I watched this right when it was released, and no one knew the director, who had done all of this with two friends. I probably watch it once every year, and it hasn't gotten the least bit old yet. Makoto Shinkai has been on my list of people to watch (in the same way as Hayao Miyazaki is) ever since, because he has that something that made me fall in love with anime as a medium to begin with.
Many shows fail to express the characters and the concept in a hundred episodes, while this masterpiece does so in mere minutes. If I had to describe
...
Feb 22, 2012
Dantalian no Shoka
(Anime)
add
Ignoring the tsundre loli female lead, the show was surprisingly good (relative to my expectations of it). It felt to me that she was that way for no obvious reason, and the development of the interpersonal relationship was somewhat weak. Call me old-school, but having aspects of characters simply for formulaic reasons and then not developing those aspects is a negative where I'm concerned. Also, it seemed like it was forced into 12 episodes when the storyline could have easily supported a 24-ep season. While there is a bit of the "mission of the day" feel to the show, there are also ongoing themes.
However, the ... 
Feb 22, 2012
Yumekui Merry
(Anime)
add
In a way, it sort of hurts to give this just a 6. The concept seemed really good, and there was a lot of potential to develop the characters, the story, and anything else. I guess it's a pitfall of manga conversions, but I haven't been this disappointed since Pandora Hearts at the lack of closure. The anime ends in the wrong place, with closure of one plot point, but no closure to the biggest questions, leaving it essentially unfinished.
By the 13th episode the characters had hardly left the molds of their stereotypes, and that was another big strike against. It seemed there was a ... |
