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Mar 13, 2013
I really don’t think I can really say much about Azumanga Daioh that hasn’t already been said. Fortunately, unlike Mari-mite, it is well known and well loved, which it definitely deserves.
[Note- I wrote a Mari-mite review right before this one so it was still on my mind...these reviews were originally intended for my blog]
This show is rather genius in its simplicity. It’s just a simply drawn show that is simply about a group of high school friends from when they enter high school to when they graduate from it. The characters are great and their personalities all play a part in making the show very
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funny. I admit that I find Chiyo and Tomo to be grating sometimes…but considering how often they get beaten up with great comedic justice; it evens out in the end. My favorites are Kagura, Osaka, Kaorin, and Sakaki. Kagura is just lot of fun, Osaka is bizarrely odd, Kaorin is a poor beleaguered lesbian fangirl, and Sakaki is the cool girl who longs to be cute.
The opening and closing songs are delightfully weird and catchy and will stay with you long after you finish watching the show. The BGM is also enjoyable in its strangeness.
I can’t give this anime enough praise, it is by far my favorite comedy anime series and it even manages to make me tear up at the end because I hate to see them go after graduation. For the two of you out there that haven't seen this anime yet: you need to rectify that immediately. This should be required watching for all fans of anime.
Azumanga Daioh just makes me happy and that feeling in and of itself is the reason I love anime so much.
Recommended for: EVERYONE!
Not recommended for: People who hate awesome and hilarious things (maybe emo kids?)
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Mar 13, 2013
Note: This review is for all the Mari-sama ga Miteru anime.
Maria-sama ga Miteru- 8
Maria-sama ga Miteru: Haru- 9
Maria-sama ga Miteru 3rd- 8
Maria-sama ga Miteru 4th- 8
I thought the first season was good but wasn’t entirely impressed by it. Luckily, the second season (my favorite) blew me away and I can now safely say that this show is definitely worth a watch. The first series is somewhat slower and quieter than the rest, but it is a nice change of pace from “typical” anime. Don’t let the strange French titles scare you off, it is confusing at first, but it gets easier to understand with
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each episode.
The characterization is excellent and each character has their own unique personality. You won’t be annoyed about any stereotypical characters in this show because there aren’t any! You will grow to like all of the characters presented because they are just so well fleshed out. Well…most of them are fleshed out. I actually don’t feel like two of the original Roses got much development, but since they weren’t the focus it didn’t bother me all that much. Also, there may be one or two character you might not like...(Kanako and Touko perhaps...)
I loved the art in the first two series, but unfortunately they change it in the third series (which is an OVA, confusingly) which I really didn’t like. I thought they looked much more elegant and unique with the original art style. The openings and closings have some weird art sometimes too, making some of the characters look rather bizarre and/or mannish. Some episodes have poorer animation than others, too.
The story is all about the characters, which is my favorite kind of story. If you enjoy character dramas, you will definitely enjoy this show. The music for the show was fitting; though I personally don’t think much of it (it’s all very classical and subdued type music). Unfortunately, because this show is shoujo it does not get the love it truly deserves, whereas tripe like Clannad is praised from on high…for some reason. I really hate the anime fandom sometimes…
Recommended for people who like…
*Character dramas
*Unique characters (no stereotypes here)
*Sorta-kinda lesbians
Not recommended for people who want…
*Explicit lesbianism
*Complex storylines
*Action
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Feb 20, 2013
First and foremost I have to say that I do not understand why the majority of people on this website have given this a 10. You will see what I mean if you decide to read on.
Story- 6
To be fair, this anime, like many others, doesn't really *have* a story. It is mostly character driven. So, I can't really say much about the story you can't read in the synopsis.
Art- 8
Finally, we have some Key artwork that doesn't make me shout "OMGWTF IS WRONG WITH HER FACE?!" In fact, I thought it was rather nice looking, even! Wow! Definitely a pleasant surprise (finally). I thought
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the most attractive character design was Kyou's. I'm not a fan of the aho-gei but it was kind of amusing to see that both of Nagisa's parents had them, too, so it was genetic, I guess?! XD The backgrounds were nice, I suppose, but to be honest I wasn't really paying attention to them.
Sound- 6
I don't remember *any* of the background music so that automatically made me think of it as average. Additionally, I did not like the opening theme as it just sounded "wrong" to me. I noticed later on in the credits that it was a remix, which I rarely like anyway, so that may be why. I have not heard the original song, though, which may not be good anyway. The only thing that pushed this one point in the positive direction of average was the ending theme. Was it good? Um, I don't know. But it gets stuck in your head! After a few episodes you will not be able to stop singing it. I would find myself just doing random stuff in my life and singing that damn song.
Character- 7
As you have probably guessed by my art comment, I hated both Air and Kanon. So, imagine my surprise when I actually had a bunch of characters I actually liked in this anime!
Akio and (Youhei) Sunohara are both hilarious, though for different reasons. Akio is the doting father who says things like "Welcome home, fruit of our love!" to Nagisa, and Sunohara is the dumbass side kick who has some amazing facial expressions. The male lead, Tomoya, is actually likeable, which also surprised me. He helped with the comedy a bit by facilitating some amusing misunderstandings throughout the entirety of the show. The fact that I can even talk about several different male characters makes me happy, as both Air and Kanon only had ONE male character (worth mentioning), which seriously rubbed me the wrong way, as the whole world seemed to revolve around them.
The female characters aren't as consistently good as the male ones, but to be fair, that might because there are more of them (of course). I found Fuko to be annoyingly childish with an annoying voice and annoyingly loli character design to match. Plus, her story arch is ENTIRELY POINTLESS. No, really. That isn't my opinion, it's a fact. You'll see if you decide to watch it. Plus, if you take two of the story arches from Kanon and breed them...this is what you get. It is stupidly unoriginal. Then, there's Kotomi, who's storyline I also thought was somewhat pointless and also reeked of Kanon storytelling. She's sort of cute I guess, but she doesn't really add much to the show in my opinion. (I already ranted about this in my blog, if you'd like to read it. But, be warned, there are spoilers.)
However, when Clannad is not shamelessly copying Kanon, it manages to create some good characters. I felt the strongest female character was Kyou, who was both pretty and interesting. The combination of her straightforwardness, protectiveness towards her little sister, and inner turmoil was nice. Next, I felt Tomoyo was sort of interesting at the beginning when her shtick was that she could beat the crap out of you, but she ended up being pretty bland. Finally, there is Nagisa, who isn't particularly interesting, but she is a "nice" character. If nothing else, the rest of her family made her more interesting, which is good because they are an integral part of what makes this show good.
Enjoyment- 7
Most of my enjoyment from any anime comes from how much I enjoy the characters, so, naturally my character and enjoyment scores are often the same. That being said, what I enjoyed most was the comedy (mostly thanks to the male characters), the not-ugly artwork (despite it being from Key), and Kyou. But at the same time, I did not enjoy Fuko or Kotomi's story arches at all, so that brought my enjoyment down quite a bit.
Conclusion: Overall Clannad is good and enjoyable, but does have some major flaws. I cannot fathom why so many people give this a perfect score.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jun 29, 2012
Mawaru Penguindrum is ....huh?
I'm glad that I watched it, it was certainly entertaining, but I am not sure I liked it.
Who should watch it:
*People who like Kunihiko Ikuhara.
*People who like trippy and beautiful anime.
*People who like to engage their mind while watching anime.
*People who like penguins. :P
Who shouldn't watch it:
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*People who don't like thinking "WTF???" throughout the entirety of an anime. (Yes, even and especially the ending)
*People who are easily creeped out. Stalking is a major theme of the anime, with incest and rape sprinkled in.
*People who are looking for a lovable cast of characters...likeable characters are few and far between.
Art/Animation- 10
I love how Mawaru Penguindrum looks, it is beautiful. This anime isn't related to Shoujo Kakumei Utena at all (other than sharing the same director) but I found a couple of characters physically reminded me of two characters from that show. (Masako reminded me of Juri and Shoma reminded me of Miki) As with Utena, there were lots of very strange and interesting visuals as well. Replacing the "shadow girls" of Utena was the idol group Double H who ran in little advertisements on the subway the characters took everywhere. I also enjoyed the crazy "transformation scene" (for lack of a better description) and how the background characters were drawn (as bathroom sign figures!). The openings and endings were all beautiful to look at and visually interesting, definitely unskippable in my opinion.
Music- 9
Not all of the songs are original songs, about half are covers from a band called ARB, but they all fit very well (I was surprised to learn that just now, heh). This makes sense now that I know this, since one of the lyrics in "Rock over Japan" is "I'm just a rock and roll man, we're just a rock and roll band." despite the fact a group of 3 girls is singing. XD I am a huge fan of original songs so, I'm a fan of the first opening and ending songs in particular. (Unfortunately, I don't like the full versions of the openings as much as the tv sizes...they go on for far too long and have filler in weird places. o.O) Both the animation and the songs for the opening and closing fit the tone of the show very well. My absolute favorite song is "Gray Wednesday" (or Haiiro Suiyoubi). It is a very pretty and sad song, and is used quite a bit throughout the series (as it should be). I also enjoyed "Rock Over Japan" as it played during the aforementioned visually interesting "transformation scene." XD I'm definitely getting the soundtrack!
Story- 8
Obviously I can't say too much about the story without spoiling it, but it is definitely an interesting one. If you like surrealism, mysteries, drama, and general weirdness, you can't go wrong with this show. I, personally, could not make much sense of this show, though. I was confused throughout the entire thing and I didn't take much away from the show, unlike Utena, which is my favorite anime of all time. So, maybe I unfairly judged it based on that, but there isn't much I can do about that....whereas Utena is full of symbolism and ways to interpret it, this show is just....what? WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO SAY KUNI-CHAN??? I honestly have no idea. Which wouldn't be so bad EXCEPT....
Characters- 3
The characters. Oh, god, the characters. I found exactly ONE character likeable in this show. Well, not counting the penguins, they were pretty awesome. XD The characters, save for maybe one or two, are completely unrelatable because they are just so fucked up. We've got stalkers, a kidnapper, terrorists, incestuous people, and even a rapist! Sounds like people you can root for, right? I mean, compared to those other groups I just listed, incest doesn't sound so bad, right? When you can say something like that, there is definitely something wrong. And, I'm not saying incest can't be compelling, it can be (I am a fan of the "Flowers in the Attic" series of books by V.C. Andrews for god's sake. o.O) but....no. Here it is not.
Overall- 7
Overall, I found this show to be "good" as far as the score on here goes. I really wanted to like it more but I can only like a show so much for its visuals and music....it needs to have coherent substance (it does have substance, but coherent it is not...) and likeable characters. I cannot stress that last part enough. If your characters are not likeable, why the hell should I care about your story? I know that sounds kind of harsh, but I love you Kuni-chan! I expected so much more from you! D: I am disappoint.
Recommendations-
*Watch this if you like Shoujo Kakumei Utena / love Kunihiko Ikuhara like I do.
*If you haven't watched Utena, GO WATCH IT NOW! It is far superior in all aspects to this (well, except visuals...but it is from 1997, give it a break! I still love the art, anyway.)
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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