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Jan 26, 2022
This show is interesting. It's a very standard action series and rarely ever does anything particularly unique. I felt the same way about the Danganronpa games and yet, just like those, I found myself not only enjoying this a lot but still thinking about it over a year later.
Story 7/10
Akudama Drive can be best described as a Holywood blockbuster turned anime. A rag-tag group of criminals is forced into a job that pits the entire justice system against them. You have your typical lineup (The rider, the fighter, the scoundrel, the medic, the hacker, and the psycho) joined up by a
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woman who they call Swindler, an innocent pretending to be someone else to survive. The pace remains constant from episode to episode as they move on to completing the next part of their job, leading to action-heavy setpieces and some interpersonal drama sprinkled here and there. Like I said Holywood blockbuster. I wouldn't recommend expecting much else out of the story. You get what you pay for so to speak and there is little to no pretensions of being anything more than a fast-paced often dumb action series, which is why I think I love this so much. It takes itself just seriously enough so that high stake moments feel heavy, but is also self-aware of the kind of show it is and makes the best of it.
Art 8/10
The character designs here need a little introduction if you're familiar with Kodaka's popular Danganronpa series with Rui Komatasuzaki once again collaborating with him on this project. Everyone looks memorable with a lot of the classic flair we know and love but still feels distinct from any of the other works he's been a part of. The world design I would argue is the strongest aspect of the art here with some memorable cyberpunk setpieces and gorgeous backdrops. It all feels so familiar yet also fresh, making this alternate Japan a character in itself. The animation ranges from passable to great, stepping it up just at the right moments, and the editing/directing here just has this energy that I don't think I've seen in a lot of series.
Sound 8/10
The sound design is really solid some pretty unique SFX that again adds a lot of personality to the world. Everyone's voice performance (in JP at least) was fantastic, Megumi Ogata does an amazing job as Doctor, and Tomoyo Kurosawa kills it as Swindler, capturing the many changes she goes through as a character. The soundtrack is decent enough, nothing that I particularly come back to, however, both the Opening and Ending are honestly really great. I was not a fan of the opening at first but considering I've listened to it so many times on Spotify, I think it's safe to say it really grew on me.
Character 8/10
This is the strongest part of the series. (honestly the case for any Kodaka work) We have at the start some very tropey by the numbers characters that turn out to be so much more. Hoodlum for instance was the typical scoundrel type of character. Just kind of a very slimy guy but as he becomes close to certain characters we start to see a very genuine side to him that comes through at the end of his character arc. I won't say much more but I was surprised to say that he became one of my favorite characters in anime. Swindler, I mentioned, goes through many changes throughout the show and it was amazing to see such a blank slate character go through so many different phases that flesh her out as a person. I can happily say the character really peaks at the end of her arc and it was such a satisfying scene to see. Not to say every character was great of course. Hacker felt kind of one-dimensional and you can tell how badly they wanted us to like Courier but honestly, I just could not bring myself to care for him. To be fair he is meant to be a sort of faux protagonist, but considering he sticks around for as long as he does, I would have liked a little bit more to him than just being the brooding hero type.
Enjoyment 9/10
I am honestly really bad about keeping up with seasonal shows unless of course if I am watching them with friends, but usually, I forget about a show until it's over if I'm trying to watch it by myself... I did not miss a single week of this show. It was probably the thing I looked forward to the most every week during its run, it was just such an engaging show. It's a show that as soon as it starts it does not stop and some people might not like that. I recall trying to show it to a friend and him being sick of it after the first episode but it was just so refreshing to me for a show to have this kind of energy.
Overall 8/10
Akudama Drive is a satisfying watch. If you're cool with turning off your brain for a bit then you'll be in for a very fun ride that takes little to no breaks. I would only recommend avoiding it if you're not a fan of a million things being thrown in your face at once (which honestly that is completely understandable) Myself I found the show to be an insanely good time and I recommend at least giving the show a chance if you're looking for something fun to put on.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Mar 5, 2020
I can't think of any manga that has kept my attention and desire to read more as much as Red. It's a story with very well thought out characters, a gripping narrative and a fantastic art style.
Story
It's a story you've seen before. At least the basic set up is. It's a traditional revenge story sprinkled with some obvious archetypes and a familiar setting. All that being said, We've always gotten western mixed with some other genre in anime or manga (Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, Gun X Sword, etc...) However, here we just have a straightforward western with perhaps a
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small bit of Samurai film trips in between. As mentioned, Red is a revenge story. However, as the story progresses, we find that revenge isn't so simple. Some of these men have made lives for themselves and moved on which creates a conflict amongst the cast. Some are fine with continuing even knowing this while others are off-put by the senseless violence. They're beats that we've seen before in other works, but Muraeda Keiichi manages to make it feel fresh with a cinematic touch to it not typically seen in a manga. This is especially aided by the next point.
Art
To be honest with you, I was not on board with Red's art at first. Something about the designs just wasn't clicking with me in the first two chapters. However where the art started to really grab me was at the end of the second chapter, and from that point, it was clear that there was gonna be some more flair to it than initially thought. I wish I could post some screenshots I took in this review because some of these panels are absolutely breathtaking. From glorious moments of carnage to gorgeous backdrops and scenery clearly taking influence from classic spaghetti westerns. Muraeda's art is nothing to scoff at. This is a man who clearly knows how to frame scenes within panels without ever making them feel either cluttered or baren. This carries over to his other works as well (recommend checking out Kamen Rider SPIRITS)
Characters
The cast is essentially what really carries the story. As mentioned, the story, for the most part, is incredibly familiar, and some would argue derivative. What really drives this series home is the cast. Red is a solid stoic protagonist, however, despite taking on the strong silent type role, he has moments of levity that help establish his likability. If he were brooding the whole time then he would be a pain to read, but he's overall very sympathetic and even in his moments of cruelty, you understand where he's coming from and why he feels the need to do what he is doing. Angie is a solid female lead as well. She's comparable to Revy from Black Lagoon only less crass and more seductive like Fujiko from Lupin III. She's probably the more derivative of the main cast, but she's still an interesting character and has good chemistry with the rest of the crew. Grey is also a solid character, though I'll refrain from speaking much about him since that's mostly stuff that we learn closer to the end. But he's a great mysterious gunslinger type. Lastly, we have Ieroh who is by far the most developed character of the series. In fact, I would even go so far as to call him the real protagonist, or at the very least, shares the limelight with Red. Easily one of the most likable characters in any manga I have read and he goes through so much development that you really feel this character come to life as you read. there's plenty more character to talk about but It's best if you get to meet them yourselves.
Enjoyment
I feel like I've already let my feelings about this series known, Fuck yes it's enjoyable and it's an absolute crime that it never got an adaptation or an official translation. It's a difficult series to put down and it deserves everyone's attention.
Overall
Needless to say, this is my favorite manga of all time. I'm worried I may have oversold it (the series itself sure as hell didn't) But I truly believe this series is worth reading. Even if you're not into westerns there are plenty of great characters and solid action scenes to latch yourself onto and keep you invested. I want more people to read this series, and I would kill for an anime adaptation or hell, maybe even a live-action movie, but I know it'll never happen. Still, if you have the time, (which if you're browsing MAL you definitely do) then I highly encourage you to read the first 3 chapters and see how you feel about it.
Personal Enjoyment 10/10
Score 10/10
I want Tom Hanks to play Blue in the adaptation.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Dec 14, 2016
I'm currently going through all of the Gundam series in order of release, so far as I'm writing this review I have seen up to Char's Counterattack and I will write reviews for each series and film as I finish them.
Mobile Suit Gundam, a.k.a Gundam 0079, is a Japanese anime released in 1979 created by Yoshiyuki Tomino. After having seen the whole series I was instantly hooked into the Universe of Gundam's UC Timeline. It's a show I wasn't expecting a whole lot out of, but I was pleasantly surprised with how well it did hold up. It's a little
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dated sure, but there are a lot of good things that hold up really damn well.
Story
The set up for the story feels like it's been done numerous times and in the early episodes it drags on quite a bit with some fairly unimpressive fight sequences that maybe for the time were pretty good, but having been spoiled by newer animation I found them to be quite boring. However as the series went on I was rather intrigued with the political situations the series presents. It's less focused on making the antagonists look evil and instead present them as soldiers on the opposite side of a war. Don't get me wrong there are villains in the series but it never presents all of the Zeons as evil bastards, in fact they take time to establish some empathy for the Zeons by showing the way of life that the Zeon citizens and commanding officers lead. This part of the show is probably the best part of not just this series but the franchise as a whole. The whole story is carrying us through this war and we get to see every side of it.
Art
The series has a good art style as we get to see some really nice looking technology design for the time. The RX-78 is arguably the most iconic mech of all time and the ships are all uniquely designed and memorable. The character designs are unique enough to distinguish each character from each other in particular Captain Bright, Amuro and Char. My only fault with the art is some of the color pallets look a little goofy, in particular some of the ships, but that's really only something I can blame the time when this series came out more than anything. The animation didn't age too well either with some really stiff movements for the fight sequences. Though by the final fifth of the series they definitely improve and the climax was animated rather well
Sound
the soundtrack hasn't aged too well, some of the music is cheesy, but the opening is really good and tracks such as "The Long Sleep" and "Gallant Char" remains as some of the more memorable music of the series. The voice acting is quite good for the time, Char's voice in particular is one of the most Iconic voices in the franchise and has voiced him in nearly every iteration of the series he has appeared in.
Character
The Majority of the cast is memorable, Amuro is a rather well developed protagonist who goes through several changes in the series. We get to see him develop from a young boy to a teenager who must learn to be strong in order to survive this ongoing war. I also have to give credit to the series for not making Fraw Bow a love interest seeing as it's so easy to make the heroin just another love interest. Outside of that though I didn't care ll that much for her. Bright Noa was also a really likable character, I wasn't expecting to like him much as I did, but it's really fun to se him deal with his subordinates whenever they get out of line and how has to adapt to his own crew as time goes on. Of course I can't forget about everyone's favorite smug bastard, Char. Char is without a doubt one of the most interesting characters in the series and is also the most popular. The series does an excellent job of masking his true intentions and it's rather interesting seeing what he does and eventually see his true intention revealed. Him an Amuro share a pretty engaging rivalry which reaches it's peak after a certain moment in the series.
Enjoyment
My enjoyment of the series has increased the more I think about it, Especially as I watch some of the later Gundams, I have a much greater appreciation for 0079 and is a great starting point for the franchise. With memorable characters and an intriguing universe, this is the start of an incredible ride that I don't want off of anytime soon.
Overall
Fantastic series, the visuals and soundtrack are a little dated, but It doesn't detract much from the overall enjoyment of seeing this war play out. Definitely worth anyone's time and I highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for a good place to get into Gundam.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Sep 12, 2014
This is my first anime review ever and there were plenty of anime that I was planning on reviewing first, but this is the one anime that kept coming back to my head over and over again. Let me start this review by saying that I did not read the manga before watching this anime. I had only heard the title before a couple of times and I was never genuinely interested in it before. Then one day i was really bored and looking for something new to dedicate myself to and i decided to give this show a look. What
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I got was something really special, something that I hadn't experienced with another anime in a long time. Pure Excitement.
Story:
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure doesn’t focus on one particular story, but rather the different stories of the different generations in the Joestar Bloodline. I thought this was a really unique aspect of the series because it gives us a more broad perspective on the world of Jojo. It also allows the viewer to experience the growth in strength from one generation of Joestar to the next which makes the series feel a lot more epic in scale. The best part about each Joastar's Story is that they are not all focused on one particular genre either. In fact none of the series is focused on a single genre. This anime is a dream come true, containing a little bit of everything. The series contains elements of Romance, Action, Horror, Drama, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Mystery, Psychological, and pretty much any genre you can think of. Another thing I really enjoyed about this series is that while it falls under the typical trope that shounen series always seem to have of throwing in overcomplicated plot points and such, it never feels to complicated until you start explaining it. The series manages to crowd its story with different plot elements yet remains simplistic in the way it presents them, allowing even the most reluctant anime viewer to enjoy what the series has to offer.
Art:
The art style and animation of Jojo is very hit or miss. The the more nostalgic viewer will feel right at home with the over muscular character design which feels very reminiscent of classic manly series like Fist of the North Star and Berserk. Whereas viewers who are more at home with the now common moe style animation may be pushed away by the art style. It shouldn’t be a deciding factor for wether you should watch it or not, but if you're not comfortable with this style of animation, then it may take some time for you to get into the series. Also the openings are just pure eye candy, I found myself re-watching each opening over and over again. The openings are made completely with CGI and while I usually hate CGI in anime, the intros look absolutely gorgeous with it.
Sound:
The sound in this series, is just gorgeous. From the amazing soundtrack to the Over the top voice acting, I found myself overcome with joy. To start off, the music in this series fantastic, including the song Roundabout by Yes which got me really excited as soon as it played for the ending theme. Both openings are not just eye candy, but also a great sensation to the ears. The first opening “Sono chi no Sadame” is EPIC. Very reminiscent of old anime openings that actually had to do with the plot rather than being completely irrelevant to the series in general. While the first opening is more fun to listen to, if found myself enjoying the second opening theme, “Bloody Stream” to be more badass for some reason. The background music is very nice, especially in the first Phantom Blood arc since it has very epic orchestral music during some of the fight scenes, which goes along with the setting of the first arc. The Battle Tendency Arc was much more upbeat and energetic which fit with the 2nd arc's protagonist's personality......Speaking of which
Characters:
The characters are without a doubt the best thing that the series has to offer. There is not one character in this anime that I felt was annoying and unnecessary. Even the villains in the series where so unlikable that they ended up being likable to some extent. In particular Dio who has the most over the top performance in the series. Half the time that Dio was on screen, I felt like I was watching a historical soap opera. Jonathan Joestar (The first Jojo in the series) is kind of boring to me unfortunately. I liked his character since he seemed noble and just an overall nice guy, and I supposes thats why I found him as a character pretty boring. The only thing that stands out about him in particular is his willingness to stay an honest and good person even after all the things that happen to him. Joseph Joestar on the other hand is pretty much the exact opposite. He is probably my second favorite character in the anime (Dio being my first) He has this renegade Han Solo type feel to him which makes it fun to see him act inappropriately along side a pretty serious cast of characters. Even better about Joseph is how even though he can be a pretty big airhead at times in the series, he is a strategic master mind in battle, always looking for ways to outwit his opponent and turn the tables on them. I could sit here all day typing about all the memorable characters that this series has to offer, but if I did, I probably wouldn’t be able to finish this review.
Enjoyment:
Despite the constant praise that I give this series, it isn't flawless (then again no anime is) there are moments where I felt it was dragging on too long, especially in Battle Tendency where it feels like forever for the final battles to finish, but In the end it is an overall enjoyable series with very little to hate about it. If you have been recently feeling that there are just no action anime nowadays that feel epic anymore then this is a series that you really need to check out. I can't guarantee that everyone will enjoy it, but fans of over the top anime will find themselves thoroughly enjoying this series
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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