Jul 28, 2013 Recommended
xxxHolic is probably my favorite manga and one of my favorite animes. My experience with anime movies has never been too promising; for example, I've seen and hated 5 of the Naruto movies, the Tsubasa movie was dreadful and so the Fairy Tail one, some Digimon movies were also quite bad (though there are some that deserves to be recognized as very good). So I avoided the xxxHolic movie for quite a while, and when I finally made up my mind into watching it I decided not to expect that much from it. However, I'm glad I did, because I had a great time. It's
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Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jul 1, 2013 Recommended
Bokura no war game is an interesting Digimon movie, but one that doesn't really exploit all the potential on the storytelling, while portraying some strong character moments. This movie is actually an important link between Digimon Adventure and Digimon 02, and yet not every Digimon fan has seen it; it's not all that relevant to be fair, but Digimon 02 goes assuming you've seen the movie, now the question is: is it worth our time? As I just said, worst case scenario you end up watching a very interesting 40 minutes movie, but as I finished watching the movie I have to say that, while
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satisfied I also was left wishing for more and better development.
Story: This takes place after Digimon Adventure ended and it deals with a digimon who is on the network, eating data and growing powerful. Through the movie there is a lot of tension and good moments of suspense as the plot moves forward, but I have to say that the writers were really lazy at times; leaving out so many characters like Sora, Mimi, Jyou and Hikari off the main plot is a bad gesture, especially considering how the anime was so well recognized for being able to handle 8 characters at once. Granted, they all get believable excuses for their absence, yet you can feel how the writers just wanted to minimize the amount of characters as much as possible. Aside from that, the plot develops and it's fairly enjoyable, still the ending is quite anti-climactic and may leave you frowning; ok, it's not that bad, but it ended quite abruptly and as such a story with so much potential kind of feel like it works, but it works at half of its power. Character: As I said in the story section, the writers minimized the amount of characters to just 4: Taichi, Koshiro, Yamato and Takeru, and of those 4 Taichi takes the spotlight, with Yamato and Koushiro having some moments too. For a 40 minutes movie, it has many good moments; these are characters that are quite beloved and really likeable, and among them Taichi gets some extremely good moments in the film, and not just him; whenever we see each character frustrated it feels real, whenever we see them nervous, anxious or anything at all it works because it carries on well with their previous development in the anime series, and as such the character work is great, almost reaching to outstanding. Sound: There are great tracks in the movie, the very same ones used in the anime plus some new ones. In general, they are all as well scored as in the anime and the timing is also impressive, though there is a moment when Brave Heart runs in a loop and become annoying, but it's just some mere 15 seconds or so. As a whole, I'd say the movie is worth watching, it's very good and quite entertaining, still I'm not sure if I would call it a must see: Digimon fans will likely enjoy the movie, but there's no doubt that most of us can feel that, while being quite good, it never really tried to be as good as it could be.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jul 1, 2013
Digimon Adventure Movie
(Anime)
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Recommended
How much you like each Digimon movie will likely depend on how much you like the season it is based on (unless you're watching Evolution X, because that is a stand alone). This one is a prequel to the original series, Digimon Adventure, and as such it has to be compared only to what the achievements of that season are, and we watch with some certain affection towards the characters, but you know what? This short film is made in a way that I can see it being meaningful to first timers; there's something in the siblings relationship that is enough to be moving even
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if you didn't watch Digimon Adventure. In just 20 minutes we get to know how Taichi and Hikari first encountered with the Digital monsters, and it is as well written as the anime series is and it's also really well developed.
Story: 10/10 The prequel is consistent with the information we are given in the Digimon Adventure series. The plot is pretty straight forward: two siblings had a fateful meeting with a digital monster. They bond and eventually the digimon has to departure after facing an enemy. Being that simple how it could score a perfect 10? Well, this is meant to be simple, but being so doesn't mean it has to be bad, because as far as the pacing go, it is so well managed that the 20 minutes doesn't stretch too long or fall short, instead every single sequence is so detailed, smartly shaped and amusingly told, so every minute feels worthy of our time. The key to storytelling is pacing: bad pacing leads to boredom and frustration, but this is not the case. It's easy to smile quite often while watching this simple story and so the enjoyment is quite high, not to mention towards the end it becomes quite poignant, why that is? The answer is character work. Character: 10/10 Those who watched the Digimon series already have developed some kind of affection (or not) towards Taichi and Hikari, and in this prequel their characters show us something impressive: they are the same, but at the same time they are different. Both of them are 4 years younger, and so all the development we've seen in Adventure hasn't taken place, but we still can see glimpses of each other’s main characteristics, just like Hikari's compassion and Taichi's courage, but Taichi doesn't accept what's going on as fast as he did in Adventure, which shows us that he still has to grow up to be the character that we know he became, and that's quite rich, enough to draw you a smile. The strongest aspect of the film to first timers will probably be how poignant is Tachi's and Hikari's relationship. Taichi is a protective brother while Hikari is mostly careless, and quite interested in understanding and bonding with the digimon that appeared in their house, and as the film progress by the end we get a moving scene in which, as Hikari runs out of breathe, Taichi cheers their digimon in her place; sure, Taichi also grew kind of fond of him, but I had no doubt that he mostly did it for Hikari, and as such it was a really well executed scene that is enough to make you feel warm, and that is what Digimon Adventure is all about. Art: 7/10 My only complaint would be that the art is lacking, it is visually different from the anime series and that can be bothersome to all time fans, but it is just a minor complain in what has been an otherwise fantastic short film- Sound: 9/10 As much as I love Ravel, it gets a little repetitive as the minutes run by, but that is just a minor flaw, the music and soundtracks are usually spot on and are as good as in the anime. Also, the use of "Butterfly perfect version" at the end when the credits roll is just perfect. I'm happy I got to see this movie, even though I already kind a knew what happened it was still great to see it detailed and get the chance to look so closely into these beloved characters past. If you loved Digimon Adventure, I'm almost sure you will love it. If not... well, you wouldn't be searching for a Digimon movie at all, right? Overall: 46/50= 9.2 --> 9 score
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Jun 18, 2013
Digimon Xros Wars
(Anime)
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Not Recommended
This is my 6th Digimon review, and the hardest one to write: I always try to be as objective as possible, but there is always a bit of taste and personal like in every single review, not just mine but everyone's; still, I like to think that at every time I re-watch a Digimon series (or in this case, to finish something I dropped) I do it with an observant eye, trying to see everything good in it, what works and what doesn't work, and Digimon Xross Wars had a handful of things that worked on early going, the first episodes showed potential and were
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enjoyable, but sadly the following episodes were just so badly executed that it's hard for me not to insult this series. The thing is, after Savers aimed to a teen and young adult audience this series was meant to aim to young children again, so it couldn't be as dark, I understand that, but I'm just really annoyed by how shallow they meant to make this. Digimon Adventure aimed to children as well, and still managed to be mature, as Tamers did too, but this one just fails or it doesn’t even try: of all the Digimon series this is the one that had the worst character treatment, and somehow it managed to be successful enough to get 78 episodes, making it the longest Digimon series. I don’t understand it (seriously, I don’t), but somehow this show managed to forge a strong fanbase, and that’s ok, if you like it then good for you, I sure wish I could have liked it, but the thing is I couldn’t, mostly because it just didn’t embrace the potential it showed on early going.
This review only goes through the first 30 episodes (I still have to make up my mind to watch the following 2 parts) and now we'll see why I think this serie fails so much: Story wise: I don't have much to complain here, the story is no masterpiece but it's not awful. Kudo Taiki, a 7th grade boy, is transported to the digital world with his friends Akari and Zenjiro where they are involved in the middle of a territorial war among many armies to win code crowns (a kind of crest which allows you to travel to the zone you conquered). Now that's a really strong premise for a Digimon series and a lot could be done here, but the focus is really into making this a good v/s bad kind of series, in which our team Xross Hearts (Taiki, Akari, Zenjiro and the digimon) are the good guys and the rest are usually just outright bad guys with no background, actual reasons other than being bad guys, and the worst of all, they are not even compelling. It's flawed with clichés and there's no sense of danger whatsoever as at the end of almost every single episode Taki find out a solution and everyone ends up smiling; that also gives the series a sense of being procedural, each episode being "the zone of the week" with just a little bit of story plot going on in the background. That's one of the things that hurt Xross the most. In the early first 9 episodes (the strongest of this show) we get little by little the dynamic of the series: it has elements from all the previous series: we have a protagonist that looks like Taichi from Adventure, we have digimons going through fusion (xross) like in Adventure 02, a support system like in Tamers (the digi memories), a territorial conflict like in Frontier and human facing digimon head on like in Savers (Zenjiro and his sword); with all that one can’t help but feel excited, I thought that Xross could make use of all these things and create a series out of the best of each Digimon series. I was dead wrong. Aside from the already mentioned flaw on the focus and aproach of the series in the good vs bad, the more episodic nature and the lack of good villians, Xross also fails when it tries to connect the peripheral storylines with the main war, resulting on just forced connections to move the plot along. But the worst of all its flaws is not the story, it is the characters. Characters: Kudo Taiki: No character has been as flat and shallow in a Digimon series as this one, and even when they tried to give him some more deepness it just fell flat. His main trouble is that he doesn't need to grow, he doesn't need to evolve, because he is already kind a perfect, in a bad way. He is the definition of Gary Stu, a character who has no real flaw and the story revolved around him. He is considerate, a bit smart, a good friend, never gives up, he believes in the best of people, he's just so perfect that it is annoying. And why that is? Because he stays the same, he never gets developed, and we grow bored of it: he is like a broken record that keeps playing. You can't have a character (even worse, the lead character) that won't grow up as the series continues, this is just frustrating, the events of the series are supposed to change him, but he stays the same, no matter the situation. Character development is nothing but a joke here, and with no character development, it doesn't matter if the story plot is brilliant (which is not) the series just will feel shallow. Akari: She's a little better than Taiki, but just because no one can be as flat and shallow as he is. This character is annoying, and she doesn't add anything to the group aside her usual yelling and be a burden to everybody else. She has no xross loader (this season's digivice), no abilities to support the team, she really has nothing... she is just the friend who tag along, complains about everything and gets nothing done. Seriously, what were the writers thinking involving her in this series? Even her character development is weak at best. Zenjiro: probably the best of the human characters. He is a comic relief and usually he adds nothing more than that. Sure, sometimes he fights with a sword and helps out, but he is mostly there to joke, and that makes him the one who bothers the less, but there's no background nor real conflict, so he is just one dimensional. Shoutmon: I usually group the digimon in just one section, but Shoutmon deserves to be on his own because he might be the ONLY character that could make this series worth watching. Bad attitude, hot headed, a bit arrogant and funny, while portraying some interesting behavior. He gets easily irritated and likes doing things his way, but he's also a good friend. He has many traits that make him feel like a more fleshed out character even when we don't get to know much of his background. It seems as he was the only one thought through. Kiriha and Nene get more developed through the second part (from episode 31 to 54) so it feels unfair to talk about them here, so I'll be brief: both add almost nothing to the series; they both have xross loaders and they have their own teams in their race to get the code crowns, but none of them are more than one dimensional in this first part. Kiriha is the apparently bad guy, but who is not so bad in deep down and Nene is... well, she is just looking for her brother. Make of that what you wish. Sound: Luckily the soundtracks are usually great. The opening theme is catchy, the soundtrack lands almost perfectly with each scene, but sometimes they feel a little bit over the top. However it must have been the part that I enjoyed the most of this series. Enjoyment: The first time I watched I endured 20 episodes before dropping it. Now, a few years later, I came back, trying my best to take it on with good will and I almost couldn't stand it. It rarely drew a smile out of me, it mostly felt like I was watching something meaningless, because it never really changed, it never really used its potential. So far I've seen some positive reviews of this series, but most of them just cover up until episode 9, where there was still hope for this show to become better. When it started it seemed as this show could add some conflict to Taiki, give some importance to Akari and Zenjiro, develop a deep (yet lightly delivered) tone to what happens in the story plot and have the villains flesh out and become compelling. I wish that was the way it turned out, but that didn't happen. Digimon Xross Wars started trying to take all the elements from previous Digimon series and thus it had the potential to take the best of them and becoming a great, memorable Digimon series; instead, it took the worst habits of each series, created a lot of shallow characters that couldn't exploit the potential of the story plot and utterly destroyed the quality that most Digimon series had. And that just makes me sad. Stray observations: -Episode 2: Taik to Shoutmon: “If you want to become king then do that yourself”. Shoutmon: “I need to become one to help my friends.” Taiki: “I’ll help you!”. Well, that escalated pretty quickly. -I don’t remember which episode, but Shoutmon once said: “I think I’m starting to fall for you Taiki!” Disturbing. -There was an attempt to make Taiki a deeper character in episode 10: We see a flashback in which he refused to help a fellow kid and the kid died. It was dark and it gave some good and necessary context to Taiki’s trait to help others. Sadly, in the next scene everybody just laughed out of Taiki being traumatized as it was some kind of joke. -Baalmon was another Digimon that had good fleshed out personality and good background, but as soon as he evolved into Beelzebumon and joined Taiki’s party he just had one function: to xross with Shoutmon. What a waste of a good character. -It takes 22 episodes to finally get to know the relation between the digital world and the human world. This might have been the only interesting fact delivered in the whole show. And that's it for now. I really don't know if I can stand the next 2 parts of Digimon Xross Wars, so this might as well be my last review. If so, thank you so much for reading them, many people have commented about them and said that they were "spot on" which really makes me happy and encouraged me to re-watch them all again, and that was really a wonderful experience. If I do come back, this might be the headline for the next one: Next time: Digimon Xross Wars tries to convinces us it had matured, but destroys any good will with an excessive amount of Deus Ex Machina and the same annoying Kudo Taiki
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Jun 11, 2013
Digimon Savers
(Anime)
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Recommended
You may like or dislike this series, but there's an undeniable fact: Digimon Savers actually saved the Digimon anime franchise, that's why we got the sixth series, Xross Wars. People who dislike (or even hate the series) are usually 2 types of people: 1) people who saw barely 3 or 4 episodes and abandoned it and 2) people who watched it from the beginning to finish annoyed by the fact that this series is way too different from the previous Digimon series. The first I can understand, as Savers doesn't have the strongest first arc (like every Digimon series), but the second one I don't:
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every single Digimon series is different and distinctive from each other, so what if this one is more mature and darker? I think that is one of the strengths of this series, because it aimed to those children who grew up watching Digimon, offering them something they can almost equally enjoy, with new layers of depth, great character insight, darkness of despair and the always reliable power of believing in your dreams: now that is a Digimon series! That is what made Adventure so rich, and amazingly executed, even when it was a bit lighter. I respect the people who say that they don't like this series, because I accept we may not share the same taste, however if you look at the execution, everything here works in every level, and we'll see why now:
Story wise: Savers have 4 distinct story arcs. The first one relays too much on the comedy side, but the following 3 goes deeper into the drama side (while never fully abandoning its comedy roots) and delivers some really deep emotional moments along with satisfying story arcs and some tearjerkers moments. First arc, DATS: From episode 1 to 11 we have an episodic format, a case of the week if you may, in which our DATS member have to face Digimon cases and handle them "quietly". Here we are introduced to our main trio, Masaru, Yoshino and Tohma, and their digimon. These 11 episodes are way too light on the drama and character background side, only foreshadowing for later, while being too heavy on the comedy; every Digimon series starts slow, so I guess the choice to rely on comedy was made in order to make it more passable, however it is because of this that the first inserts of drama feels out of place, but everything changes in episode 12 and then onwards we have an outstanding shounen anime. Second arc, Mercurimon and the inter-dimensional conflict: here is where Savers passes from enjoyable time killer to be actually good to great. We get insight in our characters, the story plot thickens, and we feel like we finally are being told a true conceived and thought through story rather than just random cases. The drama side starts taking over the comedy and I must say, it is good drama, as it develops from what was foreshadow earlier and both story arcs and characters arc start to go along. Third arc, Kurata and the genocide: Here Savers just shows its teeth and becomes great; if by the second arc we peaked at characters depth now we sink into their darkness, we get to see the best and the worst of our heroes, and they start to truly grow and mature by the experiences of the previous arc; we get to see them being reckless, feeling jealousy, betraying, losing faith, but we also get to see them standing right back up, facing their own flaws, and take a step forward against a seemingly hopeless situation, despite their fears, and as the character work is just right, it is incredibly satisfying. Fourth and final arc, Yggdrasil and the crisis: Now, if we already saw darkness in the previous arc then prepare yourselves to go even deeper. Here we are in one of the worst crisis any Digimon series has faced since Tamers; if the previous crisis was seemingly hopeless, this one is even more. Our characters have already grown, they know they have to stand still, yet the doubt is there and as they work out their own issues they find the strength to move forward, and I must say that these episodes are the most moving of the series, and successfully made me cry in various episodes; I know that's just me, but I have to say it, because it aims for a great emotional impact and delivers. Characters: Digimon Savers has great story plot and pacing, but lacks on the beginning. However, it does have something that it is almost flawless: character work. Masaru: In the beginning he is the typical shounen hero, strong headed, stubborn, bad attitude and borderline stupid. His best quality in the beginning is that he is mostly funny to watch and be with, so I can understand some people not liking him. But don't be rash! Even the most stereotypical characters can work with the right character treatment and Masaru is proof of that. As the series goes forward he keeps his bad attitude and he always pick fights, but he grows more considerate, we are shown a background that makes sense with his personality, and successfully goes from annoying to really likeable. He feels like a different person and at the same time he's still Masaru. That is the best character treatment we can ask. Tohma: Just like Masaru, Tohma is also stereotypical, but get the best character treatment. Of all the characters he must have the hardest background and it totally echoes with his reserved and a bit arrogant personality. He grows deeper as the show goes forward and episode surrounding him are usually the strongest. He so clearly goes from the “know it all”, arrogant, calculator guy to a reliable friend who learns to trust his friends more than his wits, once again, without ever abandoning his true self. His growth is always in place, his actions are never out of character, and he faces troubles in unexpected, yet satisfying ways. I'll admit it, I have a soft spot for the character, but I think everyone could see all this in him. Yoshino: when your weakest character is still well developed you know you are looking at good material. Yoshino is the lazy yet responsible girl who- in the beginning- have some kind of inferiority complex, which she resolves as the series goes on and becomes an important asset to the team as well as a strong and determined person. The only thing I truly dislike about her is her background; it's not bad, but it's not fully exploited, and as such I would have liked to know a lot more about her family, but this is just a little complaint to an otherwise very well done character work. Ikuto: if there is a character that can compete with Tohma for saddest background it's him. He is a boy raised by Digimon, and as such he is mostly conflicted about his duality as human/digimon, and the series explores this issue with no fear and he grows around it. He goes all the way from wild reckless boy to what we could say is a very mature grown man. His character work is just outstanding, as it doesn't matter how many episodes pass by we see that he is always dealing with his duality as human/digimon, even when he seems to have accepted it, and that's just gold. The 4 main digimon: though the series is called "Digimon" the series focus way more in the human characters and their relation with their digimons. The digimons themselves are all fleshed out with their own quirks and personalities and show growth over the series, but it's mostly shadowed by the amazing character work of the human characters, but you can't stop noticing how much Agumon changed from the first arc to the last, and the same can be said about Gaomon, Lalamon and Falcomon; I won't go into details, but they all grow. Supporting: There are several! And all of them get their screentime and their due development in their limited time. Sayuri might be the weakest link, but she still has her moments as she shows how mothers have to struggle about seeing how their children might get hurt, but acknowledging that they must get hurt in order to grow, and as such she doesn't bother much. The rest of the supporting characters all have their own functions in different themes, and they show develop through the series. Sound: After feeling that Digimon Frontier lacked a little bit, I was glad to see that Savers came back with great tracks. "Believer" is a perfect evolution song as it fits every single character and "Hiari", the second opening, just shows us how this show came from its comedy roots embracing the darkest side of itself while never abandoning important themes as dreams and hopes. The tracks were masterfully chosen and scored. Enjoyment: The first time I watched Savers I was 17 and I loved it, as I was thrilled to see a Digimon series that dared to be as mature as it could be, to tell us a story about teens and their conflicts, and to see them overcoming such incredibly, almost hopeless, situations. I watched again at 19 and I was still as pleased as the first time. Now I'm 21, this is my third time, and I still enjoyed as much as the first time; even if you know our heroes will make it to the end, you can get so much joy out of their journey and their growth that I think I can watch it several times and never be bored. As I said before, I respect people who disliked Savers, but I don't understand them. I've read some of the reviewers who hated the series and they say "this is not the Digimon I grew up with!", now are they talking of Adventure, Tamers or Frontier? They are all different, and what is important is not to be similar, but to manage to exploit the storytelling and character potential that each series has: Tamers is way different from Adventure and still it triumphed because it denied its past and just wanted to create its own storytelling with the digimon elements. Savers does the same, and even surpasses Tamers (and almost reaches Adventure greatness) as it tell us a meaningful story that only lacks a bit on the first arc (with only 3 bad episodes) and delivers satisfying conclusions to each arc. I'll respect your opinions, and so I expect you to respect mine: for me Savers is the 2nd best Digimon series ever made, just slightly edged out by Adventure. Stray observations (funny bits of information I got while re-watching. May contain some spoilers): -In episode 5 we see Tohma bleeding; I think this is the first time ever a human has bled in a Digimon series. -These are the makeup exams Masaru took on episode 7: "Modern Japanese Language", "English", "Japanese history", "Physics", "Mathematics", and of course he didn't know anything about any of those subjects xD -Apparently Masaru likes to play the drum in Rock Band as seen in episode 7. -Every time a family matter is discussed Masaru grabbed his pendant, thinking about his father, which was a very good detail. -Banchouleomon laugh in episode 28 is epic! -Yoshino is so lazy that even in the short training sequence in episode 29 she didn't do anything xD. -Episode 31, Gaomon reaction to Masaru taking credit for Tohma's plan: "It was master's plan" I also got angry at Masaru back then too. -One great Yoshino moment: when she strikes a barrel at a Gizomon she finally shows some backbone! -The Masaru vs Tohma thing in episode 34 felt very much like Taichi vs Yamato from Adventure, it gave me goosebumps! -Masaru to Tohma in episode 35: "Apologize to them with tour life! DIE!" Now, that's the darkest side of Masaru. I applaud the writers for going there. -Gaomon in the finale, bringing tea to Tohma: "It's my own blend. I call it 'my vow to meet you again'" that was so utterly cute that it got me to tears. I want a digimon like Gaomon! -At last, I'd like to mention that, in my opinion, the finale is as perfect as Adventure's and Tamer's finales and left me with a wide open smile in my face. I didn’t want it to end! And that's it. As always, I hope you enjoyed this review. I'll make an effort and get through Digimon Xross Wars (the only Digimon series I dislike) and make a review, so… this might be the headline: Next time: Digimon Xross Wars tries to be every single Digimon series and manages to be none.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Jun 6, 2013
Digimon Frontier
(Anime)
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Mixed Feelings
After the breakout success of Digimon Tamers Toei renewed Digimon for a 4th season, and here they had 2 choices: they could do Tamers 02 (just as they did Adventure 02) or a whole new series. As Adventure 02 mostly failed to keep the audience it would have been a huge risk to do Tamers 02, as it could go the same way, and so Frontier was born, setting a brave new world and timeline, once again starting from scratch. The concept of the series lies in one of the thing most Tamers fans loved: humans becoming one with digimon. The thing is, Tamers did
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this around episode 35, once we knew who the characters were and their story arcs matched this evolution almost perfectly. Starting from episode 1 with that kind of evolution is risky as we don't know anything about the new characters and so it could feel unearned, weird and anticlimactic. Many viewers turned off after just a couple of episodes and I can't blame them, the start is very shaky, but once Frontier figured out what worked and what didn't work it started becoming better. Sadly, it was just a little too late, and so the ratings declined to a point of no return and the Digimon franchise would be buried in the ground until Savers comes out several years later.
Now, is Digimon Frontier really a bad series? No, not at all, but is it great? Again, no. It does many things right and many things wrongs. Let's see the hits and miss. Story wise: The plot is simple; once upon a time, in the digital world, there were 10 warriors who stopped the world from destruction. As a new threat rises, human kids are called to participate on a "game" that will decide their future. That game is going to take place in the digital world and the kids must become one with the spirits of said warriors in order to save the digital world. Now, there's a lot of juice to that plot, you can explore this brand new digital world while adding layers of complexity to the plot by discovering the past of the warriors, what kind of trials they went through and how it affects the current situation. Sadly, Frontier doesn't bother going there; we just follow the children who got a power beyond their understanding. Ok, that can work out too if you have good characters, but character work isn't really that good either (we'll see that later), and the plot moves mostly ignoring any development the children make. Frontier has 2 bad habits: 1) it set character development mostly in filler episodes that add almost nothing to the story, and there's many episode that feels like this and 2) when the plot finally moves it usually sacrifices character development in order to compensate for the lack of movement in filler episodes. As such pacing is really troublesome here, sometimes slow as a snail, sometimes fast as a train, and as such we can't really get to enjoy it all that well. There are two main story arcs, one that takes place for 37 episodes and other one that uses just 13 episodes. The first arc is a mixed bag: the first 10 episodes are outright boring, with simple plot and no depth to it, but as we move forward we slowly start to dip our toes into darker themes and get into the depths of the series. By episode 21 we can see the Digimon Frontier it should have been from the beginning, but as I said it was already a little too late for becoming good, at that point most of it audience might have as well left. As the arc continues, there are some really good moments, but also many that lag, and as such enjoyment is just fair. The second and final arc is also a mixed bag as it starts rushed and only finds real momentum in the final 4 episodes or so, becoming the highlights of the series. The final episodes are smartly crafted and find the right pace to end the series, but anything before that I got through by sighing mostly hoping it would end quickly. As such, I can't think it was a great or even a good arc, it had its moment, but it constantly sacrifices some important character development in order to move as quickly as it can, and that's just a mess. Characters: Just as I said in the story section, this is a mixed bag. This is not the worst character treatment in a Digimon series, but it's not the best either. Takuya is a good lead; he gets the usual broad strokes at the beginning and then is developed into a more complex kind of character. We get to explore his fear a lot, and because of it his bravery feels real. However, sometimes it gets repetitive and one might find it boring, but usually the character work is right. It's the rest of the children who really have the trouble as their development is mostly scattered. Kouji is the cold one who gradually warms up, Tomoki the youngest of the group and the cry baby that grows up (doesn't this remind you of Takeru?), Izumi the girl who is figuring out how to be kind, Jumpei who wants to make real friends and Kouchi who is conflicted by family issues. All of that sounds good and with the right treatment you can get great characters. In fact, in early going Jumpei made a case for breakout character as his issues were the ones that could be pointed out easily and he grew around them. I expected a lot from him, but then the show just forgets it has ever developed this character. And the same happens to Izumi and Tomoki. Kouji and Kouichi mostly get treated as just one character; their background is interesting, and smartly crafted, but they take the spotlight from the rest of the characters and once Kouichi is added in the series every single character moment from either of them have to include the other, making difficult to see them as separete individuals. And also, the more we spend with this duo the less we see of the others, and it seems as if Frontier is all about them, and that just frustrates me as I don't just get bored of being handled the same thing, but I also see a lot of characters who have potential not being used. Talking about potential not being used, there was a pretty strong character combo in early series: Takuya and Tomoki had a great brother’s like chemistry, but Frontier seems to abandon this. The same happens with Jumpei and Izumi, who get a couple of strong episodes together and seem to be a good fit. But the show mostly explores two combos: Takuya/Kouji and Kouji/Kouichi. As such, Frontier hurts itself by forgetting some character with real potential. Still, everybody gets their screen time and we can see them becoming more mature, it just feels... rushed, convoluted and sometimes unearned. Takuya, Kouji and Koichi get the best treatment, the other 3, while somewhat developed, are mostly left in the air, which makes the character treatment somewhat lacking, but with some great moments, so it's only fair. Sound: Though it shares some music that comes from the previous series, it is mostly new music, just like Tamers did, but not as great. It's still pretty good, but some tracks just don't land as they should. As such, it's no more than an 8. Very good, but something is lacking. Enjoyment: very scattered. At times I just wanted to skip episodes because I couldn't stand the slow pace of the fillers episodes and at times I just didn't want the episode to end because I was really enjoying it. Digimon Frontier have a chunk of good episodes, but I'm afraid that the amount of filler is just too damn high, and when the plot moves it also forgets what the filler gets right, the character treatment. So it's really hard to say: I decided to go with "fair", because in the end I'm glad I re-watched, but I don't think I'll do it again. There are great moments, sure, but as a whole there are way too many troubles. Overall, I think this series could have been really great, outstanding, but it didn't really know how to handle it. The fact that there are no digimon partners also hurt most of the audience it built over the years; if the spirits at least talked to our human characters then maybe it could have felt like we were watching a Digimon series. Even when Tamers set a whole new world, we still could recognize it was a Digimon series. In Frontier we get that by the huge amount of callback we get (including digimon from previous series, the crests, and many others element of earlier series), but not really because of the dynamic. If we could see this as a standalone series, without the Digimon name, maybe I'd go easier on it, but we can't due to the heavily amount of callbacks. And even if we could, it still wouldn't be great, as the story plot and character treatment are so scattered. As I said multiple times already, there is great potential there, there are some moments that shows us what this series should have been, but the writers don't dare go beyond the comfort zone all that often, and as such we get a series that is neither bad nor good, it just is. Stray observartions (may include some spoilers): -Through episode 2 to 41 we see Jumpei giving chocolates to a great amount of digimon. Just how many does he had with him before going to the digital world? -In episode 18 we get the mother of callback, as we get to see many main digimon from previous series, such as v-mon, agumon, dukemon, taomon, wormmon, armadillomon, etemon, terriermon, among many others. -In episode 38 Takuya finally explains why they have been fighting, as he says: "Right, we are human, but we are also half digimon". For me, that was a winning moment, as it finally gave some context as to why they have been risking their life all this time and it landed perfectly on context. -Every time, in any digimon series, when someone says "did we get him?" the enemy always emerges from the damage. Every. Single. Time. -As usually, per season, we got to see Leomon dying, this time killed by Takuya. Don't worry, he was just a random enemy, not an ally this time, and so it's not really traumatic. -In episode 26 Frontier decided to do a kind of Snow White story with Izumi. It didn't really work, but it was fun to watch, even though the episode was mostly bad. -It was interesting to see that Kouji has a dog and that he had to take care of a Tsunomon (who evolves later into Gabumon and then into Garurumon); it seems he has a connection with dogs and wolves, as all his evolutions are wolf related. -In episode 31 Takuya outright says he is the main character. Sorry Jumpei, for what is worth I did think you could make it as a great character and lead before the show forgot about you. And that's it! Two more Digimon series to go, and the following (Savers) is one of my favorites, so I'll be happy to review it! Next up: after a long time nap, Digimon reawakens, as Savers come to save the franchise with excellent character treatment and the darkest plot to aim to an audience that already grew up
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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May 31, 2013
Digimon Tamers
(Anime)
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This is the third Digimon series and one that had a very challenging road ahead: after Digimon Adventure 02 essentially failed in the ratings department, another sequel (Adventure 03 if you might) would most likely be unable to deliver the audience the franchise so badly needed. So it was boldly decided that the best way to gain new viewers was to star over, from scratch. And there's no better way to make old viewers watch again that the concept "What if you could create your own digimon?" while also appealing to new ones. As such, Digimon Tamer triumphed and saved the franchise by denying it
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had a past at all and making a whole new world and timeline from scratch. Sure, there are callbacks and common elements, but Tamers (and so Frontiers, Savers and Xross Wars) decided that it was the best to follow its own path. At its best it is an extremely satisfying, poignant, enjoyable and inspiring journey, but at its worst it is drag, filled with awkward, anti-climatic and filler moments, but luckily it only does that bad for about 5 episodes or so. There are at least 15 memorable ones, 15 averages, and the rest are all good. Now, let's see the hits and miss of the series:
Story wise: We have three arcs in this series and all of them are quite different in themes and quality. First, the tamers beginning: this is a kind of prologue that goes from episode 1 to 13. Most episodes are just fine, with some really good characters moments. Every single Digimon series have always started a bit slow, but that's only so we can get to know our characters and so it is understandable. Here we are presented the concept of cards, which is an amazing support system so that the human can aid their digimons in battle, as well as we start to understand the dynamic of this series; it is darker than the previous two, we don't have chosen children, we have children who happen to become tamers, so there's no actual deux ex machina to keep them safe and so the danger feels quite real. Even while in this first arc there is not such an extreme danger, the feeling is there in the air and it will pay off later on. Second, devas: it goes from episodes 14 to 36 and here is where Tamers hit the lowest of its quality (except for episodes 33 to 36 that act as an introduction to the final arc); devas are the worst villains I've seen in any digimon series (and maybe in any given anime). Their motivation is poor, their design is dreadful and they are just plot fodder and not actual characters; we spend so much time with them that they just fall flat to make any impression. The worst episodes of the series features them, they are extremely boring or passable at best. Yet, when you ignore the devas, what happens around is fine or even good to great, as luckily our main characters are treated quite better, and such it is not a deal breaker. There are only 3 or 4 crappy episodes in this long arc, about 2 or 3 memorable ones, and the rest are just fine or slightly good. When you ignore the devas and focus on the rest of the characters everything is fine, but as soon as they appear they drag the show down. Third and final, D-Reaper: Here is when Tamers shines; it is the best arc of the series and Tamers shows us it's not afraid to go dark. We see the worst of some characters and the best of them; we get to feel fear and despair. Remember how I told you earlier there is no deus ex machina? Well, just 3 episodes before we enter this arc one of our character's digimon dies (permanently) and a digivice breaks, something we've never seen before in a digimon series, allowing us to peek at the darkest of two characters just before it pays off for both of them, showing their best character development. As this arc starts both worlds, digital and ours, enter in such a huge crisis that is almost impossible to predict how it's going to get resolve, and to do so everyone have to work together, not only the children and the digimon, but the adults as well, and so we get into a full set war against the new enemy that is filled with despair, but also some moments of hope to make an incredible smartly shaped finale. Everything we see here has been foreshadow before handed, and as such every moment feels earned, it's not rushed nor convoluted, it's just greatly structured and when you add that to some great characters you get one hell of an anime. If just there was no devas, this could have been just as great as Adventure (or even better) Characters: Mostly the character work is great; however there are some misses too here. But let's see each character: Takato: here I just have to applaude the writers. Takato started as a crybaby and a coward, but slowly he became more and more brave, accustomed to fighting, he became considerate, but he never stopped feeling like the same character. Though he changed he still felt like the same Takato. There is a moment when the writers just wanted us to hate him, around episode 32 or so, and though I did hate him quite a lot, I have to say that I loved to hate him, and I also was pleasantly surprised by how they handled it to make a character that came from annoying to likeable to hateable to be likeable again; it's not something any person can pull, and by the end of the series, Takato's character treatment is fairly the best and something that should be praised. Ruki: A close second for best character treatment, just behind Takato, as she comes from ice cold with an "I don't care about anyone" attitude to someone who cares deeply about her friends, is dependable and never stops being cool and badass. Her changes are slow and gradually made, and as such it's never rushed and feels naturals. As she says by the end "humans don't change that easily" and those words fits her perfectly. Her character is just outright awesome! Jenrya: Here the writers made many, many mistakes! Though he is never annoying he is never all that relevant. Sure, he has his moments, but he never gets fully developed; we get just a bit of background in earlier episodes and no more, and he just feels like a character that acts as plot fodder rather than being a fully fleshed out one. Still, he will never be bothersome. Impmon/Beelzebumon: here's another character that started as a broadstroke and got amazingly developed. His background is consistent with his personality and he takes some courses of actions that largely impact who he becomes later and he must endure the weight of the choices he makes. He is by definition the "conflicted character" and when you use a conflicted character right in a show, it adds more layers of deepth to it, and as such this character gets it right! Juri: I'm amazed that she came from annoying girl to what she became later on. I won't enter on details, but after episode 33 we got to really explore the darkness of her character and shows us how even kids can hold up some very hurtful stuff; by the end of the series these conflicts get resolved, yet it is amazing to see someone who was so cheerful in the beginning (to the point it was outright annoying!) showing her darker self and overcome it. Kudos to the writers! The three main digimon: It's important to say that all the three digimon have fleshed out characteristics that makes each one feel real. I won't enter into details, but I can tell you that Guilmon is loveable, yet silly in the beginning and he grows smarter and deeper as we progress, while never losing his cuteness. Terriermon is a relaxed type of digimon who learns little by little to take things more seriously and Renamon is a digimon that rather stays on the background, but just as Ruki she warms up to the rest gradually, while never letting go her characteristic self of staying in the background. Other supporting characters: Tamers have several! It takes focus on others tamers as Ryo, Hirokazu, Kenta, Shuichon, the families of our main tamers and a group of adults trying to save the world, and develops them at their fullest while keeping them at the background. Ok, maybe not Ryo, but the rest all get as developed as they can in the limited screentime they have, and that's something to praise, as not many shows care to do so. Sound: Outstanding. There was a very well made decision here; some of the themes from the previous series were kept while also adding new ones, more techno that goes along with the sci-fi air this series have. Songs like "Slash" fit that really well, and the opening theme "The Biggest Dreamer" is just amazing and fits the series general theme. Enjoyment: As I said earlier there are moments that are a real drag, quite bad to just outright awful, while there are also magnificent ones, specially coming from the last story arc. Still, as a whole most episodes are just good, but considering how extremely satisfying the final arc was, I decided to upgrade it from "good" to "very good", ergo the 8 score. Tamers stands as my third favorite Digimon series behind Adventures and Savers. It made many, many mistakes (I'm looking at you devas...), but as I re-watched it I realized it was worth to keep up with it and to endure the worst of it, because the highlights of the series are extremely good. As such, we can't see this as the masterpiece Adventure was because it is not as consistent as that one, but it surely aimed for the greatest, it was filled with potential and it managed to explode more or less some of it, but not all. Still, it is a great Digimon series, and one worth re-watching. Also, it made possible the herculean task of delivering a finale as good as Adventure did, and that's not a small feat. Stary observations (funny facts and bits of information I got while re-watching, which might contains some spoilers): -Juri to Takato (episode 11): "Always talking about Digimon". Well, I'm 21 years old and I'm here writing these reviews so... yes, always talking about Digimon. -Guilmon (episode 16): "I can do a handstand" Isn't Guilmon the cutest digimon ever made? -There was a ravel callback in episode 18! It was the ringtone from Nami-sensei! I thought it was worth writing it as it was an important song in both previous series. -There are multiple foreshadows: for instance Juri becoming a tamers gets mentioned before Leomon appears, the Ark becoming Grani is also mentioned beforehanded, and so the theme of magic vs data in early episodes, among many others. This shows how much thought and effort there was on this series! -There was a moment in episode 29 where a dog bullied Culumon. I won't even try to understand it. -Kenta (in episode 31): "Sukamon fits Hirokazu" I thought the same! -Episode 45: "Justice Kick" worst ultimate attack ever! xD -Episode 51 (finale): when the digimon left I couldn't help but cry. Also, I smiled when Takato found the gate to the digital world. And that's it! I hope you liked this review! There's much more to say about this, but I won't make you endure it any longer. See you! Next time: Digimon Frontiers took the risky concept of human becoming digimon and failed to keep an audience, almost killing the franchise.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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May 27, 2013
Digimon Adventure 02
(Anime)
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A while ago I made a review on Digimon Adventure, explaining why I found it to be one of the best kids shows out there, one that had smartly developed plot and characters, great soundtrack, good animation, and overall superb enjoyment not just for kids, but for young adults as well. I also said that a 7.78 score was way too low for a series that achieved something as great as developing each character propperly, have the characters arc influence in the main story arcs and present mature themes to little children without being too dark for them. And so the expectations for Adventure 02
...
were far too high; I wish I could say as well that the score (currently 7.34) is also low, that the series is the great sequel Adventure so much deserved. Sadly, it is not, 7.34 is the score this sequel deserves, if not lower (even into the 6s zone). Why is that? Let's see:
Storywise: The storytelling is not bad, but much has changed, including the pace; Digimon Adventure had 5 story arcs, each 10 to 14 episodes long, which allowed it to move at a pace that never felt too quickly or too slow, each arc started and ended properly. Here... not su much; we have 3 story arcs, one of 21 episodes, then one of 17 and the last one of 12 episodes. We find some filler episodes in the first one, some ongoing character problems on the second (I'll fill that in the next section) and a rushed and convulted final arc that tries to make up for what is kind of a lagging season by bombing us with too much material that never gets developed (Demon, for instance). Now, don't be fooled; despite all its flaws the storytelling is still enjoyable, there are still mature themes around and the air of greatness of Digimon Adventure, however the flaws are too notorious and the characters also dragg it down, but I have to admit that they are all thought through, none of them comes out of thin air (give or take the final arc) and they all get somewhat their propper ending. The plot is not as good as the first Digimon series, but the potential is there. Now, why wasn't it fully used? Mainly, characters problems. Character: Here is where Adventure 02 just outright failed. Remember how amazingly outlined the characters from the first Digimon series were? Remember how they were just broadstrokes that got developed into fully fleshed out character and how amazing was that the crest of each character represented the very scent of how they were? Well, Digimon 02 mainly hopes you forgot about all that. We still have our main 8 characters from the first series, but 6 are downgraded to supporting roles, while 2 remain and 3 new character join (one more joins lare on). Now these 3 characters are the main trouble of Digimon 02. Daisuke (aka Davis): he is arrogant, he is reckless, and he is a good guy deep down, we have our most stereotypical hero! Of course, that wouldn't be a trouble with the propper character work, but here there is... none. There is no background to explain Daisuke's personality, whereas in Adventure we had backgrounds for each character. We know he has issues with her sister, but that never gets developed (not to mention we never get to know his parents). As the series goes forward Daisuke changes and matures, for no apparent reason; granted, being in the digital world fighting monsters does change people, but Daisuke's change really came without propper building up. He passed from annoying to tollerable, but mainly he was just plot fodder. But he is not nearly the worst character. Miyako (aka Joley): now here is a character that mostly everyone will hate! Why is that? Miyako is all talk and no action. She is energetic and sometimes you picture her as the optimistic one, but as soon as she get into the real danger she freaks out and it takes her about 5 minutes of screen time to realize she has to fight. As the series progress her character is mostly ignored and she is left with her characteristic energetic self and food lover life personality, with no development whatsoever or any background at all. Iori (aka Kodi): Want someone as annoying as Miyako? Iori might be the one. He is rigid and barely makes an expression, if any. Unlike the previous two, this character does have a background which is not only in sync with his personality, but actually linked with the final arc and despite being kind of interesting, the character himself remains the same for about the whole show, with no actual changes and nothing more than his usual poker face. Takeru (TK) and Hikari (Kari): They came from the previous series, so everything should be ok, right? Sadly no; both Takeru and Hikari are mainly ignored in this series. Takeru has about 3 good character moments in the show in the first arc, and then acts as plot fodder later on. Hikari is... well, I wouldn't know, she really doesn't fullfil any function here, give or take going to the dark sea world or supporting the rest on battle. Ken: Here is a character that actually got good treatment; he is given a nice background which is consistent with his personality, he is conflicted, and while shy he is mainly likeable for showing the brave to move forward and attone for his wrongs. He is the only one that actually gets good character moments and a character arc that is mainly involved in the plot. Sadly 1 out of 6 doesn't make the cut for good character treatment. Music: Gladly, the OST from the previous series remains here with the addition of some more tracks made just for this one, which are good. The opening theme, while not as amazing as the one seen in Digimon Adventure, is actually pretty good, both endings are also good, and the tracks that plays in the new evolutions moments are quite nice (specially the one when jogress evolution is made). So, yeah, still a 10 if you ask me. Enjoyment: For all its faults and failures in the character department, I still think I like this Digimon series. It has some very bad moments that made me ask myself "why am I watching this crap?" Followed by some very glorious moments that kept me on the edge of my seat and reply "Oh, yeah. That's why". Sure, if I had to grade each episodes, most of them would be on the range of C to B-, but there would surely be straigh As in the ways, but sadly some Ds or Fs too. As a whole, the enjoyment is fair: you get some very clunky, cheesy and boring moments, but you also get profounds and exciting ones (thank you BlackWarGreymon! And Taichi and the rest too for that matter), and as such the enjoyement is in thin line between fair and good. Stray observations (funny facts and bits of information I got while watching the series): -Did you know that originally Adventure 02 had 64 episodes, but the order got cut to 50 somewhere around the way because of low rating? Now we may understand why the finale felt so rushed. -There was supposed to be a rivalry between Daisuke and Takeru, but that gets forgotten at some point and then Daisuke just ignores Takeru; and they want to make us believe they are friends... -Daisuke and Ken, Miyako and Hikari, all got some good character moments and emotional pep talks previous to achieving jogress evolution. Takeru and Iori got it by having Takeru tell Iori "have faith: well, that escalated pretty quickly -Demon (being sent to the dark world in episode 45): "you'll regret this". Apperantly this was set up for Digimon Adventure 03, which you know ended up being tamer so... no, they never regreted it. Besides, what was his purpose in the first place? We'll never know. -Ken (in episode 42): "por favor déjeme entrar" Ken, tu español no es malo, de hecho mejor que el de mucho japoneses, pero no deja de ser raro escucharlo. -Best character: BlackWarGreymon, surely, as he is a sympatetic villian at first and then a tragic hero. His arc is also the high point of the series, as he wonders for the meaning of life; he surely got the best character treatment, closely followed by Ken. -Worst character: Miyako, surely, clossely followed by Iori. -Daisuke (in the finale) "I want to have a ramen shop!" Ken: "I never knew about this". Nobody did Ken, and nobody even cared. -Award for most forgotten character from Adventure: Mimi, somehow the writers though sending one of their most developed characters into USA would make the cut. They were wrong. Also, I think Sora was pretty much forgotten too. That's it for now! I hope you liked this review Next up: How Digimon Tamers triumphed by denying it had a past!
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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May 20, 2013
Digimon Adventure
(Anime)
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First of all I want to apologize before handed for any grammar mistake you might find in the review as English is not my native languaje.
Second, I have to say I'm utterly disappointed with the score Digimon Adventure has. 7 is not a bad score, but is way below of what I expected. This is a kid show, and as such it should be scored as how satisfaying it can be to kids, just as how shonnen should be scored as how they satisfy their teen audience, seinen their older audience, and so on. I feel like many are comparing and scoring anime without any ... filter, as if you could score this anime a 5 just because you compare it with Code Geass or Shingeki no Kyojin, which are 9 if not 10s. And that's unfair. Digimon Adventure is a stand out in what refers to kid shows and I'll explain why point by point. Story wise: It is very well constructed, and smartly thought through; there are misteries that are unveiled as we move forward, and every revelation is handled with care and it is affected by how the characters feel about it. There are plenty shows that just try to be awesome by delievering mistery after mistery and revelation after revelation with no care of their characters whatsoever and fall flat in making any emotional resonance, but it's not this one. The story is tightly attached to its main 8 characters and their digimon, while giving us the sense of many plots developing under their nose, but strickly related to them. The first 10 episodes are introductory, a prologue if you may, and then we go fully into know what the world they are in is and how it affects ours. Sure, some people could say "why wait 10 episodes to get to real deal?" For starters, those 10 episodes are not bad at all, they are very entertaining and they give us a sense of adventure (hence the title) and exploration that this anime wants us to feel, and it passes with flying colors. The following 44 episodes follow 3 different story arcs, but all related to the same story plot, all of them linked together, with every single episode affecting the following ones, which mean there is no such thing as filler episode, and that's something we should applaude, as not many kid shows are willing to leave a filler comfort zone (I'm looking at you Pokemon). Characters: Here is where this anime shines brightly. Character development is at its finest here. Each character has a distinctive personality, quirks and even tics that make them feel real, or at the very least smartly outlined. At first we get broadstrokes, but as we pass episode by episode there's an incredible development in each character; they are distinctive from each other and they never act out of characters, their actions are not made in order to move the plot forward, but rather to show us who these kids are, which is great, as many animes (and not just kid shows) tend to sacrifice character insight in order to get the plot moving; this one doesn't. They will always move accordingly to their personalities and we get to see all of them develop. While some others shows would mainly develop 3 or 4 of their main characters, all 8 get to grow in each episode by what happen to them, and even they realize how they grow (and even how they don't, how they might be stuck) and how much they have to move forward. There's a cute concept here that is "values are power" and each character has a distinctive value, may it be courage, friendship, love, sincerity, love, and so on. They grow around these values, but they also get lost in sight of them, when they try to push them they fail as opposed when they let it flow naturally it always work. It's a wonderful lesson for kids, and it is something we all should add to our daily life, it would make this world better. But putting that aside and returning to the characters, there is not even one that's left undeveloped, all of them have satisfaying characters arcs. Sound/Music: Digimon has a beautiful soundtrack. Wada Kouji was a talented musician (rest in peace) and scored some really great songs that made you dream. Digimon is a series that aims for kids to dream and to learn the power of values as well to portraying excellent character development and mature themes explained to them, and as such it needs the right score at the right time, and Wada Kouji just got it right, from Butterfly to Brave Heart, even using classic music as Ravel, the timing is just perfect and while there are surely better OST, this one is among the better ones. Enjoyment: it is highly satisfaying! I'm 21 years old and as I re-watched Digimon after 12 years I enjoyed it as much as I did when I was 9, and that's because I could realize how well constructed it was. Besides, it made feel like a llittle kid again. The plots are smart, the character development is spot on, the music is gorgous, the art may lack a little now and then, but is never too bothersome, and the evolutions are damn right exciting and funny! And so I could keep praising it until I'm left out of words. But I think I made my point. In conclusion: This is defenitely the best Digimon series, as it is the one that gets all plot, character, music and themes right, and delivers them in a highly satisfaying manner. As such, it deserves to be acclaimed, and a 7 is a low score for it. Is this a realistic anime? No, not at all, but it's not meant to be anyway. It is an anime that is meant to make us dream. You can't compare it to, say for instance, Shingeky no Kyojin which explore fantasy elements as realistic as possible or Code Geass, which explores character insight in the midst of war and revolutions. No, of course no, those are targeted for an older audience. But Digimon Adventure is no less satisfaying, and that's because while it aims for children, one can always appreciate how smartly thought are the storylines and the characters development. It is a show that knows its potential and limitations, accepts them and just aim to be the best it can be, which result in being an awesomely made kid show. All in all, we have to see Digimon Adventure for what it is and not for what we might want to be. And as on what it is, it is straight awesome.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Apr 4, 2013 Not Recommended Preliminary
(15/87 chp)
There's absolutely nothing in Cerberus that hasn't been done before. It's a typical shonnen manga: a guy (Kei) gets the powers from a supernatural entity (Yukifusa, a cool hellhound) to protect those around him from demons;, he is strongheaded, dumb, has bad attitude, but he is a nice guy and he has a childhood friend who is clueless of her powers and he cares about her deeply. Does this sound familiar? Anybody who has seen a fair amount of anime must have come across these kinds of elements, and this manga adds nothing new to the mix. In fact, the art is truly poor if
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not pathetic, the story plot is decent at best and the characters don't go beyond their steriotypes And yet I can't stop reading. I actually don't know why, for some reason it's kind of entertaining. Could it be that it's so bad that it's good? Maybe, yet the art is so annoying that it's hard to believe I can put up with it.
So yes, it's bad, but there's one thing I can't deny the manga does well: push the cool button. You see, the transformation the main character goes through to become a Grave Protector (or keeper, they always shift it) is one of the coolest I've seen, and that's why I started reading this manga in the first place. It's so incredibly cool that you just wish this concept was done by a better mangakate, one that could actually pull off a better concived story plot, characters and drawings, but instead... we get this. It's very predictable, it's a pain to stare at the dreadful drawings when you have seen much better (I'm looking at you CLAMP), but the Kei's powers are so cool that I can't stop reading it. I want it to become better, and sometimes I have to admit that the manga is able to draw a smile out of me (mostly due to Yukifusa, the only character that is kind of interesting and refreshing), but so far there is no real indication that it will be more than what it already is. It's too soon for me to judge it, as Rave Master started almost equally shaky and became epic later on, but I don't hold much hope. I'll most likely keep reading (and update this review once I get through it) just because it's kind of addicting, but there's no denying that, at least for now, it's a bad manga all around.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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There's absolutely nothing in Cerberus that hasn't been done before. It's a typical shonnen manga: a guy (Kei) gets the powers from a supernatural entity (Yukifusa, a cool hellhound) to protect those around him from demons;, he is strongheaded, dumb, has bad attitude, but he is a nice guy and he has a childhood friend who is clueless of her powers and he cares about her deeply. Does this sound familiar? Anybody who has seen a fair amount of anime must have come across these kinds of elements, and this manga adds nothing new to the mix. In fact, the art is truly poor if
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