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Jun 17, 2016
Watching Mayoiga is like opening a surprise package and finding out it's something you so fiercely hate, thus transitioning your expectations into a decaying death. The premise itself is interesting, and there's a sense of an odd feeling of triumph at the beginning because as rarely as it comes, to see a pure original 'lost somewhere' flick is definitely something you can look forward to with excessive hype and such was the case with myself. As a matter of fact, before the spring season began, I had Mayoiga at the top of my most anticipated shows list. But Mayoiga, or rather Trainwre- I mean... The
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Lost Village, turns out as a complete disaster.
Mayoiga begins with a bunch of ragtags together inside a bus heading towards a peculiar place known only as the Nanaki Village. The similarity between all the people, thirty to be precise, is that each and every one of them had a traumatic past of which they were all desperate to escape from. Nanaki Village is a place that is not on the map and no one knows about it, and no one can pin-point the location of the place. Nanaki Village doesn't exist. That is until a mysterious group known as "It's Super Genesis" or "ISG" for short discovers the exact location of Nanaki Village. Various online users who make it through layers of protection of the ISG website, take part in this tour which is branded as the "Start Life Over" tour where people are seeking a world free of hassle and trying to relive their lives, escaping the reality. The irony in the story lies in the fact that "changing your lives" is something the adults should be doing, not a group of teenagers who have barely lived.
A whopping thirty characters could all be in theory, regarded as our protagonists. But we all know that's not bound to happen in a show which consists of just twelve episodes. And that brings us to Mitsumune, the main character in which the show mostly revolves around and has the spotlight. For one, there is nothing that separates Mitsumune from the other thousands of generic main guys there are. He is shy, pathetic and single-minded who has a positive outlook no matter what happens. He is also very disloyal, so much so that he gives up on his best friend, who also joins him on the tour by the way, for a girl he met in the tour! Looking at Mitsumune makes you wonder why would such a phony guy even join on this tour? There's a backstory to him which is just as miserly as the show itself. As I said before, the first episode starts off with the tour organizer, Dahara, stating that only the people with gifted talent could ever break through the layers of their website and join the tour, which also makes you think as to how someone as dense as Mitsumune could have done that all by himself? Mayoiga is full of contradictions such as this.
The rest of the characters are up to no good as well. A majority of them merely exist for plot conveniences, and that includes Mitsumune at times too, and have little to no in-depth characterization. Probably a few of them worth mentioning are Masaki, the mysterious girl to whom Mitsumune falls for. She plays a big role as the show progresses, but there are little traits to her character worth explaining. She's basically used as the embodiment of the emotional trope and is a pretty one-dimensional character. Hayato who goes by the pseudonym Speedstar, is a good friend of Mitsumune's. He acts as the support for Mitsumune and helps him out whenever he is in need. Speedstar is more suited to be the show's protagonist in my opinion as he's displayed as someone who has a strong willpower and personality. He undergoes a terrible characterization later on however which was a waste. A few characters act as a sidekick like Valkana, who is shown as a very angry man. Koharun, who is the one responsible for locating the Nanaki Village and Lovepon, who is probably the craziest in my opinion. All she ever talks is about executing and is a good example of a literal cardboard-cut "yandere" trope character. However, there's a backstory on her which was quite captivating and displayed the struggles she goes through as a kid. It's depressing since the show doesn't do justice at all to the backstory as she's used for mere conveniences by taking on a more active role in the coming episodes saying the exact same thing over and over again.
It's such a shame because Mayoiga has well-designed characters for an original show. The art isn't anything significant and is nothing but generic, but it doesn't necessarily mean bad. The characters and the backgrounds are drawn simple and not too exaggerated which helps the viewers settle in very quickly. But for the most part, there is a visible decline in the art and a good example of this are the first two episodes. The pilot episode has nice visuals but there are times when it goes downhill from there in the coming episodes. The CGI effects used later on suck for the most part. One of the main reasons being the totally absurd "Monsters" but yet there are moments where the characters are shown alongside the CGI-designed creatures and it all feels very underwhelming. The visuals for the opening/ending songs respectively are kept very minimal where they focus on merely introducing the characters. The ending especially only uses the faces of the characters in them with different characters in the next episode ending than the previous. Overall I have to say the art is pretty mediocre.
The sound aspect of Mayoiga is once again a mixed bag. On one hand: Fantastic opening and ending song, A few good soundtracks in between which play by the mood and the atmosphere etc. And then there is this task of voicing over two dozens of characters. Honestly, many of the characters' voices are done terribly and seemingly by amateurs in the industry. And it comes as no surprise for an anime which was supported by crowdfunding, to have budget issues and made by a small time studio. Many of the characters are played by the newer personnel or ones with little experience in voice acting and that is so very evident in Mayoiga.
Mayoiga is at times so insane that it matches the contemporaries of those anime which are so bad that they're good. It's a common expectation that with such a huge amount of cast, many will be put off to death soon and that does seem to be happening until it takes a completely different route. It's tough to tell after a few episodes if this is truly a mystery show, psychological drama or a satirical comedy. Mayoiga doesn't rely on gore to put off the viewers and be 'edgy'. But instead it uses hysterically pretentious philosophical dialogues and awful plot twists which literally does the trick and puts off everyone watching it and can be deemed as cringe-worthy. At this point I'm just gonna say avoid Mayoiga at all costs. It's an utter waste of time and nothing good will ever come out watching it. I'd also like to mention that this is the worst anime I've ever seen.
Reviewer’s Rating: 2
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Jun 5, 2016
Believe it or not, Saiki Kusuo no Ψ Nan had the most polarizing effect on me to date, and considering it is of a mere 16 minutes, that is quite something.
Now this one is a pretty odd stand-alone episode. The viewer is greeted with the most basics of animation. At first, I thought out to myself "What the hell? This has drawings worse than that of the two eternal classics, Mars of Destruction and Tenkuu Danzai Skelter+Heaven." The episode starts off with an angsty looking teen whose name is Shun Kaidou who seems like your average shounen MC. His talks are so cryptic as
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well as he calls himself the "Black Wing", a special boy with supernatural powers whose identity is hidden in order to keep of the "Dark Union", a mysterious organization pursuing to get hold of the powers inside of the boy to create a new order in this world-- blah blah blah and what-not. Sounds pretty dumb, right? Well, yes but not so quick...
"Don't worry, that's only a MSSYS (Middle School Second Year Syndrome)." says the guy with ACTUAL supernatural powers. Honestly, that one scene cracked me up so much that I caught myself saying "Wait, this is actually... funny" *LOL*. It wasn't so dramatic that I laughed my pants off or something I would remember for days to come, but the sheer unexpectancy of it made me giggle quite a bit. Saiki Kusuo is a guy who actually has powers such as telepathy and uses it to read the minds of people. The other guy, uh... what was his name again? Shun, yes. No, he's just a very insignificant side character who has the MSSYS and thinks himself as someone special, and his classmates make fun of him for this too. Coming back to the actual cool MC again, yes, but there's a small catch. He can read anyone's minds within 200 metres, but there's one guy, his classmate Nendou, that he just cannot seem to know what he's thinking of. Now this isn't some type of rivalry brewing, but its just because that Nendou who is a punk, is actually a dense idiot.
There are constant scenes of humor and jokes thrown in between the 16 minute episode, which might not be groundbreaking in comedy, is actually pretty fun.
Saiki Kusuo no Ψ Nan is a heavily voice actor driven show. Since the art is so basic and with a very few characters to play around with for a mere 16 minutes, the voice actors have the task to do the dialogues and mix the humor in properly and it works.
I only checked this video which I found on Youtube because of the anime adaptation due this Summer. I am totally oblivious to the manga so I had no idea what this stand-alone ONA video was about. This was a funny experience and I suddenly got a liking to the MC so I'm highly anticipating the anime to come out. I know that the art will be much better and I also hope the humor will be too.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Mar 28, 2016
Diamond no Ace, a name that might not be heard as frequently as other largely popular sports shows out there. And that has always dumbfounded me. A show doing everything right, also up there as one of the best in its genre, yet still never has broke through the locks and that is evident with the relatively small amount of members it has on MAL compared to other popular sport shows.
A collaboration of Madhouse and Production I.G., two of arguably the greatest ever studio's in this industry. With loads of experience behind them and even highly in the sports genre (Madhouse: Hajime no Ippo, One
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Outs and Chihayafuru. Production I.G.: Haikyuu!!, Kuroko no Basket and Prince of Tennis) coming together for the first time. And it was a long runner at that, so you could always expect them to deliver the goods. This will be a combined review of both the seasons, and also may contain spoilers.
After having agonizingly lost in the finals against Inashiro a year ago and missing out on an opportunity to play at the National level, it was no other way but to try again for the highly lauded Seido High School of Baseball. And with many of the acclaimed senior players retiring from the team, things looked bleak for Seido. With new freshmen joining the team, it was always hard to build back the team and try to challenge other clubs.
The characters as players also go through quite a lot development as they try to ramp up their game and take experience from the matches they play. Although Sawamura (aka Bakamura :p) remains the same idiot as ever, he actually does show what he's capable of and gets close to Furuya to become Seido's ace, and that inner battle between the two pitchers was amazing to see as always in the show. Miyuki Kazuya is the new captain of this refreshed Seido side, and we're treated to his super abilities as a captain and a catcher. He's the pillar of Seido which keeps the team intact. Quite a few of rivals and players have stepped up their game too, and we see a new rival for Seido in Yakushi with Raichi the monster-slogger and the cunning Sanada Shunpei, coming to the scene being better than before.
The music for DnA too has never seized to amaze me. One after the other, DnA boasts of exciting new OP and ED songs. It also has a great set of OST's and Background Music that totally ignites the fiery and tense moments in a game. Good consistent voice acting all around, too. The animation is convincing for the fifty one episodes. They've stuck to the basics with little exaggerated movements and it doesn't have any sort of flashy moves or any otherworldly techniques that would be impossible to execute in a real match. The better players realize the situations and play accordingly, occasionally taking inspirations from what their coaches or fellow players might've said in the past. So DnA has had that realistic appeal all the time, something that makes this show all the more enjoyable. It's one of the best long-running sport anime there is. The enjoyment is worthwhile for the huge amount of episodes.
DnA is a very simple show. We follow the dream of aspiring young baseball players and a club to play in the Nationals. It's a roller-coaster ride filled with endless excitement and emotions.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Mar 26, 2016
There goes KonoSuba! What an hell of a ride it has been!
Honestly, at first glance Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! (God's Blessings on this Wonderful World!) or simply put as KonoSuba, feels nothing groundbreaking in a sense that its set in an RPG world, with the protagonist being a hardcore gamer and a shut-in, and on top of that its supposed to be a parody and a light comedy show. This is where it proves all the odds wrong by throwing a totally absurd, non-sensical whack job that forces the viewer to shut all his reasonings for a moment and simply sit back and
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take a piece of what's on offer. KonoSuba is one of those rare shows that is legitimately funny, and actually make you laugh with dialogues that are supposed to. What makes this show just brilliant is that its not a try-hard at whatever it does, but simply offers you what its genuinely good at, and that is to make the viewer piss his pants by laughing.
Like how laudable is that for a show, that dares to mix in all the elements and different genres, to go on and satisfy our needs to the fullest? You have a setting in an imaginary world inside like that of an RPG, you have cute moe girls that are set up with our supposedly miserable MC which creates a harem, and an endless amount of fanservice on offer. With all that added up, KonoSuba still manages to feed every category and does it without ever holding back. Now I said that the MC is supposed to be a loser who's a shut-in and obsessed with games, but in all fairness I will say that he's one of the coolest fellows I've ever seen gracing an anime. Kazuma Satou is his identification and he DIES within a minute of episode 1. Don't worry, its not a certain popular shounen anime of the past, but a start to this extraordinary and at the same time silly adventure he's going to take part in. So as he dies, he's sent to an unexisting void where he meets a cocky Goddess, that tells him to make one of the two choices given to him to in order to decide what his afterlife would be like -- To go to Heaven; which is supposedly a boring place where only old people take solace in or in an entirely alternate world, where its total chaos caused by the Demon King to whom the people live in fear of and it would mean their freedom if the Demon King is defeated.
It's inevitable what Kazuma would choose as his fate to be, as a hardcore gamer who can experience his wish from his wildest dreams; to be an adventurer and a hero in a world filled with fantasies! He also gets an additional wish fulfilled, that is to have anything he wishes for -- from weapons to superpowers, to aid him on his journey to defeat the Demon King. Interestingly he chooses Aqua, who is none other than the Goddess waiting for Kazuma after his death!
As unwillingly as she is forced to join Kazuma on his quest, Aqua the Goddess takes on the challenge in order to get back to her original role as a Goddess. At first, the two seem to be a band of misfits, which is apparent by Aqua's arrogant personality and Kazuma's constant teasing of her calling her as a 'Dame-Gami' meaning a Useless Goddess. As the two march forwards they're joined by two other members; Megumin and Darkness. Apparently Megumin is an arch wizard who's a total klutz and clumsy all the time. One of her prominent feature in the show is her love for the technique "Explosion!", which is supposedly the strongest wizard attack there is. One setback of Megumin using this technique is it trains out all her energy and she's only able to propel it once at a time. She's often called the crazy girl for her over-exaggerating behavior and that's something she dislikes a lot. Kazuma's telling that he finds 'Megumin' as a weird name pisses her off, too. However, Megumin is one of the funniest character in the show and also the easily likable one. Darkness is a member that joins last in the group. She's a Knight and oddly... a masochist? Apparently she has one problem of missing the target and hitting something insignificant more, but that's just not about it, she has this weird fetish for being turned on in the most despairing situations! As often as her fights are with the villains and enemies, she always quotes the possibility of being overwhelmed in the fight and turning herself in, only to be sexually molested to the opposition's pleasings. And strangely enough, this turns her on even more! Quite excitingly though, this is one of the funniest feature of the whole show. Megumin might be the best girl of the show in my opinion, but I'll definitely ship Darkness and Kazuma more! (Sorry Aqua, try harder in the second season).
And yes! Talking about a possibility of having a second season, it's already been announced officially! I only just started this show a day earlier, and as I hit the halfway mark in the show, I was already so excited about the prospect of it having a second season, something which is a first for me!
Moving on to the visuals of the show, and as well as the cons of it. The art style of the show throughout is underwhelming to say it in a word, with shoddy production values being evident. It was mediocre to begin with, but it does also shift to a worse position in some sections of the show, with the art being much more goofy than usual. This might be something Studio DEEN suffered from in its run, but its definitely something that wasn't lacking with the show providing plenty of positives that overwhelms the negatives in my opinion. The voice casting also brings in some of the newer personnel than usual we see in anime, but they definitely felt like professionals to me with them being in such a good sync with the characters and their traits as well. Jun Fukushima does an excellent job handling Kazuma and had his voice in perfect shape from one situations to the other. Rie Takahashi's youthful voice goes hand in hand with Megumin's quirky behavior. Kudos to the voice casting for a job very well done. The OP & ED simply do their jobs, they're nothing outstanding nor do they contribute to any expectations to come from the show. The ED is a nice country music-like and is joyful to hear.
KonoSuba isn't touching great heights with its story weaving but its not just a mere comedy show. That's a pure understatement to this show. When I say KonoSuba is legitimately funny, I mean it. With regular chaos-filled fights to the squad quarrels, the dialogues are immersed with excitement.
This is my only pitch to you, watch KonoSuba and appreciate the entertainment it so wonderfully provides.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Mar 22, 2016
Prince of Stride: Alternative was one of the first new Winter show to be announced just as the new year arrived. It was also among the first ones to be aired in the season, much to the build-up that was added to it. With one of the masters in the industry working behind it, i.e. Studio Madhouse, Prince of Stride: Alternative was well worth the hype it had accumulated thus far, but as the season progressed, it quickly started to fade away. Why? Let's look into it in detail.
The show brings no creativity at all to begin with. It has been done countless time in
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sport anime's before. Famous high school club now in ruins and desperate for new members. Atleast try to be a little more creative. The game of Stride does bring a sense of freshness to the show. Basically its a sport where you run all the while competing with the another 'Strider' within your block. It consists of five different members running from start to finish as all the five team members play a part in the whole sequence and give a touch for the next teammate to continue running. One of the problems with the show is that twelve episodes were always not enough to begin with. There are have been countless other similar shows being successful solely based on the fact that they run for a longer time. Time was an important asset to them and they had plenty to utilize it with the execution. This is something Prince of Stride: Alternative lacked big time. On a side note, I cannot understand why there's a 'Alternative' in the title. I've come to light that the source material was a visual game and the show can be taken as a spin-off of that.
The characters on the show do it no good, with all honesty. All of them are like a basic stereotype with nothing to set them apart from any other generic characters. The MC is a light-hearted and silly guy with a dim-wit personality who just likes to run and is aiming to be on as many of the high school clubs as possible. There's the very cold looking teammate who acts as a direct rival for our MC and who doesn't talk much, and of course, does not get together early with our MC. Then there's the only girl in the show who's in fact the very first characters to be showcased and is another main character in focus in every sense who is inspired by the Stride club's achievements in the past and is aiming to be in the team as a manager. She eventually acts as a Relationer in the team who serves as a guide to the running teammates offering guidance with a speaker directly to the Striders. Then there's always a trap in the group along with a nerd who isn't interested being with the club to begin with. Two more senior characters are there in show, one's a cool, handsome looking guy who seems to be a senior worth relying on, and the other, literally having nothing worthy of praising, in my opinion. The manager however, was an interesting characteristic with his regular inspirational proverbs with a traditional discipline to them. Sad that he didn't get called a "King" when someone who only afterwards in the show arrived got to be called one.
The art totally makes the show cool, and the aesthetics are on the positive aspect of this show. The OP/ED sequences with the music, too, do justice for the show but no OST's or background musics or other character songs worthy to be talking about. But all in all they're on the better side of the show. The frequent use of English in the show, as for the club names and the outfits, really make them appealing to the western audience too.
Prince of Stride: Alternative also suffers from the problem of not being able to convey the story properly in my opinion. It could've have become a good show even with the distinguishable flaws it had, if it had put more effort in giving the concept of Stride a little more spotlight. The sport is cool by all means, but for me it fails to properly deliver some important stuff to the viewer. For example, the tournaments the Stride Races take part in are a little difficult to understand. They do time-trials at times but nothing on the opposing team is showcased (And trust me there are some) on how they got so far. This is where as I said the time limit plays a huge part in. Stride races also offers a lot of cool moves and spectacular jumps, if they had put on something like additional points for that, then I think the games would've become a lot more enjoyable.
Prince of Stride: Alternative was never a profound show to begin with, as is the case with most of the sport shows. But what make them great is the reality aspect and the execution for it, that's where Prince of Stride: Alternative won and lost 50-50 for me. With the pacing and time limit the show had been given, I could see the ending being like that from a mile away, still Prince of Stride: Alternative has the little charm that's the beauty of every sport show, even if it was a short anime with just twelve episodes.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Feb 15, 2016
It's pretty great to think about the impact a simple and petty show can leave on you. Tabi Machi Late Show is one show that relies on the most basics of art to convey four short stories based on goodbyes and journeys. Stories of source of inspiration, an encounter missing on a proper goodbye, a sad tale of innocence and friendship and a life-long teacher showing her grateful farewell to the children are represented in a very unsophisticated but delightful manner. Tabi Machi Late Show isn't a show that'll leave you bewildered after its finished, but if you are willing to take a portion of
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your time into watching this then I'm sure it will make you appreciate how beautiful life is.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Feb 4, 2016
Too much style, less to none substance. That is how I see K: Return of Kings.
Continuing from the events roughly after a year that occured in the first season and the movie, K: Return of Kings is a continuation of the series as it exposes the mysteries behind the seven kings and the Dresden Slate that was the cause of it all.
Frankly talking, the story makes sense as all of the questions that were left behind in K is being answered but the narrative itself is very weak. What made K a successful anime was because it literally didn't care about anything. You
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heard it right, K had little to no cohesive storyline to begin with. Stuff about Kings ruling the planet and keeping order to an inane teenager going around places to know who he was, where he came from as he remembered nothing about himself and being chased by gangster-like guys didn't make all that sense. But it was what that kept it going for thirteen episodes and made it a very charming show. Even if it had little to no plot whatsoever, K simply was a show that one could enjoy even it wasn't a masterpiece. K: Return of Kings tosses that reputation away. Too much exposition in the middle episodes assisted with a very slow start. Even at that the very first episode was nothing but a pandering to the fans with voluptuos breasts appearing in a way that would be unimaginable in real life.
But still that is what unique about anime, right? Honestly the amount of fanservice in the show and the pandering of Awashima Sera to the fans would top any ecchi or harem shows and bring them to shame. And it didn't stop in the first episode. After K: Return of Kings got underway it immediately shifted gears to a very tranquil mode with demonstration of words joining the game. To my surprise the stupidity of the fanservice did not stop at the first episode, but it kept coming every once in a while totally throwing all the post buildup to a dustbin. It would've been forgivable if just for the pilot episode, as it did bring me back memories of the unique experience of K I got in the first season. But no, GoHands really had to please the closet fans with all their Blu-ray sale accumulation from the first season. However it appearing once in a while really made the whole show mundane and made me lose glamour for the series.
K: Return of Kings has almost the same set of characters as the first season, with the addition of Hisui Nagare who has a main role as the Green King. Almost all other characters remain the same with not a lot of development. Neko the very same annoying mix of Human-Cat hybrid and Kuro who now has his intentions set on protecting the Silver King Shiro, who he was after to kill in the first season. The main disappointing for me was the characteristics of Shiro. He's the same old soft and inane teenager who really doesn't seem like giving a shit even when he's now the one who created this all. The Silver King. The King of Beginnings. He was mostly portrayed as a weak character even if he was the First King compared to Hisui Nagare, who really seemed to have the upper hand against him the entire series. One of the main reasons for failure of for the show was the exclusion of the former Red King, Suoh Mikoto. Mikoto simply was a fiery and striking character right from the start. I know he died at the end of the first season and they had to continue with it, but yet the rivalry between Mikoto and the Munakata Reisi, the Blue King was one that I wanted most. Anna is a pretty good character however not as brilliant as Mikoto. K: Return of Kings mostly focuses around Anna and the OP is dedicated to her characteristics. Talking about the OP, the sound aspect of the show does not really disappoint. The ED of K: Return of Kings was my pick of the season. However I do share the opinion of most people that it should have been the OP and vice-versa.
I've seen people either really hating the franchise and supporting it. If I had to say I'm the one in-between the two. I really liked the first season of K and also the following movie, but K: Return of Kings for me was unnecessary. It did not have to explain all the things bit by bit to position K as a successful anime. It already had its fanbase and even I was on the good side of it. Three years later though they really had to bring it back, and I have to say that after finishing the whole series I'm disappointed.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Sep 15, 2015
NHK ni Youkoso! or Welcome to the NHK! is something truly special that the medium of animation has offered us. From the fascinating and unique concept to the absorbing and seemingly very real characters, NHK ni Youkoso! has a power to engage and indulge the audience into something that is extremely relatable to oneself.
The story is focused around a seemingly normal guy named Sato Tatsuhiro; Who's a college dropout and relies on the pocket money given by his parents for a living. However this is just a prerequisite of what actually lies within Sato and that the show tries to explore into and convey
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to us -- That is the concept of being a "Hikikomori" (A person who tends to refrain from making contact, both verbally and socially to anyone). This is the basic premise of the show as we're treated to a 22-year old NEET (Not in Employment, Education or Training) who's been this way since about 4 years now and is starting to believe that everything happening around him and the also the state he's currently in is the result of a shady and secret organization named "Nihon Hikikomori Kyokai (NHK)" or "Japan's Hikikomori Withdrawal Association". Things, however, seem to take a different route as Sato soon meets a 17-year old girl named Misaki, who claims that she's gonna rescue Sato by making him participate in a project in order to make him live a normal life again. This project takes on a primary theme in the show and thus making "Welcome to the NHK!" a suitable title for this show. What lies ahead is the black-comedy drama which is extremely touching and at times hilarious and ludicrous as Sato and Misaki commence an escapade from this world of social anxiety for Sato, along with a few other friends. Themes of lack of self-confidence, appeasing oneself in a solitary world and various conspiracies stirred out behind the back of people are frequent in this show.
Sato Tatsuhiro is the central character of the show who has an illness of being a hikikomori and with whom the whole show is centered around. There is not a proper skill or an attribute that Sato possesses other than being a lazy college dropout with nothing to do. However this does not make him either one-dimensional or typical, but on the contrary it makes it difficult to properly explain his characteristic. You have to guess it yourself, or rather put yourself in his place and relate. And that is something I was able to greatly do, as each an every inch of his character development in the show is closely relatable. This also makes him an interesting main character in a show, someone that you don't quite see that often in an anime. Misaki is another central figure in the show but not a whole lot is revealed about her until the latter part of the show. So much so that it isn't even made clear that why is she performing the project? And why is it Sato that has been chosen for her project? And also, what is the profit for Misaki by doing this project? All we know is that Sato meets her by chance, gets known of the project by Misaki and unexpectedly agrees to it. This doesn't make the viewer retaliate or question against it immediately though as the show tends to the keep the viewer engrossed in it.
Two other characters play a very important role in the show, Yamazaki Kaoru and Kashiwa Hitomi. Yamazaki was once a junior of Sato when he was in school, and later in the show Sato actually discovers that the irritating otaku freak next door is actually Yamazaki himself.
Yamazaki is also an important person for Sato, as he's the only guy he hangs out with all day and talks with. He is depicted as a huge anime fan, and almost 24x7 songs of "Pururin" and other stuff keeps on playing in his room fulled with stuff related to anime. As the show progresses Yamazaki convinces Sato for his help in creating a game, which would help both of them if it sells and thus it also acts as a secondary plot in the show. Kashiwa Hitomi is another female side character in the show and probably the oldest and first friend of Sato. Sato usually calls her "Senpai" or as senior and she's the head of the literature club which included Sato in their school days. Kashiwa is quite a depressed character, as she believes that everything bad that happens around her is a conspiracy. She's actually the one who may have a influence on why Sato believes that there's a secret organization trying to push him away from society. It's not entirely doubtful that Sato might have had a crush on her since his school days, which isn't the same for the opposite though. Sato seems to have a respect to Kashiwa as he only calls her as Senpai and not her name.
Now this is heading to the spoiler territory a little, so you're warned:
About halfway through the show, Kashiwa gets very depressed as she gets a trip planned together with her boyfriend gets abruptly cancelled as he gets called for work, and as a result she takes part in the "Off" meeting on the internet, which is a group of lonely and depressed people planning to take their life away in a far away island soon after meeting up. Sato, completely ignorant of the whole scenario agrees to come along with Kashiwa to the meeting. It all ends quite depressingly but also a lot of hilarity ensues and in the end it teaches us all a lesson. Spoilers end here.
There's another female character and an old classmate of Sato who makes a cameo after halfway through the series, Kobayashi Megumi. Class rep of Sato back in his school days, the little life story of Megumi plays a primary role in the latter part of the show. She becomes an orphan after the death of his father and has to feed herself and her brother all on her own. She gets caught in a shady scheme by some manufacturing company and tries to drag Sato in it too. Sato, of course, gets dragged in it easily and finds himself in a pinch where he has to sell all the merchandise at any cost to earn money. It all comes at a sad end where Sato, accompanied by Misaki and Yamazaki go back to Megumi to cancel the deal and this is where he learns that her brother is also an hikikomori shut-in, albeit in a much more extreme condition that in what Sato is in currently. It has a depressing ending to it but an important life lesson can be learned from it.
Coming to the sound section, the audience is greeted by a beautiful opening song "Puzzle" by ROUND TABLE feat. Nino. I won't go in to too much details of it but it's a lovely OP which sets the stage for the show. The first ending is a wacky one with insane lyrics and vocals. Very much different than the second ED sung by the voice actor of Misaki herself, and has a lively tone to it. The OP stays the same throughout the show but there's just a slight version edit of it to make it as the second OP theme. The voice acting in the show was satisfying. Sato's voice acting matches his characteristics perfectly and so did Misaki's. I checked out the voice actor of Sato in this site and it turns out that he's only done a handful of shows which was pretty surprising to me. Moving on to the art aspect of NHK. This is the first show from Studio Gonzo that I watched and the art style is pretty goofy at times but it's not bad at all and I got used to it pretty soon. NHK isn't the most aesthetically pleasing shows and the visuals have a minimalistic art style which in fact helps to the premise of the show.
I loved NHK because it uses a real-life phenomenon and a delicate matter such as social anxiety. All the character in the series fared extremely well and it was as if I was in their mind knowing exactly how they felt and this is especially true for Sato. This series also teaches us a lesson that being a "hikikomori" is not actually a disease or disorder, but a luxury in itself. The way Sato used to live his life off the money from his parents, and the brilliant ending of Megumi and his brother's story. No matter how bad the hikikomori condition of a person is, but if he/she's pushed to the limit there's no other way to work hard. That's the only way you could truly stand on your own two legs. Welcome to the NHK! needs to be watched to be believed. Rarely did I thought that an anime out of all other mediums would get this close to my heart by the time I bid it farewell.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Aug 30, 2015
This stand-alone OVA of Hunter x Hunter, which is the prologue of the 1999 television series, offers a little insight into Gon's childhood and why he decides to become a Hunter. This OVA is a slight shift from the starting of the Hunter x Hunter series, where Gon, Kurapika and Leorio are on their way to become successful Hunters. While on their journey to give the Hunter Examination which is notorious for its low ratio success rate, the three characters are attacked by a giant octopus-type monster. This episode shows us the little fight that happens before the great adventure of the trio in the
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world of Hunter x Hunter begins. There's also a scene at the start of the episode where little Gon is saved by Kite as he's being attacked by a wild foxbear. Although it only lasts for a while, it was good to relive the moment that plays a pivotal role in the future Hunter x Hunter series.
This episode came on 1998, before the production of the Hunter x Hunter TV show began so there's little I'll complain about the artwork which is below par, but watchable. The same applies for the background music, insert tunes and voice acting in this show. Although you won't miss out on anything important if you miss this OVA, but if you're planning on starting either the 1999 or 2011 TV series then this Pilot OVA is a good little watch.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Aug 24, 2015
Owari no Seraph is a perfect example of a misrepresentation of your survival-type and an abandoned scenario with a post-apocalyptic setting anime TV show. It has several inclusives from its similar brethren of the same genre. And quite sadly, the actual story it offers isn't a fascinating one either.
Adding the fictional Vampire attribute to something fictional itself is something that is very common these days. Now add that as the characteristic that plays the role of an antagonist who is trying to take over the world from humans in an era where a mysterious virus is threatening to wipe out the human population ages above
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thirteen, and what you get is Owari no Seraph in a nutshell. Yep, that is pretty much what this show has to offer as we follow the along the footsteps of Hyakuya Yuuichiro, the protagonist of the show who is an underage kid trying to escape from the Vampires but to no avail as he is soon captured and confined into a realm which is ruled completely by the Vampires themselves and treated as a mere live-stock among several other human kids. The starting of the show focuses on how Yu(What he's called as in most of the show) along with a few of his friends and his equivalent and best friend, Mikaela.
Yu is the focus point of this show and plays out as the main character as he successfully frees himself from Vampires and joins up the "Moon Demon Company" - a human organization trying to regain control of the world as it is and fight against the Vampires. Yu is depicted as a boy with quite a short temper and is easily enraged. This is quite evident as he repeatedly shows his hatred and aggression against the Vampires and tells how he'll annihilate them all and get revenge for what they have done for his family and friends. Despite this, Yu also shows compassion towards his family and seems to care a lot for them in order to never lose them again. This also helps him make new friends from the academy where aspiring students study and train hard to become a part of the Moon Demon Company and fight against the enemy. Shinoa Hiragi is one such character who's the sergeant and a squad leader of the Moon Demon Company and is sent to watch over his progresses and always follows him around.
Shinoa is a short pink-haired girl who is portrayed as quite a self-possessed character. She also likes making sarcastic remarks over Yu and is one of the better, enjoyable characters of the show. Yoichi is the first friend Yu gets in the academy and he is quite a frail and fragile boy. He also joins Shinoa and Yu as one of the Vampire Extermination Unit members under the Moon Demon Company, along with Kimizuki, quite a strong-willed and an eccentric character quite the polar opposite of Yu and Mitsuba, a yellow-haired girl who is a little more experienced than the others in the group and the one who is revealed later as the show progresses. Ichinose Guren is the head and the Lieutenant Colonel of the Moon Demon Company and the one who offers the five students a membership to join the Vampire Extermination Unit. He's also the one who rescues Yu after he escapes from the Vampires, and the one who sends Shinoa to watch over Yu. Next is Mikaela Hyakuya, who is probably one of the important characters in the show but at the same time very little's known about him compared to Yu. He's the childhood friend of Yu as they spend their time together even after getting captured by the enemy. Mikaela is quite a cool-headed boy and opposite to that of Yu. He also shows a lot of compassion towards Yu and his friends, and is shown to offer his blood to the Vampire leader in secret, in order to get him and his friends better meal to eat.
Now this may be on the spoiler side but it's inevitable as I can provide very little information about Mikaela without it.
Anyway, he gets killed towards the end of the first episode by Ferid, the leader of the Vampires while he tries with his friends to escape the place into the world outside. Yu is the only survivor who escapes after that but in the coming episodes it is revealed that Mika is still alive thanks to the blood of the Queen, Krul Tepes. He then later confronts Yu in the battlefield and still shows his compassion towards him despite being transformed into a vampire. He even refused to drink the blood from the humans, however he learns that the humans are manipulating Yu to release the demon inside him and to save him is the sole reason Mikaela continues living.
Honestly, the characters are anything too special but at the same time they aren't generic or boring either. Each of the person has its own characteristics and its depicted pretty well in this show which is a plus point for this show. Another plus point is without a doubt the sound aspect of Owari no Seraph. Both the opening and ending theme performed by the renowned Sawano Hiroyuki himself is a peculiarity of this show. Amalgamated with good voice acting which perfectly synchronizes and depicts the certain character, Owari no Seraph somehow manages to be a fun show.
That being said, Owari no Seraph still is nothing extraordinary. Even if it's still just the first cour of the show though and the mysteries of the Seraph of the End is yet to be revealed, Owari no Seraph falls flat with what it displays in twelve episodes which is too little. There are also quite a lot of inconsistencies in the pacing leading up to the battle which makes me wonder if the twelve episode slot fot the second season is maybe a little too less. Nevertheless, Owari no Seraph is a fun watch with some cool characters and great soundtracks. And even if that fails to please you, I'll just say simply watch it for Shinoa.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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