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Dec 29, 2014
LOOK AT THE SKY IT'S MAGIC HOUR.
Actually, it's half an hour in one episode, but you'll get the joke soon.
Amagi Brilliant Park is just spectacular. Some of the audience loved it, and I think it's a chance that Kyoto Animation (KyoAni) has actually redeemed themselves over the troubles they had over the past year. Watching the first episode got me hooked since it has an interesting setting to look forward. You surely have seen amusement parks in a lot of anime, but that's just depicting the characters' enjoyment. But, I'm sure you have yet to see behind the scenes of the park's operation.
The story starts
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with Sento inviting Kanie to go with her to an unknown location which is Amagi Brilliant Park. Kanie wasn't pleased with the tour from Sento of the amusement park which is bad in shape and unsatisfactory. Later on, Sento introduced Latifa who then wants Kanie to become the next manager of the park and save it from being taken away. Also, this amusement park isn't just any ordinary park. Kanie learnt that it is occupied by 'fairies' from Maple Land, a magical place far from reality.
Before you are worried about KyoAni's antics, don't worry. To spoil a bit about the story, it wasn't written in a way which later it is plagued with problematic tropes. Basically throughout the whole anime, you see how Kanie is able to handle the park as the manager. He gets to learn more about the park, its attractions and the workers along the way and from there, he finds ways to improve the well-being. The anime is mostly comedic, meaning lots of moments to laugh at from episode to episode. I would say that it wasn't repetitive, making those moments unique in a sense. There are some dramatic moments which honestly, I feel that they are a bit forced and out of place from the prominent hilarious comedy. But not to fret, they don't really mess up the story much, since then the characters involved got back to their feet. There are also undeveloped romance in some relationships, but it's sweet to see some hints coming about.
What I absolutely love about the story is how the park manages to develop, thanks to Kanie's direction as a manager. The workers might be negative over his choices of attracting visitors to the park, and you may be astonished too, but he managed them. The story may also not show this result, but it also drop hints too. Overall, I think the story was almost original and doesn't not have a lot of faults. Of course, many more topics in the story can be expanded, but out of thirteen episodes, I think it's a job well done for the script-writers. There is also some fan-service included that doesn't exceed too much, but you know, it's quite astonishing for KyoAni to add some. Sure, Free! is another anime with a lot of fan-service, but ignoring that anime, it is still a nice shock.
The anime has a huge cast which is quite diverse in terms of personality. How the story introduces the characters one by one is fine, since Kanie meets a few workers in the park from episode to episode. Some of the characters have a small story behind them. But what is really good about the cast is that they are never forgotten. Once they are introduced, they will eventually pop up in the next episodes. So if you have your favourite character inside, don't feel left out.
Of course, the story do focus on some of the characters. While Kanie manages the park, Sento assists him in some ways. There is some development between the two, but not very much to the point it gets romantic. Indeed, both of them have their own faults which can cause hilarity or not, given the situation they face. They are definitely different on each other in attitude-wise, but they understand each other. However, Latifah doesn't feel like as a main character but more of a plot device to make the story more dramatic. Not much interaction is seen from her, even many of the characters that don't have a larger role get more air time than her. Also, there's the three mascots, Moffle, Macaron and Tiramie, and the four Elementario fairies, Muse, Sylphy, Kobori and Salama. While the mascots serve more as a comedy piece of the story, the Elementario fairies get more development and story. It isn't really consistent but there's one episode that show more about themselves and it's great.
Overall, the development is okay but not too great. More can be shown not only to Kanie and Sento alone, but also to Latifah and the rest. But given the thirteen-episode limit, it couldn't be helped anyway.
Knowing KyoAni's anime already, I shouldn't be disappointed by its pleasing art style for this anime. The sceneries were definitely eye-grabbing, along with the details in them, the vibrant colours chosen and the lively atmosphere portrayed by the background characters. There are a lot of visual effects shown which are great, such as magical sparkles or the rustling of leaves. You've already seen it quite a lot if you watched a lot of KyoAni anime, so it shouldn't really be a surprise, yet it is so awesome. The character designs were not really original, given that the face styles are similar to other characters from KyoAni's anime. But they are detailed and nice-looking. Some of the non-human designs are definitely cool for some, wacky for the rest. The facial expressions are well-done, and I definitely love the cartoon-ish ones to express hilarity.
The opening song, sang by AKINO with her band, has won the hearts of many with the catchy beats and groovy tunes. It's easily one of the best songs heard in this season, since it attracted a lot of attention. See that starting quote? That's the first quote in the lyrics. It's too famous indeed. I actually looped the song many times. It has a nice feel that relates to the context of the story, giving the hype for the story and the lively feel in it. The ending song is different-sounding. Sang by the voice actresses of the Elementario fairies, it is supposed to have a more calm approach. You may feel that it doesn't really match the context, but you'll get used to it. If I put it aside, it's not a bad song and it's nice. The background music is not really noticeable, but I quite like the style of it. The OST album has been released, and a quick run-through has got me interested. The voice acting is great too. Some voice actors are well-known, the rest are either new or does not have many roles.
Overall, I really loved the anime so much. Ignoring what has been giving the negative impressions of the anime, it's pretty much one of the best anime I've watched this season. A seemingly-interesting story and a diverse cast will not disappoint you definitely. To summarise this anime, it has great comedy from the characters and a good development of the park, thanks to a narcissist manager and an emotionless assistant. Of course, the thirteen episode feels more like an OVA than an actual episode. It still continues from the previous episode indeed, but honestly they can just stop airing at the twelfth episode.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Dec 25, 2014
"(Mountain-climbing) may have been hard, but it was a lot of fun. I want to experience more of these feelings. Lots more."
I was eager to watch the second season after seeing the first season which consist of three-minute episodes. It was great that in this second season the episodes are longer, which leaves for more story and definitely development in the characters. If you'd watched it already, you should know that Aoi at first didn't like mountain climbing. But with the help of Hinata, and along with two more girls, Kaede and Kokona, she got to learn more about it and she had a lot
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of fun with them.
In the second season, it continues in with almost the same idea, but also some episodes do offer some surprises. There are some more mountain-climbing adventures in the story which not only entertain you with cute girls but you can also learn something, whether it's the mountain or Japanese culture. Education isn't the main focus in the story but it's great that at least there is something to know, from the characters' knowledge to us viewers. At times when they aren't climbing, there is a small story, whether it involves the four girls or individual. It's good as well for such smaller stories that we can get to know more about the girls well and perhaps seeing some development.
The story has a lot of cute and funny moments from the characters' interaction. My emphasis goes on cuteness because I swear, the pandering is real on this anime. Every episode, you will never miss your dose of cuteness. Although this does not have any effect to the story, they are there to brighten your watching experience, and maybe your day when you're feeling down. It also has a few dramatic moments which, luckily, doesn't go overboard and nothing tragic happened for a light-hearted anime.
You may have seen tons of slice of life anime, and whether they have a story or not does not really matter now. But whether it tries to make the audience feel satisfied or enjoy is a much important factor, and Yama no Susume does not fail in this. Indeed, the story may not be too perfect, but it is definitely special in many people's hearts, including mine. Also, you probably seen tons of them being school-themed. However, this anime focuses on nature instead, one of the less-used themes, and it was great that it did their utmost best to glorify this theme. All references said in the anime are real, including the attractions and legends. With some knowledge learnt, you will have a different experience that you never felt before in your anime watching.
It is nice to see a small cast, especially for a slice of life anime. This also leaves more story and development in most of each character. You already have met four girls, Aoi, Hinata, Kaede and Kokona. They have a special bond together like as if their friendships will last forever. Also, if you looked at the poster, you would see a new character, which is Honoka. She is introduced in the last few episodes and despite not having enough time to know more about her, she is a good addition to the group. Calm as always, smiles once a while too.
Aoi and Hinata has one of the best friendships I've seen. It's well-developed and despite their differences and small fights in-between, they still stick close together since young. Hinata is always out there to reach Aoi and help her along the way whenever she is stuck in a difficult situation. That also means Hinata has learnt about Aoi one step at a time and so she knows Aoi and herself more.
The girls have a nice dynamic character with different set of emotions once in a while. They are aware of their thoughts and know what to do to make themselves better. Overall, they all have developed throughout the whole story, and I'm impressed to see that. But not only just them, but also a few characters that are introduced later in the story which changed their mindset over thanks to the girls.
For a light-hearted anime, expect everything cute. Back to the point, the art for this anime is almost similar to any kind of slice of life anime, but it stands out the most for its spectacular sceneries depicting mountains, skies and buildings. The details look refined and almost real. I love the nature drawn such as the sun-rise and the flowing river. The atmosphere is lively with background people around interacting one another. The character designs are absolutely cute and nicely-detailed and a bit real. The facial expressions are well-done, that show how does the character feel.
There are two opening and three ending songs in total. One of the ending song is reused from the first season, but it's a nice touch to relive the memories of the first season as well. Overall, all of them are sweet and lovely to hear. They may not stand out with the rest in the two seasons, but honestly, I love all of them so much. I must give special mention of the animation that went along with these songs, because they have this unique art style that reminded me of the first opening in Bakemonogatari. The background music isn't really memorable but I think it's done well. The voice acting is great too.
I never had this time when I dislike an episode, and I was always power-hungry for more. This anime never failed to disappoint me, so this had to be one of the best anime I have watched since the start. I'm glad to find this anime from the first season, and I really hope to see more of cute girls climbing mountains in the future. It's regrettable to see that this anime does not pick up enough hype. So I consider a miracle if I met a random stranger and he said he had watched this anime. I really hoped a lot more people can watch this.
Hence, please watch the two seasons. They will never disappoint you, trust me.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Dec 24, 2014
I thank myself for choosing this anime. Trinity Seven looked unfamiliar and not-so interesting for me to watch at first, and also, I hadn't known much about the studio producing the anime, Seven Arcs. But I was impressed by what it has shown for the past 12 weeks.
Looking at the poster, you would known that the anime is going to be a harem in a magic school. While we already encountered many magic (and sometimes having a lot of female characters in the cast) anime, this is definitely going to stand out among the rest this year. The story started in a typical day for
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Arata, living with his childhood friend Hijiri. With the sudden appearance of a magician, later a while, he found out something weird. He learnt that the town they lived was destroyed by a phenomenon and so a grimorie given by Hijiri before disappearing reconstructed it. The magician, Lilith, then invites him to Royal Biblia Academy where he has a goal to save Hijiri. But to do, he has to become a demon lord and gather the Trinity Seven.
Sure, big words and seemingly generic story. But the way the anime executes the setting is great. Observing the timeline of this story is like piecing to make a puzzle. As the story progresses, more characters are introduced and usually they take their time in the episode to explain the audience about themselves and perhaps about this magic they possess. Yet again, it has a lot of explanation which you can either get confused of or forget along the way. Eventually, you can get some idea of it unless you are watching it for the fan-service. Each mage has magic based on their thema (theme) and basically they are different types of magic spells to their own desire.
How the story closes leaves a sweet feeling. I really don't know how the story can continue, since I felt that everything is so clear for me already.
Cramming many different types of genres into one story can sometimes be a trainwreck. Trinity Seven tries to balance several of them - action, comedy, ecchi, fantasy, romance and harem. That's a lot. The comedy is funny at times through characters' interaction. There's some action included with battles between the opponents. The fan-service is definitely too much and sometimes repetitive, and it isn't as much as I expected when watching the first episode. The romance and harem aspects aren't fully explored, but there are crushes towards Arata from the characters. Indeed, some relationships develop along the way. In the end, as you can see, it's really hard to maintain, but I don't think this has ruined the anime at all. Of course, this depends on whether you like these genres, or you expected them.
The Trinity Seven team is an interesting set of characters. It takes time to introduce them one by one and I say that I'm satisfied how the story introduces the characters well with whatever character they have in themselves. I heard that they are based of the "Seven Deadly Sins", although I don't recall it being mentioned in the anime. Still, it is a nice linkage.
It's true to say that you can expect some harem tropes in them. And unfortunately the anime didn't go perfectly in this section. Sure, I said they are an interesting bunch, but that depends on themselves. The girls are interesting because of how they act, but a very few has good development because of the interactions between themselves and Arata. Sometimes, a few of the them looked left out from the rest. But nevertheless, some of the characters also display some different emotions too.
As for Arata himself, I must give extra points for his attitude. Never-ever dense, this main character knows how to interact, be it in a fan-service or an intense battle situation. From start to end, he knows what he wanted and how to achieve it. Thanks to the girls that helped along the way, he has a lovely development I like to see. Sure, he has his cute side as well - once in a while he feels embarrassed, and as well as having some deep thoughts over things like Hijiri.
The opponents against the Trinity Seven are cool but doesn't have a wide character and development, possibly due to the time of their introduction.
Trinity Seven's art isn't quite unique. The colour palette used for everything looks dull in some places. While some sceneries look great, the others look plain and boring. It is due to the fact that there's not much lively atmosphere in many of these sceneries. There are CGI used in some interior sceneries for the movement of the camera panning, and I feel it feels nice with the 2D moving animation most of the time. The visual effects are great. Magic circles, sparks flying and explosions feel so well-done. Fighting animation seems fair enough, but yet again there's not really much fight scenes that involve punching. Some battles have this nice impact that leaves a nice finish.
The character designs are weirdly good. Their body shapes are fine but I feel that the character designs in the manga looked better, maybe because of more realistic details. Some faces might look weird but you will get used to it soon. The facial expressions vary and even from a multi-genre anime, I like how they show the feelings of the characters, either comedic or not.
ZAQ decides to sing another single. If you know her by now, most of the songs have a different feel and style. Seven Doors has an epic rock feel that gets into the groove of Trinity Seven, along with her great voice that matches along the instrumental. It's definitely one that can stand out from the rest of openings in this season. Meanwhile, the anime has four songs of different styles as well. Each are sung by a pair of voice actresses that their characters are well-related. Overall, I enjoyed all but one but I love to see a nice variety of this.
The background music has a nice take over the battle scenes, generating some hype and action that blends well. Other scenes are fine as well. Besides, its main genre focus is techno (electronic) music. The voice acting is done well, it helps to match whatever the character is acting or saying. I love to see some voice actresses acting out of their usual acting. One example is Yumi that voices Takane from iDOLM@STER, voices Lilith. And we all know who voiced Arata. Yoshitsugu is very famous and voiced many different characters, but it's good that he keeps it to Arata's character for the anime.
I really can't say if this is a recommendation for everyone, but I personally enjoyed whatever Trinity Seven has offered. There may have been a lot of explanation to go through or maybe you can't stand a lot of fan-service, but I guess I'm happy to see that this generic setting is executed well.
I don't mind continuing the manga after the anime, and I don't know if we're getting a second season or not. There's still an OVA, so it's worth catching it for a fix of never-dense main character with his interestingly weird harem.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Dec 23, 2014
Man, was I wrong judging this anime by its first episode. Studio Trigger knows its ways to make this anime enjoyable for me to watch.
InoBato, shorten name for this long title, revolves around the lives of a literature club. One day, Andou, the only male student in the club and ‘suffers’ from chuunibyou, suddenly gained a superpower on his own. Few months later, the rest of the club got their own superpowers, yet they didn’t know how they really obtained them. However, you won’t be seeing they finding out more about their powers, and that can disappoint you a lot. This story shows their ‘everyday
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life’ as a student with superpower.
Okay, maybe this isn’t a slice of life where there’s no actual story. While there’s no main objective to drive the story forward, each episode (or two) tells its own story. Some episodes focus mainly on Andou and one of the characters. The rest pieces up what’s left to pick up. I was really impressed over what has been showing after the first episode, but the overall story isn’t an masterpiece or an eye-opener. The comedy in it is alright. There are some funny moments in the story, mainly from characters’ interaction. Andou’s chuunibyou may have been the highlight. There’s also romance in the story. The development isn’t very much, and it isn’t like two-way. In fact, all of the members in the club love Andou. Time and time again, no way will we see one of them girls winning the Andou bowl. In the end, it went to simple harem. And as usual, romance can lead to a bit of drama in the story. It’s good that it doesn’t grab hold over the story, so a little surprise is lovely.
One problem about the story is having a new set of characters introduced with an entirely different subplot for no apparent reason in the middle of the story. It messes up and it can be forgettable. In the end, nothing much to see about them since there’s very little development. I see little relation between the two groups, the Literature club and the other, but they fall over this superpower thing.
The girls in the Literature club are generic. There’s the tsundere red-haired Tomoyo, polite air-headed Hatoko, calm president Sayumi and cute elementary-school student Chifuyu. Each of them have their own defined powers that help out in certain ways in the story, at least no one is being left out. It’s a good thing that there are not so static as they show different kinds of emotions. However, they are not too dynamic since they did nothing much in different out of their character. I love to watch Andou’s way of thinking. He may have chuunibyou, but he didn’t overuse it and whenever he talks to each of the girls alone, he is calm and understanding. He has a way of words to make the girls feel happy. He’s a cool person to interact to. Of course, he has a useless superpower and we can laugh off over that.
Each of the girls have some character development thanks to Andou himself. I don’t have anything to say about it in-depth. Also, remember this ‘new set of characters’ I mentioned. Unfortunately, due to them introduced in the later part of the story, it’s hard to see much development in them because of little screen-time. I feel they are just wasted.
The art of InoBato is nothing different out of other similar anime. The sceneries are nice-looking and the atmosphere around them are lively, depending on the scenes portraying. The character designs are adorable and sweet, although it is still as similar to some anime. Some of the characters wear battle costumes which look cool as well. Facial expressions are well done, telling the audience how the characters feel. I like the visual effects of battles taking place between characters using their superpowers, although those aren’t really that important and not having the impact in the story.
The opening song, sang by the voice actresses of the four girls, is calm and somewhat catchy. I like it maybe because of the instrumental. It may not feel like what is supposed to portray the anime, and it may be too ‘dramatic’ but hearing this many times is pleasing. The ending has a different take over the opening song. Sang by Emiri Katou and Fukuhara Kaori who also voice-acted as supporting characters, it is more energetic and catchy to listen. No complaints about both songs, but it does not stand out much over the rest of the anime this season.
Background music isn’t very noticeable, so it’s hard to recall something memorable with its usage over the scenes used. The voice acting is great, but I have my utmost respects to Hayami Saori, who voiced Hatoko. If you haven’t known already, there’s one episode which impressed a lot of the audience with one long tearful rant. Brilliant acting indeed.
Overall, InoBato is one interesting anime to watch, despite its generic setting. I enjoyed as much as how I enjoyed watching Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai, although it had a better story and flow. One of the charms of the anime is not having excess fan-service. It may not be for everyone since the story doesn’t impress them. When I watched the first episode, I was expecting something better. And looking at the title, you wonder ‘are there even battles happening’. Sad to say, battles are never a focus in the series.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Dec 18, 2014
Welcome to Umanohone bookstore, one of the bookstores across Japan that sells manga, light novels, and doujins - even the dirty ones. The bookstore has an interesting workplace with a variety of characters that you won't feel dull encountering at. Denkigai no Honya-san is one of the few slice of life anime this season, and as the first few anime starting this season, it shouldn't be ignored nor forgotten.
The story is simple - just characters interacting together and partaking activities in and out of the bookstores. Nothing much can be detailed further. But what I can say is that the comedy is great. Certain tropes
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and same jokes may have fallen but it's great that it has sustained well from episode to episode. There are plenty hilarious moments from the characters which may be memorable for a while, and these show what's true in their character. What is not expected in the anime is the romance. Halfway through it, I can spot a few relationships between the characters. While they are not very developed as the story progresses, it is sweet to see how two people in one relationship interact. Of course, you may feel tired seeing similar interactions, but like I said, it really didn't develop much.
But both comedy and romance in the anime are balanced well, and nothing had overshot to break the story and hence it becoming worse.
The anime uses a number of references from manga, light novels and anime. I wouldn't have spotted all of them since a lot of references are not very similar to the real counterpart. A few of them do give away, try your best. The fanservice doesn't really exceed to become an ecchi anime, but there are still some of it throughout. Some may say they are definitely not needed, but looking at the context, I think a bit of them is enough.
Each character in the anime is special. It might have been a typical cast of slice of life characters, but in this anime, they have a nice range of emotions and thoughts. They are likeable and funny, depending on how they act. Development-wise, not really much for a slice of life anime. But looking at how the characters feel in their relationships, I think they are trying hard to be normal, since he first steps of romance can be hard and shaky. Also, looking at Umio, as the most recent hired employee of the bookstore, he adapts well with his co-workers and that's great!
It's also great that the cast is small and it didn't introduce a ton of characters. There are a lot of anime with has a huge cast and it's really hard to keep track of all of them. But in this anime, even with a small cast, there are a lot happening in the story.
The anime's art is simple but not very dull. I like the colour palette to pull of a bright cheery feel. The scenery, both interior and exterior, look good, enough for a slice of life anime. I like the character designs as the characters look cute in them. The facial expressions are funny and adorable. Not much noticeable visual effects but overall, I think the atmosphere is fresh and sometimes lively, depending on the story.
I really don't know how the opening relates to the anime. Sang by one of the voice actresses in the anime, Taketatsu Ayana, its theme is about apples. It doesn't really match the context of the anime, although the animation of it does. Ignoring that fact, I think it's sweet and lovely. Who knows, I think it's a perfect Spice and Wolf S3 opening. The ending song, sang by four voice actresses of their counterpart working in the bookstore, is more cheery and catchy to hear. The background music doesn't really stand out a lot but they are nice and chilling to listen to. The voice acting is great as the voice actors tried their best in acting out the emotions of the characters. Most of them aren't relatively new to the voice acting industry, so there shouldn't be any screw-ups.
I read some chapters of the manga before watching the anime and I love how the anime adapts almost all of the manga used. Maybe the last episode may have been an original, and trust me, that was an awesome episode to end off the anime. Back to point, I think that the director did a good job in using most of the source material and added a few originals in.
Overall, the anime is fun to watch. It doesn't lack anything much, so it shouldn't disappoint you. If you need some laughs now, it is a good time to watch it. I don't mind a second season and I don't know if there will ever be, but for now continue reading the manga.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Nov 26, 2014
It’s Azusa’s third year in high school and she has to get new members for her club before it is about to be disbanded. With the help of her two friends, Jun and Ui, the club face a lot of small challenges but at the same time enjoy their after-school time.
Nothing much can be said about this 4-coma manga since it’s basically like how it is like in the anime. Well, I haven’t read this 4-volume series yet, but based of watching the two seasons and the movie, I think it probably follows the source and adding more interesting moments. But overall, I love the
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slice of life goodness in the story. There are some hilarious moments, and also there are good feel moments. Sadly, the story is very fast-paced and under one volume, hence I definitely wish for more content.
There are two new characters, as you’ve already seen on the back cover of the manga: Nao and Sumire. Both of them have a nice personality and an interesting background, although not very special. All of the characters are rounded as they express their emotions well, whether they’ll be laughing over a joke or feel ashamed over their actions. Not much feels, although I would love some. There are some character development of most of the characters as the story progresses and I like it.
Not having read the 4-volume series, I wouldn’t know much about the art style in the manga. But it’s pretty much well-done. I like the tones of the backgrounds for added effects. The coloured pages look nice, although a bit bland as well. The character designs look good and cute, as what I would see in the anime. The facial expressions often exaggerates for comedic relief and they are well-done.
I really wanted more of this. The pacing of the story is honestly too rushed for me, although I know that in both seasons, it happens to be that way. Of course, there’s College to look forward to. I actually wonder if both groups can meet together.
If you want more K-On! and slice of life sweetness, this manga is definitely worth reading, along with the College.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Nov 16, 2014
Mahouka, huh? Known by many people as the supposed ‘AOTY’ after Shingeki no Kyojin and Sword Art Online, it tries to appeal to everyone, whether or not they watch anime on a basis. Aired as a two-cour, it started on Spring 2014. I wanted to watch it as it aired but due to commitments, I really couldn’t and I had to put it on hold. Finally, I had some time a while later and I took the opportunity to marathon this long series.
The story starts in a futurist setting (literally 2095 - that’s mad) when the Shiba sibling pair, Tatsuya and Miyuki, starts their high
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school experience. The two are put in different classes that teaches magic different. While Miyuki is placed in First Course, which is recognised as students with high magical skills, Tatsuya was placed in Second Course, despite being first in scoring the theory examination. They meet new characters as they continue their school lives, and from then on, things start to get interesting.
The story of this anime splits into three arcs, filled with the intended action. As the arc progresses, it usually gets more serious and eventually more characters show up. A little tip when watching Mahouka: as long as you don’t spend so much time trying to memorise all the characters, you’re fine. (I’ll touch on that later.) Each arc tells a different story and they follow a typical ‘introduction-problem-solution-conclusion’. There is a lot of explanation into magic which may either bore or excite you but I wouldn’t care much about it, unless it relates a lot to the story.
Indeed, a lot of people have been criticising Mahouka because of the story. I have to agree that it has some problems. One of it being that there are some parts of the story left not elaborated or kept as plot holes. I wasn’t really satisfied of how the story went because of how it was executed. Occasionally, I felt that the story forgets a certain point and just moves on. Another problem is that the story is sometimes predictable. Some factors have arose to this problem, including the characters’ personalities and actions. Predictability is always a problem in shounen anime, and Mahouka fell for it.
Another huge problem about Mahouka is the pacing. Many have said that the pacing for this anime is too messy. While there are parts where a lot of explanation and dialogue were used to slow the pacing, there are also parts which misses some points that may confuse the viewers due to the amount of action added and so this rushes the story.
Don’t get me wrong, but I absolutely love the setting, although there are similar ones out there. Sure, it could’ve been weird at times, but it tried to vary the content they want to showcase. But with all these problems, it basically screws the whole story up.
As I said before, more characters get introduced in every arc and probably in every episode. It’s tiring, I know. I would like to categorise the characters in three sets: the main, the supporting and the minor. The main characters are the Shiba siblings, of course. The supporting characters are those who involve themselves with the siblings and to what has been going on in the story. Finally, the minor characters drive the story so that at least there’s some content to look up on.
The main characters have some form of a backstory which isn’t largely told as the story moves on. And as they start school, they seem to cling together as ‘sibling love’. The depiction may have led into many misinterpretations such as incest, but truth be told, Miyuki’s personality shows that she totally loves his brother a lot.
The problem with the story has to lie with Tatsuya. You may have known already, but Tatsuya is definitely overpowered. It frustrates me looking at the way he never puts himself in much danger because he’s basically indestructible. He brings himself to the battlefield like there’s never a serious consequence to follow. He fights against his enemies and at the end most of the time, he feels like nothing has happened. You have to wonder: why is he even on Second Course? It’s really stupid to see him in this way, honestly.
Miyuki, on the other hand, does nothing much really. Aside from being with his brother and showing affection to him all the time, she gets herself involve in some fights, crazy ones included. She doesn’t seem to fit like a main character at all, hence it feels like the story just revolves around Tatsuya alone.
The supporting characters are a good bunch. The characteristics vary and they seem to be pretty cool as you are introduced to them. These characters have been supporting the Shiba siblings since the start of the story. At different arcs, they have different roles of playing in the story. Each arc focuses on a set of characters that relate to the events leading in the story. It’s hard to remember all of them since it’s a huge cast, but all you need to care if how they are involved in the story.
There’s seldom character development in the main characters because of their personalities and actions - they act as how they act overall in the story. The supporting characters may have showed some development but it doesn’t give a role in the story. It’s honestly disappointing, since there is some potential in Mahouka. I know that many shounen anime are like this, but Mahouka really have some potential in making the characters more brighter and varied.
Looking at the art in Mahouka, it isn’t surprising that it has some nice quality. The sceneries all around look great, both exterior and interior, and I like the atmosphere around them which makes the scenes alive. The colour choice looks a bit stale, like there’s no beautiful touch at all. The character designs are nice as of what you expect in a shounen anime. Most of the time, the emotions expressed by the characters are good.
Mahouka combines technology and magic and both of them work alongside. It’s creative in the sense that there are a variety of magic a character can spell out. In action scenes, the magic captures brilliantly. There’s some cool smooth animation that follow as well.
Before even starting the marathon, I already fell in love listening to Mahouka’s first opening. Rising Hope, sang by LiSA, is catchy and the instrumental is awesome. Her vocals are strong and it matches what you may have expected watching the anime. The ending song is totally opposite. Millenario, sang by ELISA, is such an emotional song. It may have been weird since there’s nothing in the story which invoke such feeling. I love her vocals so much in the song as she sang fluently and the instrumental is great and dramatic. It’s hard to love the second opening and ending more because their predecessors are too awesome to loop. GARNiDELiA’s grilletto has a similar feeling to Rising Hope, and if you have heard their ‘ambiguous’ opening song from KILL la KILL, it sounds almost the same. Rei Yasuda’s Mirror is great and it’s more cheery than Millenario.
If you know Taku Iwasaki, you may have recognised Mahouka’s background music. Overall, it is awesome. With the varying genre from techno to classical piano, the background music knows what to play in a particular scene. If you’re sick of techno, you may be disappointed that music on most action scenes are based on it. The voice acting is good too. The voice actors did well in expressing their characters’ thoughts and emotions well enough. They are a number of well-known and experienced voice actors, so you wouldn’t feel let down.
So yeah, with the let-down of the story and characters, you may expect that I didn’t enjoy Mahouka at all. While I see that many do hate it after watching a full around, I think that you shouldn't be too serious when watching it. It just blows your mind off with this much explanation to remember, so lay back and watch for the action.
I personally enjoyed the first arc a lot. There are certain parts of the story which are uncalled for. The next two arc gives off a lot more problems, hence I felt a bit bored watching after a while. Hence, I’m having mixed feelings after finishing Mahouka. While I definitely love the setting the story holds, the execution is very disappointing.
But who cares, right? This anime is too famous.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Sep 22, 2014
I guess this beats Isshuukan Friends in terms of friend-zoning? heh...
The 'manga' theme stays alive in anime after 'Mangaka-san to Assistant-san to' with this interesting anime. I knew I would be expecting something grander like this. The first time I looked upon this before it aired, I wonder if it would be the same as the anime I mentioned earlier, but it happens not to be.
This season has quite a number of anime that varies in a lot of genres. While there's the dramatic Aldnoah.Zero, and the intense romantic-driven Ao Haru ride, we have the comedic heart-warming Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun. Produced by Dogakobo, who made
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cute fascinating slice of life comedies, this anime never fails to make people enjoy. While we weep at those sad moments from other anime, we also smile at the wonders and joys in this anime.
One fateful day, Chiyo confesses her love to Nozaki in a classroom. Mistaking her as a fan, he signs an autograph to her before inviting her to his house, where she finds out he is a manga artist. From there, she learns more about him and meet more characters Nozaki has worked alongside with his manga.
The story has a lot of hilarious comedy in it, from Nozaki's misunderstanding to the characters' personalities. I like how it uses a lot of shoujo manga tropes, as Nozaki draws shoujo manga, to make it funny as he often finds ways to make them appear in his manga. He has no experiences in love, hence his love manga may be a bit awkward, even his editor gets upset. It also portrays a typical high school crush, or one way love, as Chiyo tries to have Nozaki fall in love with her. Despite trying so, she always doesn't work out well, but in the end, she still feels a bit satisfied the way she is with him.
Many times, this anime is very cute, not only because of Chiyo but also some of the characters as well. The story isn't very serious in terms of romance and I liked it. Sometimes, there are anime where they took romance too seriously that it went off-track with the main story.
The conclusion leaves a sweet feeling, yet a bit unexpected, for me at least. But it does close a good story well, although there is a continuation after the anime ending in the manga.
At first, I would think that the characters are just another boring bunch of typical characters you see in slice of life anime. But I was surprised by the personalities of these characters which are quite unexpected. Of course, I love how these personalities portray the comedy the anime offers.
Nozaki seems to be feel neutral throughout the story, with the way he speaks, and the way he expresses his emotions. There isn't nothing negative about this. But sometimes he does smile or act happily with his friends or his thoughts. Meanwhile, Chiyo is the character which I find very pleasant about. She's very cute and I quite like her thoughts and decisions, which turned out to be the opposite effect sometimes. She hangs out with her friends well and definitely is rounded with her emotions. She is a character that doesn't seem to fit in a romantic-drama story, because she's unique in that sense.
There are other characters, naming some of them, Mikoto, Seo, Kashima, Hori, and Wakamatsu, whom are quite surprising with their personalities. Obviously, I would thought that they are just static characters that acts what they act as always. But I was happy to find out that they are also rounded characters because of their personalities and feelings towards one another.
Despite not having a serious romance story, there are actually a number of ships in the story. While Chiyo goes for Nozaki, Kashima goes for Hori while Seo goes for Wakamatsu. Whatever the reasons shall be, I find that the story has some emphasis in these shippings as well and I liked it.
There is character development in some characters, mostly because they bonded together one another. Chiyo and Nozaki still has that 'friend-zoning' relationship which is still funny, while the rest still chases for their counterpart.
I'm impressed with the art style that shows vibrant colours and nice tones. The scenery is spectacular and sometimes, the atmosphere is lively with idling animations from minor characters. The character designs are nice with a touch of matching personality with each character. Facial expressions are exaggerated to put up the comic relief, and most of them are very cute, especially from Chiyo. There is never any fan-service, which I find it satisfying.
Manga takes a role in this anime and Nozaki's drawings, with the help of others with their roles, make his manga looks cool. The opening visuals are awesome that feels like characters coming out from a manga book. The ending visuals, however, is a bit plain, but is still cute with Chiyo minding her own business.
The opening song has to be the best opening of this season, due to its catchy beats and astounding vocals from Masayoshi Ooishi. I got to love how he sings and it makes me grove into the tunes. The ending is quite different, and it is such a heart-warming song. Sung by Chiyo's VA, Ari, it feels like I'm drowning in tears of joy and the rhythm just plays in galore. Both songs have some relation into the anime and I loved it.
Most of the time, the background music is quite relaxed and it matches the mood of the scenes, along with the sound effects. The voice acting is perfect, with a lot of voice actors putting a lot of effort into voicing their respective characters. There are a number of recognisable voice actors such as Yuuichi (voicing Nozaki) and Miyuki (voicing Seo). Ari is relatively new into voice acting, and I think she did an awesome job voicing her first main character.
I have absolutely enjoyed this anime from the start and I really hoped to see more of this in the future. I am glad this anime takes a huge following from the viewers and it is quite shocking because I thought it wouldn't be that famous. It has certainly became one of the best anime I have watched this season and I'm proud to feel that way.
Well... I guess I must say goodbye to this wonderful cheery anime for now. I want my second season please!
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Sep 21, 2014
'I know what the title says, but don't go expecting real survival games!'
Do you enjoy an anime where girls battle out with guns? Well, there have been a lot of anime that fit that category such as C3 and Strike Witches. I know I've seen a few, and this anime is one.
There's nothing much to say about Sabagebu honestly. It revolves a hig-school club called the 'Survival Games Club' and we look into the crazy shenanigans these high-schoolers are put up into. Momoka, the character focus of the group, transferred to this high school and is forced into the club by its president, Miou. From
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there, she leads her own not-so-ordinary life.
Now, what's good about this anime is the hilarious comedy. It never failed to make me laugh every episode. From the characters to the main story, it just brightens your day. The anime takes in many forms of comedy, whether dramatic or just plain stupid. Sometimes it just became Nichijou, but with a bit more understanding.
'This is all in the girls' imaginations. You can't die in a real survival game, so don't worry!'
I must really give props to the narrator. You probably never seen a lot of narrators in anime, so this kind is not wasted. He is definitely an awesome person whom I will never stop laughing at.
The characters are sweet and have nice personalities which has some similar tropes for a typical comedy anime. Momoka has a two-sided personality, Miou is rich and loved, Maya is a beauty who always die first out of the rest, Urara being a masochist always wanting to be near Momoka, and Kayo is a cosplay fanatic who doesn't talk much.
But I feel that there is some character development in Momoka, as she has a liking into the club and make many memories with it.
There are other supporting characters whom I find are always very funny in their own ways. Some of them reappear in different episodes and they love to create chaos or just fun to the club, or Momoka.
In the end, the characters are a funny bunch in their own aspects.
I'm not quite fond with the art in this anime. The character designs are quite stale, with weird hairstyles and body shapes, despite some of the characters have weird body shapes for the sake of comedy. The scenery is a bit bland and nothing interesting to see. The gun battles can be fun and exciting to look at, but the damage done seems a bit boring.
But still, facial expressions are amusing. I quite like the designs of the guns the characters have. The opening and ending visuals are nice with a taste of action and comedy.
The opening song, sung by Momoka's VA, Ayaka, has a great energy feel along with the beautiful vocals. The ending song, sung by the cast, has taken a more funny approach with the lyrics, along with nice dancing music. Honestly, I can't stop grooving at the ending song.
The background music varies a lot. Sometimes, in special occasions, they may play an interesting theme that matches. Otherwise, it has nice relaxing music that sounds like it come out from a typical slice of life anime. Nothing wrong, really, but it is good to listen. The voice acting is great, with a lot giving emphasis to their thoughts and feelings for comedy sake. There are some recognisable voice actresses in the anime.
No one should take Sabagebu seriously. It is definitely worth the laughs from the viewers like me. I enjoyed this anime very much and it brightens my day a lot.
Certainly, I would never see girls running around a battlefield wielding guns ever again, unless a season two arrives.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Sep 19, 2014
One time, my friend who also watches this anime told me that it isn't an idol anime, thus I can't compare it to Love Live, etc. But hey, the idol theme still sticks, so you can't judge me.
When I first heard about this anime, I thought of myself 'hey, is this going to be another 'great' idol anime'? Well, let's see how it goes, shall we?
Locodol revolves a group of fellow girls: two of them, Nanako and Yukari, as 'locodols' or local idols, under the name of 'Nagarekawa Girls', and two manning a mascot character, Yui and Mirai.
This basic story starts with Nanako given a
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'locodol' job by her uncle, who works in the city council. She met Yukari before they were to perform for the first time together. Afterwards, it continues with the lives of the pair, meeting more new characters and experiencing some wacky moments. The story isn't very special at all, since it is a typical story device to have someone or a group to have progress along the story. Hence, the English title 'Ordinary High-School Girls Tried Being Locodols'.
The story doesn't show any idol industry shenanigans, which is good, because I love a relaxed story that doesn't involve any butchering of idols.
Now, I never heard of a locodol before, which is something unique about the story. Apparently, there are also other locodols around too, from different cities. They help to promote their own cities and also to bring the spirit to the residents. I think that the idea is interesting, although I like to see more of locodol action.
The story ends with a very sweet conclusion that leaves no gaping holes behind.
The characters have different personalities which I find quite similar to other characters. Nanako is quite a pessimist, with a lot of worrying that burdens her down. Yukari seems like a perfect person, but she can be clumsy sometimes. Yui is a typical small character yet so strong she can do interesting acts in her heavy mascot costume. Mirai is a shy person but is still sociable.
Throughout the story, both Nanako and Yukari learn more about themselves and they have nice development. They meet more new people who then support them in their own future events. Eventually, the whole town adores these locodols.
Nevertheless, all the characters are very cute, especially Nanako's 'nanyako' stuttering.
The art is pretty nice. The scenery looks gorgeous and I love the colour choice. It felt a bit like it was painted in many scenes, which give a nice touch. The character designs are cute and the facial expressions can exaggerate for comic relief, hence very cute too. There are some chibi designs which I think are cute too.
Most of the time, the atmosphere where the locodols perform are quite lively. It may not be a very big concert but more of a small-scale concert for the residents. The costumes they wear are great and the dancing animations are smooth and cool.
Despite not having a lot of songs, the quality is good. The opening and ending songs, both sang by the Nagarekawa Girls, have a certain relation to the anime and they have a good singing voice. They may not be as famous as other awesome anisongs, but it has its own standards. The background music is nice and cheery. The voice acting is great too, as they express their emotions well. There are some recognisable voice actors, especially from Yukari and Mirai, and a few supporting characters and other locodols.
I admit it that I enjoy this anime despite a simple story. It may not be a famous anime, but it still is a great one to enjoy.
A quick look at MyAnimeList's anime recommendations from this anime, I see other idol anime like Love Live, Wake Up Girls and Idolmaster. Honestly, this anime stands differently from others. These other anime have a group, while this anime has a pair. There may be following a similar route towards progress, but they encounter different experiences. So, if you are one of those guys who can't remember all the group members in a particular group, I think this anime shall be your first.
If there's a second season, dig me in!
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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