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May 8, 2019
There’s a reason that when people talk about this show, it’s almost entirely about how beautiful the show it. I’ve seen this show compared to (the philosophically empty) Haibane Renmei, and they are very similar - Land of the Lustrous leans more into a Buddhist aesthetic than Haibane Renmei’s Christianity aesthetic. I don’t generally talk about the content of shows so that people can experience them for themselves, but the actual show demonstrated what I thought better than I can articulate it. The main character, Phosphophyllite (Phos for short) is incredibly soft gem who cracks and shatters at the drop of a hat. Every other
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gem in the same… academy (?) as them literally hates them. They think Phos is annoying or useless, and Phos does very little to make the audience think any differently for it. Now, in episode 3 (after Phos has gone between screwing things up or being annoying), they get swallowed by a giant snail and become shards in the snail’s shell. After this, literally everyone in the cast is like, “Is it even worth putting Phos back together? Should we even bother? Phos sucks.” and I ABSOLUTELY agreed. The next time the plot happens to Phos, everyone goes back to hating Phos. What was the point? It seems like even the author agrees, because Phos loses their memories and gets a character rewrite to be a quiet badass not even 3 episodes later. “Mysterious” master of the realm who decides the rules for no known reason, “how did we get here?”, main character that is as dull as they come, “why are we here?”, and side characters who do little but distract from the plot are both trends in this and the slightly better Haibane Renmei. The soundtrack and visuals are both absolutely stunning, but I can’t recommend it based on how pretty it is.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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May 8, 2019
My first foray in the ultra ubiquitous Fate series! I can't believe this is what people lose their shit over! Gen Urobuchi already has a permanent spot on my shit list for when I watched Suisei no Gargantia empty a whole clip into its own foot halfway through the season, or when Psycho Pass was worse Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex for entire 22 episode runtime. Two leads are setup to be these very interesting morally grey characters with complex reasons for being the Holy Grail War... and then the plot proceeds to do literally nothing with them. We learn very little about
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them (or practically any other character, for that matter), and very little happens to advance the plot either. Because Fate/Zero came out after Fate/stay night it seems to assume you're already familiar with the world, the rules, and the other characters/families in the Holy Grail War, so it does not give an explanation for any of these things, while talking down to you about everything going on. It seems to think having the show stop dead in the middle of the runtime to have an episode starring Rin from F/sn to reiterate that the bad character is bad. I didn't forget, Urobuchi, you're just a bad writer, and I don't care if Rin is here either, can the plot go forward? Several people attempted to argue with my opinion that the show was poorly written (and not even written for some parts of it), by spoiling almost the entire second season because they didn't remember most of the plot is regulated to the back half of the story, or outright telling me that the second season is akin to the second coming of Christ. Slow shows are fine. Nothing except set up happens in the first season.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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May 8, 2019
This was the show Time magazine put on their list of the best shows of the year? This one?? I'm not generally a fan of CGDCT shows because they're never as heartwarming or as funny or as well written as they claim they are. The story is fairly straightforward, which is not a bad thing, but it does mean you can guess each plot beat before it happens. The comedy was bland at best (and mostly consisted of the already shrieky main cast being SURPRISED! AND! SCREAMING!), and the characters didn't ever amount to anything past their basic tropes. The plot bizarrely does nothing until
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episode 7, instead focussing on building characters relationships (and barely doing that either). Compared to the emotionally charged character growth in After the Rain, the lighthearted warmness of Hinamatsuri, or the emotional complexity in the relationships in Violet Evergarden, I think whoever named this the best of the year missed the actual best shows of 2018.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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May 8, 2019
All of the bad parts of shounen in one 12 episode package. Baseball, former delinquents, an annoying MC, tokusatsu hijinks, aliens, boring mystery subplots, references to how much we LOVE! Shounen Jump, and jokes that fall all the way flat. Suffers from Shounen Jump shounen disease where none of the arcs and characters matter when the next arc starts. The main character is absolutely unbearably smug and unpleasant, and even hearing Takehito Koyasu's sexy voice as one of the like, three recurring characters was not worth it. A charmless version of the things that make Shounen Jump shows so accessible and beloved. The entire time
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I watched it, I kept thinking about much it reminded me of Gintama - an infinitely better version of all of the same elements presented in this trainwreck.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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May 8, 2019
A decent premise spread way too thin across 12 episodes with little else in between. Reminds me a lot of Skilled Teaser Takagi-san, in that the dynamic between the two romantic leads is also incredibly uneven. Miyuki (the male lead/romantic interest) only gets the upper hand when Kaguya has screwed up, gotten distracted, or embarrassed herself without him doing anything. Kaguya also has anime ice queen rich girl tsundere syndrome and rich people with neglectful parents disease. Every other character is okay at best. If you're really into high school romcoms, the first 4 episodes are quite good before the series wears out its welcome,
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and falls prey to Second Season When bait. By the end of the 12 episode run, the leads have gotten only slightly closer, and it closes where the first episode put us - right back at square one. The good parts remind me of Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun, but the bad parts remind me why I dropped Skilled Teaser Takagi-san.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Jun 1, 2017
Note. I watched Haibane Renmei as part of a tiny anime watching "club" with my real life friends. Someone chooses an anime every month. Everyone watches it and does a review. May was this. I watched the last 4 episodes (10-13) in one sitting, and found myself getting genuinely angry with how the series was turning out, since I liked episodes 1-9 so much. So, after angrily pacing around my living room stewing about how much the series reminded me of things in my own life, I wrote this.I'm very into stylistic writing for things that are, well, MEANT to be stylistic. I should
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probably be embarrassed about this. The tone here is meant to be condescending and sound pretentious, but I think overall my feelings are conveyed about this show, despite it being wrapped up in layers of snotty, pretentious style. It's mostly venting. I wonder if anyone else feels this way about this poor show that didn't deserve this.
Hello, class. I'll be your professor this semester. Please open the syllabus to the first page, and let's begin.
Where did we come from? Why are we here? What's after this?
Now that we've opened our syllabuses, let's begin covering some topics for our class. Welcome to Intro to Philosophy 101.
Haibane Renmei is a raw, dreamlike introspection into the theory of existentialism. The perusal of what makes a person a person. What makes us, well us? How do other people perceive us? Do other people see my values? My morals? My wills?
Wait. I've heard this before.
Haibane Renmei is a show based more around evoking feelings, memories, thoughts, familiarity. The Romantic. The Gothic. The juxtaposition of realities and thoughts.
Wait. I've heard this before.
Haibane Renmei asks the question: have you ever said something you knew would cut someone directly to the bone, on purpose? Have you ever felt you weren't good enough for your own (heavily skewed, unrealistic) goals? Have you ever been unable to let things go?
Wait. I've heard this before.
Haibane Renmei is foundations of philosophy, simmering just beneath the surface. It's dulcet music. It's messy, just like real life.
You know, I remember the paper you turned in last semester, Yoshitoshi ABe. Plagiarizing is punishable by expulsion, even if it was your own paper. I remember Serial Experiments Lain, you're not going to fool me.
Haibane Renmei does very little for me. I've already seen Lain. But that doesn't explain all of why I don't care.
I have to explain a concept first.
Have you ever judged someone for not having the knowledge you gained yesterday, today? Have you ever lived through something, done something, gained something, learned something, and looked down upon someone who hasn't lived it, hasn't done it, hasn't gained it, hasn't learned it?
It's a pretty shitty thing to do.
I do it a lot.
I'd describe myself as a pretty condescending person though.
Haibane Renmei does very little for me because while the climax of the story is focussed on the only characters who got more than basic (though sensible) archetypes for their personality, it's something I've already done.
Reki's struggle with her own inner turmoil is very fiercely human. Rakka's too.
Perhaps I am too cynical. It meant very little to me to see my own problems from years past played out on screen. Maybe it's because I have done all of these things. Maybe it's because I still feel hurt at things I have done in the past, things I have said, things I have lost, things I can't piece back together- things would cast me in a terrible light in the eyes of people I care about, people I love, people I set on pedestals, people I've lost, people I want to think about me; or maybe I'd even cast myself in a darker light in my own eyes.
Haibane Renmei mostly evoked feelings of annoyance.
"Yeah, me too, Reki." "Yeah, I've been a dick to people I love too, over something I thought was more important but hindsight is 20/20 what a dumb thing to do." "Maybe I shouldn't strive to live up to other's standards of me that are incorrect and make me uncomfortable." "Maybe I should get a giant magnifying pair of glasses to see past my own fucking nose."
Perhaps I'm too cynical for a show like this. Perhaps I am too wise, too knowledgeable, too vastly smart for a show to throw the largest, most heard, asked, scribbled, questioned, pondered, meditated, thought, unanswered questions in philosophy at me and not have me roll my eyes. I've already lived this. I'm judging you.
I already graduated from this school of thought. This is why I'm the professor of this course.
Haibane Renmei is a show that focuses on guilt, friendship, loss, and depression. The characters are well-structured archetypes, but does nothing past their archetypes. They are never fleshed out. Characters are presented only to drive the plot around Rakka and Reki. They are given beautiful, crisp wings and glowing halos because ABe thought it would look cool. This show is style over substance.
The major points at play are steeped in sensibility and grasp at the edges of real feelings, real personality, but it says nothing about it. Philosophy is only theory, but reality is really here, and really real. Life is messy and raw, but this feels like a 1st draft, not something that should be the final product. It does nothing new with its meditation on philosophy, or existentialism, or thoughts about perception of oneself. This show is heavy-handed with what themes it does convey (what is my perception of myself? what is others perceptions of me? what's after this? why am I here?) but not unpleasant.
The show is wrapped up in its own pretensions. It is very pretty, but it's not worth holding up to the light.
My pretentious review of a pretentious show will save you 13 episodes.
But I'm probably being unfair. I've already done this. If you had shown me this when I was younger, dumber, not as critical and harsh, I would have liked it. This show for me is old hat, and very unfairly so. This is an extremely biased review. I didn't like it because ?????.
Watch Angel Beats! if you want a more fast-paced, dumbed down, but coherent version of this. Watch Lain if you want something that truly has a hairs breadth of its themes regarding self and identity.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Mar 31, 2017
I'd place Ben-to somewhere between being a typical shounen, and a typical harem show.
The anime definitely tries to get far on a far-out concept and initial reaction of "ha-ha, it's about fighting about half-priced bento isn't that crazy?", but doesn't ultimately have enough style or sustenance to ride out 12 episodes. It relies pretty heavily on the hype of it's gimmick (and it is definitely one hell of a gimmick) then it does trying to flesh out it's characters or plot. The novelty in concept wears thin pretty quickly when there is no tension in the character interactions, or plot.
The characters are all typical
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shounen or harem fare. Though past being an average high-school self-insert type, the MC is as dense as some others in the harem genre. He does remain the typical everyman dragged into a strange new world by several cute girls, and adapts quickly and with minor stumbles. Remains to be the butt of jokes by every girl in the series at all times. The girls are all mean to him at virtually all times outside of the fights because. Just because, there's no end to that sentence. They're just supposed to be because he's the lone male MC that is human trash.
The girls are pretty much all typical run of the mill copy-paste character types one would encounter in a show like this. There's the stoic one, who is smart (though dense when it comes to social interactions), cool, and a bit of a badass. There's a glasses-chan best friend type who is obsessed with bl, and her gimmick is making everything about bl. Cousin from MCs youth who is very invested with putting her boobs on the MC at all times. The twins, who embody every trope about twins in one fell swoop, twincest, one is dumb, the other smart, one is a crybaby, one is serious, etc. And then the younger, almost moe, plucky cheerful unlucky one.
Outside of the fight scenes, there is nothing especially worth talking about. The show desperately tries to get us to like the characters, but does nothing new with their tropes, and keeps interactions between them fairly standard for the harem genre. It doesn't break any boundaries or toe the line outside of the formula.
The animation and character designs are pretty standard, nothing new or innovative, nothing especially strange. The show isn't ugly by any means. All the characters are nice, if not a little uninspired. The fight scenes are nice and well-choreographed, but with such uninvesting characters, it definitely lacks tension.
The music is fine, if uninspired. The seiyuus all seem to put in some good work. I'm always a fan of Emiri Katou and Yui Horie, so it's always nice to see them show up in things.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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