will to go on with a new hair-brained scheme to break through. Her optimism is actually quite astounding in light of the constant obstacles she is thrown. The tragedy is that the one thing truly holding her back - her anxiety disorder - is never the thing she's trying to change. And, realistically, for that she probably needs real outside help, but she never really seeks or gets it.
And make no mistake - this is a tragedy first and foremost. It is only framed as a comedy to lighten what might otherwise be an unbearably grim tale. And it presents a troubled teen that feels far more real than what we normally see, who just needs that special someone to appear, the whirlwind, eye-opening romance to occur and then - puff! - the anxiety disorder is gone. Reality doesn't work that way and that's what WataMote shows us and it cuts pretty close to the bone at times, making us uncomfortable in the process.
There's a tendency in the stories we see across most cultures to assume that there is a nobility in being downtrodden, a tendency to romanticise suffering. WataMote is here to tell us that actually, it's just kinda shit. That's not an inspiring, or an uplifting thought, but it's a true one. And sometimes, just sometimes, a dose of reality and accepting that reality, is, in it's own way, what we really need. Perhaps if Tomoko understood this and more readily accepted her situation things would be better. Or maybe they'd be much worse. It's hard to say. After all - there's no silver bullet, no magic elixir, no panacaea. There's just whatever works best for each person.
The narrator in WataMote says Tomoko's story doesn't matter. It's true she isn't going to change the world, or save it. But I think we do need brutally honest stories like this sometimes, so in its own way WataMote is important. It's not the greatest anime of all time, by any measure, but it is a pretty good one, all things considered.
Plus, by the end, you might have built up a much stronger resistance to cringe by sheer exposure.
Go watch it is my recommendation.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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May 7, 2019
This will probably be shorter than my usual reviews, because there's only so much that can be said about this travesty.
I went into this knowing about its reputation beforehand, but I was genuinely expecting that it couldn't possibly be as bad as people said. In actual fact it exceeded my expectations - insofar as it was far worse than I could ever have imagined.
Indeed giving this a 1 doesn't seem up to the task of properly, truthfully conveying what an offensively terrible disaster this is. It honestly makes fellow Idea Factory dumpster fire Mars of Destruction look comparatively (and strictly, mind you, comparatively)
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less terrible. I'm honestly not sure why this exists, why anyone thought it was worth making it, why anyone spent money on it. I don't know why anyone spent any of the finite minutes between their birth and death on bringing this horror into our universe.
Even the only other anime apart from this and MoD that I've given a 1 to - Utsu Musume Sayuri - might be charitably thought of by some deranged person to be a kind of surrealist, transgressive art piece. But this. This has no redeeming qualities. It doesn't even have things that I could imagine someone out there thinks of as redeeming.
No.
Just no.
Reviewer’s Rating: 1
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May 7, 2019
So... where to start on justifying what is probably my least popular opinion of any series on this site.
Well, I don't think I'm generally an iconoclast. The anime I most rate are generally ranked fairly highly in the mainstream critical consensus and the shows I hate are usually not exactly well regarded. What I'm saying is, I don't have hugely niche tastes or an insatiable urge to slaughter holy cows of the anime world.
The second point I'll make before getting into the meat of the review is that, my relatively mainstream anime taste not withstanding, I'm not the biggest shounen battle anime fan. It's
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fine, I can watch it and be entertained, but I don't ever remember watching an example of the genre that genuinely blew me away. I grew up watching Dragon Ball Z and I have genuine affection for it to this day, but I've never been under any illusions that it's anything great. Naruto never floated my boat and certainly not enough to get through a combined 700+ episodes between the original series and Shippuden. One Piece... yeah, I've never seen One Piece, and honestly, if it hasn't gotten to any kind of conclusion in what is rapidly closing on 1000 episodes, I'm not sure I ever will. The truth is I find these shows to mostly be formulaic, repetitive and frankly I like concise, tightly written stories, not sprawling open-ended ones.
Well HxH ain't quite like some of these other examples of the genre and the truth is I don't dislike it. I just don't especially like it either. It's comparatively short and there is sufficient variety between its arcs that it isn't nearly as repetitive as most others of the genre. By the standards of its genre, HxH is fairly creative, imaginative story-telling, at least at its best.
No, for me HxH is let down at a more fundamental level before you can even get to its plot-lines and narrative adeptness. I don't like its characters. Not all of them, mind. Hisoka is pretty great, for example, but he is more of an exception than a rule. None of the main foursome hooked me in anyway. Leorio seems wholly superfluous to the story, whilst Killua left me cold. Kurapika is probably the pick of the bunch, but is still not a character that really stuck with me.
And that brings me to Gon. I would say I find Gon to be an unlikable protagonist, but that would require him to have a consistent enough character for me to form any one opinion of him. The biggest issue is that there seems to be no firm idea of what his character is. I think there's a desire by Togashi and the show's writers to make him a subversive protagonist in giving him a far more morally neutral character than your standard shounen MC. The problem that arises is two-fold: one with that idea itself and the other with the execution.
The first issue is that having Gon be less than purely heroic makes him somewhat unlikable. Which is not in and of itself a problem - from Walter White to Lelouch Lamperouge main characters that are thoroughly unlikable as people have often proved to be some of the best. The difference is that Gon is nothing like as extreme as those two examples or, say, Light Yagami. Gon is nowhere near as extreme as those examples, and instead he just kind of falls in a moral middle ground where he's not enough of an anti-hero to stand out, but not enough of a hero for you as the viewer to actually root for him. There's also the fact that Gon just isn't... cool enough. Lelouch may have done pretty terrible things, but he was so damn stylish about them that it's a great deal of fun to watch him do them. Gon's just kinda bland and shounen-y without having the redeeming heroic traits that usually go with that. There's also the issue of his character's visual design which is just... meh. From his wide eyes and little boy shorts and boots there's something vaguely like an off-brand Astro Boy about the whole look.
Still, a show can survive and even prosper with an entirely forgettable protagonist if the world and story it immerses you in is fascinating. On the former HxH succeeds to a greater extent than the latter. Whilst the setting is a little bit too large and sprawling to have the dense, interlocking sophistication in its world-building of the (on paper) similar Made in Abyss' more contained setting*, it certainly has some aspects that are difficult to fault. The Nen system is a much more thought out and well-constructed version of a common trope that certainly elevates the world-building here. There's certainly a lot in this world, but it does at times feel a little disconnected and a few too many world-building elements crop up and are then forgotten, giving the impression they were there just to service the plot of an individual episode or at best a particular arc. In short, the world-building here is strong, but not quite strong enough to achieve proper immersion in this fictional reality.
The plot at its best is surprising and creative and at its worst trope-laden and predictable. I'm certainly intrigued by the flexibility of the show in almost shifting genres from arc to arc. I'm less impressed with its slow, unoriginal earlier episodes, which are really only salvaged by the presence of Hisoka who dominates the screen when he's on it, but isn't quite enough to truly save the whole enterprise from its crippling mediocrity. Things do get better and some of the post-Hunter Exam arcs improve on things. I haven't got to the Chimera Ant Arc, which seems to be the most divisive among fans of the show, judging by my Googling in writing this, but from what I have seen, the huge differences between each arc means that the show is very up and down in terms of excitement and overall narrative quality. This aspect of the show does, however, at the very least, save it from the fate of shows like Dragon Ball or the lamentably bad Fairy Tail where each arc seems to be a beat for beat recreation of that which preceded it, but with re-skinned villains (and possibly last arc's villains now fighting on the side of the good guys**).
In terms of the overall look of the show, well, it's mostly pretty well animated and there are relatively few moments where any visible short-cuts are taken. That said the art style is not particularly inventive and, with only a few exceptions, the character design is more or less what you might expect of a show like this. It certainly doesn't have the kind of inventiveness of something like My Hero Academia or even Dragon Ball in terms of the visuals of its characters. Fights and action sequences look quite good overall and above the industry standard.
Voice acting runs the whole gamut from hammy to engaging whilst the sound design overall is competently, even well done without doing anything particularly novel. The music is pretty good and usually works well with whatever's happening on screen, though none of the in-show music has particularly stuck with me since I watched the show. The original OP on the other hand, is certainly memorable and easily distinguishes itself from the sea of forgettable pop numbers that dominate OP land.
So at the end of the day this show is fine. But for me to dedicate my time to 100+ episodes these days I really need better than fine and this just couldn't hold my attention. If you like the genre, it's probably better than most and you may well love it - judging by its MAL score it's got a big and very devoted fan-base. But, for me at least, it doesn't do anything to make it appeal beyond the limitations of its genre. It's subversive and original in some ways, certainly, but is still mostly pretty faithful to the spirit of the genre. This is certainly not Madoka Magica or Evangelion in terms of throwing out genre norms.
Ultimately if I had to put my finger on why this series didn't fly for me, it's two main factors. The first is the aforementioned main character issue. If I don't care about these characters, I find it difficult to be engaged in their stories. Secondly the show seems to suffer an identity crisis. I made this point recently in comparing Darling in the Franxx and Gurren Lagann - the latter was not particularly original or subversive, but it knew unambiguously what it wanted to be, whereas the former was all over the place. A similar comparison can be made between this and something like My Hero Academia - this is certainly more inventive and original, but MHA knows exactly what it wants to be and is content to do that, whereas HxH isn't sure whether it wants to challenge conventions or try to exceed them. If it had opted to go one way or the other, it would likely have made for more compelling viewing. As it is, it just falls down a gap in the middle.
* Kid has parent who is a renowned member of a legendary organisation of adventurers who, er, hunt for things, who maybe is dead, but actually maybe not, and the kid goes off into the wide dangerous world to look for them. That's where the similarities end, but they're there.
** In fairness to Fairy Tail, world history sometimes follows the same patterns. Look at how WWII Arc villains Japan and Germany joined the side of MC USA for the Cold War Arc.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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May 7, 2019
Let me tell you a story of three series. Each is made by Gainax, or its offshoot, Studio Trigger. Each tells the story of young men piloting giant robots to fight inhuman monsters. Each takes place in a post-apocalyptic setting. And each starts in one place and ends somewhere spectacularly, wildly different.
The shows are Neon Genesis Evangelion, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann and Darling in the Franxx and despite their many ostensible similarities, each is wildly different to the other two. Only one of them can reasonably be called great - Evangelion - but each is a very interesting work in its own way. Eva incidentally
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had the most troubled production of the three, yet it may well have succeeded to such greatness due to - and not in spite of - its woes. One only needs to watch Hearts of Darkness, a documentary on the nightmarish filming and production of Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now, to see how adversity can drive us to new heights of artistic achievement. Certainly it's hard to imagine Eva being anything like as unique as it was without writer/director Hideaki Anno's concurrent battle with depression. And yet if its troubles ultimately made Eva great, that idea - that your greatest tribulations are ultimately what makes you stronger - is much more closely in line with the middle sibling of this triptych, Gurren Lagann.
And it's not a philosophy it hides.
I mentioned in my Goblin Slayer review that 'deconstruction' is an overused term these days, and I firmly believe it. Well, Gurren Lagann is not deconstruction. If anything it's anti-deconstruction or perhaps even deconstruction of the notion of deconstruction. It is so bold, so utterly committed to its notion of itself, to the idea of being a balls-to-the-wall, non-stop, manly action-fest that it is in many ways refreshing. Unlike the confused mess that was Darling in the Franxx or the existential nightmare of self-loathing and depression that is Evangelion, Gurren Lagann knows exactly what it is and it is totally okay with that.
Now, it is absurd. It's ridiculous. It's over-the-top. And yet, thanks to that, thanks to how shameless it is, it's great fun.
Don't get me wrong - without knowing the show, in fact even if you know it by reputation alone - it would be hard to guess where it ends up based on its first episode, though there is a flash forward that gives you some notion that things will get kinda weird. No, it's not that the setting doesn't exponentially expand - it does. It's not that the power creep here wouldn't put Son Goku to utter shame - it would. It's that whilst it goes through many changes of setting and scale, it always remains committed to its core idea - pushing on relentlessly, regardless of what obstacles are thrown your way. Being made stronger through adversity is not in and of itself a particularly novel notion - it's a core mechanic of the Dragon Ball franchise - rather it's that few shows are as committed to living that philosophy from their very first moments.
It's also worth noting that Gurren Lagann has a level of ambition with its epic scope that few shows would feel comfortable with. Those that do attempt something like it usually end up just seeming kinda silly, like our poor aforementioned Darling. Somehow, though, Gurren Lagann pulls it off. Like I said, it is more than a little ridiculous, but this show just doesn't care and is so earnest in not caring, that as a viewer you just need to suspend disbelief and let it take you along on a wild ride.
This is a show with a kind of open masculinity on display that you seldom see in much else these days. As with all aspects of its style, Gurren Lagann is unapologetic about being committed to a raw, macho form of masculinity. This doesn't entirely escape criticism within the show's universe and the consequences of taking this to the extreme are shown, but for the most part it's presented as a strong net positive. This isn't to say that women are forgotten. Sure, there's plenty of fan service, not least of all in the character design of Yoko. But beyond that, she is not just there for that reason. She's a fully realised character and brings a great deal to the show beyond her more... obvious... assets.
All in all, apart from a brief sag in the middle of the series, I can't imagine anyone being bored with Gurren Lagann. Its manifesto of manly men, turbo-charged action and big robots is laid down from the get go and it just keeps going. It's more than a little unhinged, but goddamn is it fun.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Apr 30, 2019
I've always thought when it comes to our notions and philosophies about the world there are two aspects: what we can reason to be true and what we feel to be true. And whilst we may know the former to be the superior measure of these concepts, it's really the latter that solidifies these philosophies for us and can motivate us to act them out in the world. If you truly feel something to be the case, that's always ultimately more compelling than simply knowing it to be the case. It's why impassioned political rhetoric is a greater motivator than a tightly reasoned discourse on
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a political idea.
Girls' Last Tour has not much to say. Its dialogue is sparse and uncomplicated and its soundscape is mostly reduced to the whir of the Kettenkrad's engine, the clanking of ancient gears, and the pitter patter of raindrops falling on a deserted city. Instead this is a show that is primarily concerned with making you feel its themes and its messages. It is less a story to be viewed and followed and more something to be experienced.
In many ways each episode functions as a loosely connected series of meditations on a collection of themes, progressing not with any precise structure, but more the stream of consciousness of a beat poet or free jazz musician. It is also happy to raise topics for contemplation without insisting on having every answer, acting more as a springboard for the viewer's own thoughts and feelings on the issue. That said, there are certainly some times where it wears its opinions on its khaki sleeve.
Significantly, the childish innocence of the characters and their ignorance of the world that was facilitates a back to basics approach with each theme it addresses - an approach straight out of Descartes. This serves to cast aside preconceived notions and accumulated, obfuscating complexity.
It is a richly atmospheric show, but the precise nature of the atmosphere is surprisingly multifaceted. By choosing to present its protagonists in moe blob form, a setting that might be unbearably depressing is given a shred of light. And despite its post-apocalyptic scenery and the constant sense that very bad things have happened in this place, it never gets bogged down in the bleakness it could easily have risked with less nuanced writing and direction. There are periods of profound melancholy, but never dread, horror, or despair. This is despite the horror by association of both the apocalyptic landscape and the WWII-era aesthetic of much of the show. And against its darker moments and the bleak industrial landscape the characters traverse, there are moments of profound, but simple beauty that revel in the simple pleasure of just being alive. Indeed, if anything, this show is ultimately uplifting despite the nihilism implied by - but never really dwelt on - of its setting and plot.
What there is of its plot is decidedly slow-burn and much of it doesn't really gain particular substance until the final pair of episodes and particularly the finale. For those in search of action and excitement, this is not the show for you. That said there is always some sense of momentum and growth in the girls' journey. They and the viewer are constantly learning about and exploring more of their world.
The show's heart is obviously the relationship between Chi and Yuu, who act as perfect foils for each other. They are each deeply charming in their own way, and if they were less so it's impossible to see this show working. In broad sketches Yuu is the happy go-lucky one and Chi is the more contemplative, observant one. But as time goes on subtler nuances of their personalities gradually accumulate to form them more fully. Ultimately, in their differences can be seen that same dichotomy I mentioned in the opening - with Yuu being driven by raw feeling and Chi by reason. Ultimately they both have much to offer. In the world they live in pure reason could only lead to nihilism and despair. Pure feeling would lead to recklessness and death. But together the two approaches perfectly buttress each other.
The soundtrack to this show, which only seldom intrudes, is stunning - one of the best I've heard in recent years. It captures the spirit of this show perfectly - melancholic beauty with a dash of hope.
If there is any overarching theme, it is probably on the futility of war. From the very beginning we see the wasteland that human arms have wrought, but we are also reminded through the girls' dialogue that no one now remembers why the war was fought, or who the different sides were. All we know is that almost no one survived, so nothing was really gained by any side. As with any theme this show addresses, it is through powerfully showing the futility of this conflict that we are made to feel the truth of that sentiment.
This is a beautiful piece of art that will linger with you long after you've finished with it. It's extremely slow pace will mean it's not for everyone, but I strongly advise everyone to at least give it a go.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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