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Dec 26, 2012
Almost every single sports anime share one same thing: incredible, extraordinary and impossible plays in middle of the game, the kind which you can't recreate in real life even if you tried; the only people that might actually do what is done here by some kids or teenagers are those who are in Guiness' Records. So you can't ask an anime of this type to be realistic in tearms of plays and stuff like that, the only thing that must feel real is the characters and what they go through, and at that Kuroko no Basuket does a wonderful job at that.
I toyed a lot
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on wherever I gave it a 9 or a 10, but in the end the 9 is because sometimes the animes spends too much time explaining what we already know, but that doesn't make it any less great.
We're in a world in which Japan is forming wonderful baketball players in high school; there's a bunch of guys who went to the same school and were called "The generation of miracles" because they were unbeatable. Among them there is Kuroko, who seems pretty useless at first, but he is the best at passing and stealing. What I like the best of this idea is that usually the protagonist of a sports anime is so strong that he can actually beat a team by himself; Kuroko can't, instead he makes his team stronger. Basketball is a game played by a team after all, so choosing a lead that actually focus on drawing out the potential of the rest of his teammates is refreshing. The concept is great and the plot revolves (as any other sport anime) in winning tournaments. It's pretty straight forward, but not any less entertaining. Kuroko no basket doesn't need plot twist, only the intensity that each game bring. And why are they so intense? Because of the characters.
One thing Kuroko no basket has done right is developing fully realized characters; none of them is flat, all of them have some kind of background that is consistent with their personalities and so they feel more real, we grow to like each of them (and even hate some) and that makes everything dead serious. If you watch a NBA match and your team wins you feel pumped inside and you feel gloom if they lose; the same thing happens here, you have a team you really like and you start feeling the intensity because you want them to succeed, and everything becomes more real even while there are plays that seem oddly unrealistic, but that only makes it more fun! And I think while other sports anime are known for going over the top, Kuroko no basket never goes there, because the lead doesn't have the ability to show off, not even Kagami becomes bothersome as we're quickly shown that the rest of the team is fairly skilled too and so the anime makes good use of not only the 2 leads, but also the supporting characters as well, creating a great and necessary balance.
In the end, it's an anime that you can easily get into, that you'll most likely enjoy and get hooked. And even while the final episode leave us halfway through the series (or so), there's a second season announced! So don't hold back thinking that it won't have a proper ending, enjoy it because in the world of sports animes Kuroko no basket is at the top.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Oct 7, 2012
I don't easily give 10/10 to mangas or animes. Surely I can find elements that could have developed better or flaws that could be fixed, but that's not the case with Btooom! Why? Because it really outstands most of the animes/mangas that we have around, and reflects the best and the worst of human race in an extreme situation.
The plot is very straightforward: people have been selected for a death game based on a video game named Btooom! and they must fight ala Battle Royale to survive. Has this plot being used before? Yes, but it hasn't been developed as good as in Btooom! and
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why is that? It is because as the manga goes it shows us who these people were before they came to the island, and the way they act is consistent with the type of life they were living before coming to that place. Character's background are very dark, even Sakamoto (whose story might be the lightest of all) has his own dark shades lurking in his past, and they come around in a very mature way. As the characters try to survive in the island they also learn about themselves, they learn about their mistakes and they also come to understand why they have been dispatched to that island and how bad they were before coming to it. Those character moments are pure gold, the way in which they reflect who they are, and the way in which some of them go insane, it all makes us fell like it's real and not just a manga.
The action sequences are among the best I've seen too. Sakamoto is a tactitian, he always approach battles in a smart way and he uses his BIM bombs smartly, which makes the combats both believeable and well executed.
There's an air of conspiracy around the reasons they ended up in the island, and we get to know more about it as the series go on, which builds mysteries that keeps us around while we wait for the next chapter.
In the end, we can say that Btooom! might be one of the best mangas (and now animes as it's being adapted) around, and as such one should embrace all the energy that it brings, all the desesperation, all the wonder on who is going to die first or survive. It brings many surprises, and you're for a very good ride with it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Oct 6, 2012
Update: Now that the series ended, I decided to modify a little bit my review. It's still similar, but I have to recognize some improvement on the series through the second game.
Sword Art Online started with a strong premise and a really promising development at early episodes for what could have been easily the best anime of 2012 and even maybe become a classic someday. I have to say that I was utterly dissapointed in the early episodes (4 to 14), but found some peace with it when it moved on the second game (episodes 15 to 25). Why is that? I'll review SAO comparing
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the two games, seeing their hits and misses:
First Game, SAO: Here we are introduced to Kirito, a character who has no real charisma, and although interesting and fairly well developed through the course of the episodes, he is not really a good lead for the series. He quickly becomes too powerful and so there is no real sense of danger around him after episode 4. The concept of a deadly game is interesting only as far as you sense there is real danger, and you only feel that during the first 3 episodes, and then briefly in episodes 10 and 14. So the concept of a deadly game is not really well developed, it doesn't live to its potential and that's frustrating. Also we have a handful of supporting character that matters little to the story plot and are only briefly developed, so their importance is questioned (not to mention the first real enemy we encounter, "laughing coffin" goes nowhere after episode 10). The real problem here is that there is no balance through the episodes, there a few very good ones, and some that feels like mere filler; and sometimes there's nothing wrong with filler when they are used to explore a brand new world and the make characters interact with it, but SAO has an incredibly slow pace that makes it too boring. The character that actually brings some charisma and makes you want to keep up is Asuna; she is a well developed and really more likeable lead than Kirito, and her relationship with him is actually pretty great as they are not only fit for each other, but also they grow found of each other in every episode, so their feelings towards each other feels really earned. I would say that SAO is more of a love story than a "deadly game" type of story, and it does a really good job on the romance, but when it tries to make us feel any sense of danger towards the leads it falls flat, so the concept of deadly game doesn't live up to its potential and drags the series down with the slow pace it has.
Second game, ALO: From episode 15 to 25, the anime became sharply better. By tossing aside the concept of "deadly game" and focusing on the elements that actually worked on SAO, the anime became a much better version of itself. Characters can now die in the virtual world without being actually killed in the real world. Some fans didn't like this, but I didn't mind because there was no real sense of danger to begin with in the first game, so by taking that away and focusing on the right elements SAO started a story with more likeable and better developed characters; for instance, the introduction of Kirito's sister, Sugu, was spot on, and also after game 1, Kirito became a more likeable lead. The supporting characters aren't toss aside this time, they actually have some importance to the plot; also, the stakes of the game are the mind of the players now, not their lives, which is much more interesting and better developed. The stakes feel more real now, because while we know our lead won't die nothing assure he wouldn't be controlled at some point or that he would fall middle way before the end, so it manages to develop the sense of danger that the series failed to develop in the game 1. Also, for the first time we can switch between real world and virtual world, we learn about how the game affected Kirito in his real life and his relationship with her sister, in a way that is both poignant and also a bit terrifying as Sugu confronts her love interest for Kirito (they are suppossed to be siblings, but they are not actually related, still the feel of incest is there and that conflicts Sugu, which is a more mature theme than most of what the anime initially aimed for and it is developed greatly). There are still some flaws around game 2: the pace is still slow until episode 21, and even though there is better work on the supporting characters they are still a bit boring and a bit flat, but way better than in game 1 for sure.
Summing it up: The first part of the anime starts great and then it has a huge quality fall down, but manages to pick up in the second game. It's really great how the reboot in episode 15 managed to fix almost everything that was wrong with SAO and develop the better elements of the show. The only thing I could have asked for it was for a better villian development in both game 1 and 2, and a faster pace.
Game 1 (SAO) grade: C+ or a 6.0
Game 2 (ALO) grade: B+ or 8.0
Overal grade: B or 7.0
In the end, SAO is an enjoyable anime; the first half is just fine, sometimes it's a drag but not a deal breaker, while the second part of the anime actually fix the many mistakes of SAO and only miss some improvements around pace, villians and supporting character development.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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