- Last OnlineMar 5, 2018 3:49 AM
- GenderMale
- BirthdayApr 20
- LocationModa
- JoinedAug 31, 2014
RSS Feeds
|
![]()
Apr 22, 2015
Ghost in the Shell 2nd gig, second part of the Stand Alone Complex story-line of the Ghost in the shell franchise, is one of those anime which aren't usually talked about much, but of course, you might have heard about it but not too many discussions around. Now does it deserve more recognition or it just wasn't worth noting? Oh who am I kidding, I gave it a 9, of course it does, its not perfect though, but still close.
This is the 2nd part of the Stand Alone Complex story-line, so you would expect some improvements over the first part/season, and thats just what
...
it did. The series had quite a cast of characters, and it's quite visible that they put some effort into making them all distinct, and unique, they did quite a job at that. The main plot focuses on only The major (Motoko Kusanagi), Togusa and Batou, and in the first season they left the rest of the team left out, however, in 2nd Gig, they tried to fix that and they made some time for some of the other characters. Although they left out two of the team (Borma and Ishikawa), but nevertheless, they did a good job with the other characters.
The story is mainly episodic but, unlike the first season, this time, they actually all get connected nearing the end. I felt like shows a lot of Motokos past, along with some of the other characters, making them more memorable, the only complaint I have on this, is the lack of screen-time for the supporting characters, but still that didn't stop them from being distinct or memorable. Some of the side characters had their own episodes showing their pasts, but during actual events they don't really show much. The villain is amazing, the story itself connected really well and went smoothly, even though it has a lot to do with politics, and cyberpunk themes at the same time, it makes it interesting.
The concept of a "Stand Alone Complex" is great, its may give people who don't like episodic in general some ammo to dislike the concept, especially in first season, but in this, its more connected, the singular stories are even better, and you would just know how important every episode is while you watch it.
There's not much to say about the animation and music. The OST was brilliant, done by Yoko Kanno, it is beautiful, I could listen to nearly every track in the OST alone, and the opening "Rise" by Origa added a great touch to the anime, and better yet, the opening video isn't in that hideous 3D animation like the first season, its animated just like the rest of the show, it fits perfectly and gets you excited for the anime, and as for the ending "Living inside the shell" by Steve Conte, was not only one of my favourite endings, but also one of my favourite songs in general, I loved his vocals from the Cowboy Bebop OST, actually, I think 2nd Gigs OST rivals cowboy bebop. The only issue I found in the music was that the ending didn't have any animation, if they had anything for us to see like pictures of the characters like the first season, but still, a great song, and nearly all the music in the OST is amazing.
The animation was quite fluid, and its art style really fit the show and the theme, but for some reason, I didn't really notice or just stop to look at the animation or the art in general, except on some parts where you would notice how beautiful the faces were made, but at other times its just bland, doesen't really captivate you, but still pretty goodlooking.
In overall, this is not only good for its own story, it gave us a whole new story and still somehow maintained a good link with the first one, fixed nearly all the flaws of the first part, such as showing more of Section 9 team, and making the villain much better, it didn't exactly go all the way to making a perfect anime, but its still amazing and I highly recommend it.
The first part is still amazing, this just gets better.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
What did you think of this review?
Nice
 0
Love it
 0
Funny
 0
Confusing
 0
Well-written
 0
Creative
 0Show all
![]()
Apr 19, 2015
Persona 4 the animation is based off the PS2 Role-playing game, Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4, the 4th installment in the Persona series. Every Persona game follows a separate story.
The Anime (and game) revolve around a Highschool student, Yuu Narukami, whose parents both have to travel for work, send him to a town in the countryside, to live with his uncle. As he settles in, a bizarre string of murders begin to occur where bodies are found hanging from television reception antenna.
A huge chunk of the game was made up of Visual Novel elements though, precisely the 'Social Linking' parts, where the players character
...
gets stronger from hanging out and meeting with people around his community, widening his social circle, and whats best about this feature is that the player (for the most part) kind of chooses how to reply/what to say and/or do with the characters, making the dialogue and story really flexible.
Due to Yuus dialogue being completely controlled by the player, that made it quite hard to make fitting dialogue from scratch, even in the game there were only simple choices and the talking was mostly done by the other characters which made him seem to be really silent, which I really didn't care for, considering he was the protagonist.
The remaining cast of characters, on the other hand, were great. They were all different from each other, all having their own issues which the protagonist helps them with, and these issues were all, in one way or another, connected to the main plot, were all very diverse in general, making some of them quite easy to relate to, except Rise Kujikawa, who I found to be quite cliched, but the anime does a great job in developing all of them, the characters were all well done overall, the were different, lovable, and most of all, human.
I found the main plot being quite predictable at times, but that didn't really affect it, as the story was built upon the characters, and made a great ride to see them all progress through the mystery of the murders.
To make up for all the parts in the game where characters developed, they made a few episodes that don't focus on the story much, but rather on character development, these episodes were fun, and really helped the characters grow, and helped the anime live out the theme where "Bonds of friendship make you stronger". And don't worry, it doesn't have any shounen-style friendship asspulls. Here, its all serves for character development.
It's ending got dragged a bit too much, making it a bit anti-climactic, and it really lacked in the side characters who were only in "Social linking" part of the game, and it didn't do well to explain parts like the 'Velvet Room' as untranslated game mechanics. They were interesting but never explained. Which really wasnt cool.
It's good as an anime, but not as an adaptation. I don't think you would get the same depth as you would in the game, but as an anime, it definitley stands great on its own.
Not too special, but worth a watch.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
|
