- Last OnlineSep 16, 2017 8:21 PM
- GenderFemale
- JoinedJun 25, 2014
RSS Feeds
|
![]()
Jul 12, 2014
Where do I begin to describe this anime, known as Elfen Lied? Well, a lot of places, because of the fact I love how this anime was presented to its viewers. This is anime is famous for its high intensity of blood, gore, and cruelty. A lot would call this series a masterpiece. Some would call it perverted, due its high level of nudity. A lot of people who have watched this have known what they are getting into and that doesn't surprise me at all.
Now, where I stand, I wouldn't call it a masterpiece, because it does have its flaws, every show does. But
...
I don't hate it, I feel quite the opposite. I loved it. The way the story was written in such a fashion, I have never found anything like it before. That is true, one reason being this is one of the most graphic animes I've seen.
Let me get this out of the way right now. The first ten or so minutes of this anime is the most bloodiest thing I've seen since a classic horror movie. You know, Friday the 13th and stuff in that nature. But if you can keep your food down during this period, I am pretty sure you can handle the rest since it dies down afterward, but it slowly builds up over time as you watch.
So, the basic story of this anime goes like this. We have our main hero - well, anti hero - Lucy. She is a Diclonius , a mutated humans with invisible arms called vectors. As she escapes the facility she is in, Lucy is sniped in the back of the head, but doesn't die. She is found later by two teenage cousins, Kouta and Yuka.
The level of gore and blood that was in the first ten minutes is stopped here and starts to build up from here. Along with depressing and cruel back stories to further the story as a whole. Now, Lucy appears before the two teens but as she awakens the personality that was shown early on is no longer there. Kouta and Yuka take Lucy in and starts calling her "Nyu". However, Lucy's psychotic personalty slowly comes back to her.
As for the characters, they're okay. They aren't the best, but they could definatley could have been better. Kouta, for example, I like him but he could have made him more relate able. For Yuka, I wish I could say the same thing. I hated her character. And her love for Kouta just seemed weird to me. Plus, she was just a huge bitch through out the whole thing. Maybe that's just me I don't know.
The art for this show was simply amazing, but it seems really average. The opening alone is what I loved the most. It's has beautiful paintings, but unfortunately it doesn't prepare you for what you are going to watch. I can't say the same for the animation. To me, it was animated like you where about to watch a random shoujo anime. If it was more detailed, it would have been a lot more jarring.
Music wise, the anime was okay. The opening theme for this anime is beautifully well done. I always stuck around to listen to it every episode. The ending I can't say the same. It seemed so out of balance with the opening that I come to dislike it. Some of the tracks on the OST is really good, but not a lot set the scene of the anime, but it was okay on terms of the sound.
Nonetheless, Elfen Lied is amazing. Despite what everyone says about it, I enjoyed this anime so much.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
What did you think of this review?
Nice
 0
Love it
 0
Funny
 0
Confusing
 0
Well-written
 0
Creative
 0Show all
![]()
Jul 3, 2014
Sword Art Online is one of the most controversial anime released in 2012. Since then, anyone how has watched this is on one of two parties. One side say that they love this anime, despite its flaws. And the other side basically can't see anything good about this anime and only the flaws that this anime has.
Now I watched this anime quite recently, as I never heard of this anime until last year. Everyone told me that this was a "must watch" or something in that nature. Now, I'm going to be honest, I tried to like this anime. I did. But it
...
just pissed me off on how bad I thought the anime was.
The story is about a new virtual reality game that just got out on the market called Sword Art Online. It follows a guy named Kirito as he tries to make it through the game safely, as none of the players can log out and if you lose it will cost your life. On this journey, he meets and falls in love with the female lead, Asuna.
From a glance on the outside, it seemed like a really good plot. As a fan of MMO's I was interested in this and considering how much it was recommended to me, I decided to it a shot. But I didn't know what was to come as the story falls into a downward spiral or nothingness. The story was WAY to rushed and put time skips in when it wasn't needed at all. I would have been fine without them, I would have watched the first arc even it was just a season or two alone. There is too much time wasted and condensed to 15 episodes, which by the way was mostly filler. I liked the first two episodes, as were on track. After that, I didn't like where they show went in terms of story. It focuses more on filler than the story itself and that's what gave it a major turn off. As for the second half, it wasn't the same. It was more of a horrible story line and there was focus in the wrong places. The second half wasn't as rushed, but still had similarities to the first half. Also, the story focuses on mediocre plot lines. Kirito and Asuna's romance? I felt like someone was shoving their religion down my throat. And all the others involve nothing to do with the main story itself, like fishing. This honestly feels like a really bad fanfiction, to be honest. I hated that useless plot points became the main plot point. I was expecting a more psychological and philosophical approach to it. Honestly, that would have been a way more jarring story than how it was presented.
Now the characters weren't really that good. First, we have Kirito, our main protagonist of the anime. He is more of a loner and anti-social type who likes to spend time playing video games, more than interacting with people in real life. He is hardly interesting as I continued to watch this show. He was too OP and he had plot armor that you anyone could smell a mile away. In the game SAO, it's shown he can perform moves that humans can't normally do. Then, you have Asuna. She appears in the second episode, who is a new player but could play fairly well. At first, I thought she was going become a bad ass female lead, which I liked. Considering her first appearance, I can probably say most people who didn't like this show can agree. But as time goes on, she can't do anything without her fucking boyfriend and has to rely on a man to save her all the time. I didn't want no remake of Twilight for fuck sakes. And all the supporting cast as well. When they get there chance in the spotlight, all of them somehow end up falling for our anti-social hero, including his cousin.And I'm dead serious on that part. All of the females are weak and useless and literally can't do anything without their FUCKING BOYFRIEND, aka Kirito. Seriously.
The animation was really well done for this anime. And it's one of the only things I really enjoyed. The action shots put into this was splendid and overall great. The boss fights, which is one of my favorite scenes, were great. But other than that, there is nothing else to say about it.
The sound to the anime, however is also a disappointment. The first opening to this anime was good. Other than that, the music wasn't outstanding and none never stuck out to me, which made it worse for my experience. Now for the dub, it was really bad in my opinion. Bryce Papenbrook was bad at portraying Kirito, not that it matters, because I hated his character anyway. The other characters either didn't make a huge impact or they I learned to except them. Since I listened to the dub, I would suggest the sub because frankly I couldn't care less about the dub at this point.
Overall, this anime wasn't very good. The plot takes it's turn and focuses on a twelve year old sight on a romance. The music was invisible and the VA work was horrific. But, there is one thing I forgot to mention. Even though, this show was a complete disaster for me, I still wanted to get to watch this show. Maybe it's because I wanted to see how this terrible show wanted to end, who knows. The point is, this anime isn't for everyone. It's more for the shounen fans out there. There is so much better animes out there! Please don't waste your time on this.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
![]()
Jul 3, 2014
Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni is one of my favorite animes of all time. It's not just of the terror and gore it delivers in its wonderful package, but more for the plot line itself. At first glance, you could say and most likely deny the actions of the main cast, but personally, I don't think that's possible. The show itself is just a simple reason not to judge at glance. Beneath the covers, it covers a dark, horrific and mysterious series, but at the same time, it could be a bit uplifting.
The story of this amazing series follows a high school student named Keiichi
...
Maebara. He had recently moved to the small town of Hinamizawa, and it's not too long before he makes several friends in his class, which at first they seem all cute, innocent and overall happy. But he soon realizes that his seemingly harmless group of friends isn't so innocent as they may seem. What I really like about this anime, is it's very unique story structure. It is divided into "question arcs" and "answer arcs", all of them containing their own story and mystery, while giving great character development in the mix. Now, this is were one of its terrific qualities shine, as the question arcs like to withdraw information. They do hint some clues, but it doesn't really tell you what is fully going on in the big picture. And the answer arcs are usually the question arcs, but told in another characters perspective. At first, I was a bit confused, especially in the beginning, but as I continued to watch I soon caught on to what was really going on and why the murders are happening at all.
For the animation, it's nothing to get excited about. I found it pretty average throughout this series, but for some reason I found that it could have done a lot better. I know Studio Deen isn't the best at animation, I've seen Jigoku Shoujo, Fruits Basket and Vampire Knight, so I know where I'm coming from. But I feel if it was a bit more detailed, I would have liked it a whole lot more than I already did. They use a particular kind of animation when they do this. It was like they were animation a romance anime. The style of the animation doesn't change went the show goes into their dark roots and portray the characters as evil they possibly can.
Now, the characters for this series are great, all of which have amazing back stories. All of them ranging from abuse to death of a family member and other wonderful things. The main cast of this show was really well done(for the most part, I did have times where I wanted to slap a character, but still) All of the characters put on a well, established personalities. Most of them were likable and were relate able and that's what I see in a good character or cast. At one point, one could be the main antagonist of the arc and in the next they could be a simple victim, which defiantly works for this anime a lot. It makes it more jarring than it already is in the first place.
The sound for Higurashi was great in the music department. Where it really shines, however, is the more depressing and mysterious music in the background. Not to mention the sound of a cicada makes the whole thing even better, because during the series, I was on the edge of my seat. For the VA's, I would have to go with the subbed rather than the dub. There were a few voices that I did like(Keiichi, Mion and Shion's were my favorites)and some that I didn't. I didn't enjoy Rika's, Satako's, and Rena's voice. I mean they could have gotten someone to do it better. I've listened to Yuki Cross's VA in Vampire Knight English Dubbed and I didn't like it at all, there is proof there if you know what I mean. The VA's were trying to act cute and innocent, but didn't achieve to the standards of VA's who can do that "correctly"(ex. Luci Christian).
As I stressed a lot of its's qualities, there are some things I didn't like about this anime, besides the voice acting in the dubbed version. I didn't like the fact that it the second season to this anime was not as great. The second season was really good, in fact I kept wanting to watch it because how good I thought it was. What I'm saying is that it was inferior to the first. In the first, there was a lot of terror and gore. The second season is more turned down on that factor and it turns more into a thriller rather than a horror. I wish it could have stayed in it's genre, but it was to continue and finish the story, which I didn't mind at the end.
Overall, it is a wonderful series to check out if you are into a mystery shows. But I warn, this is not for everyone, as it displays a lot of frightful psychological insanity. I would suggest getting prepared before entering the hole that is this anime is. Needless to say, I recommend this to anyone who can put up with a lot of fear, because that is what you will be feeling once you finish.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
|
