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Nov 18, 2013
Let me give every reader a brief and detailed warning before you start reading this manga, watch(or read) the parent story first before anything else if you want to know what the fuss is about.
With that said, onwards to the review.
Mahou Shoujo Oriko Magica is a pseudo-prequel/alternative version of the manga Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica which is an adaptation of an anime of the same name (confusing, right?). Before we talk about anything else about the story, let us make a brief and detailed reason why alternative versions tend to be off-putting than our parent story counterparts.
Alternative versions of a story tend to be that
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added installment for a series that has already stopped. Sometimes it’s just better off to leave the parent story alone to avoid misconceptious fuck-ups in the story that leads to a nonsensical add-on rather than to uplift the already good base, which is the parent story. I mean, let’s face it, some stories are better of not having sequels, unless they ended with an obvious cliffhanger or the events in the story is just to complex for the simple minds to understand, if the latter was the case, they should just release a summary story rather than a alternate story.
No matter how good a story might get and no matter how big the fans might demand for a sequel (or a prequel, or whatever fans will ask for), a good story that stands out on its own doesn’t need another story branching out from it’s already perfect body. I mean, yes there are certain elements that lead to good alternative versions of the parent story, but the good ones are usually using only the core aspects of the original story as a back bone for new settings, characters and scenarios, and that is where alternate versions of a story usually shines best. Attempting to connect the story of the alternate version to the main story that stands alone on its own is like giving a prosthetic leg to a healthy normal person, unnecessary.
Mahou Shoujo Oriko Magica dodged the bullet in this one by using a convenient system called the ‘multiverse theory’ where in the same characters (with the exception of the new ones), same setting and seemingly same events with small ideations all happened in a different universe of the seemingly endless universes in the Madoka Series. To summarize what the multiverse theory is, the same things in the story happened, but it happened in a different manner, and it always has something to do with time travel. Steins;Gate and Mirai Nikki were notorious for using this example and they were successful in their efforts with it.
Anyway, I wouldn’t rant long about everything in MSOM because this manga was mostly meant to feed the fans of the series. Speaking as a generalist reader, I’m not a big fan of the Madoka series, but I did like how everything is always well written when it comes to the works of Gen Urubochi. I mean, the story is derived from the Madoka staple and it never changed from there, which is pre adolescent girls all succumbing to despair and deciding to become magical girls to get their wish fulfilled(?), and the Madoka staple story has always been a good, if not one of the best, writings and plot twists that I, and most of the people that has watched/read the series still aspires and rants about.
Anyway, I’m not going to talk much about the story of MSOM because; 1. It is hard to explain the story to readers if they do not have any idea how the Madoka universe functions (which is why I highly recommend that you at least know the parent story before you plan on reading this); and 2. To avoid potential spoilers, which is a big impact reducer to people that are planning to read the story.
With that said, the quality of writing given to the story is good, but it turns sub-par in comparison to the original story. The phrase ‘nothing new, nothing worth mentioning’ weights heavily in this story because, although new characters and a few new scenarios did popped up (such as a whole new protagonist sharing his/her story), its basically the same when it comes to terms with the Madoka universe, which is ‘Kill Witches, Get Bitches’ or ‘Endless Suffering’ or ‘Yuri Fantasm everywhere’ or ‘Kyuubey is a asshole’ and many more similarities. It’s comparable to, let’s say, eating in your favorite restaurant for the umpteen times since you first went there. I mean, yes the food is still good and it’s always refreshing to go there, but the experience since you first went there is something you cannot redo. If there were anything new that is worth mentioning, and I can assure you that there is a few, it would just spoil the story if I tell it here, so yeah, sucks.
Let’s move on to the art style, which is a HUGE change for people that have already seen the art style of the Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica anime and its manga counterpart. I can’t really say that it’s not bad, since it was well drawn and everything is still a kawaii in a world of despair and congruency, but the difference in the degree of art style that was used for this manga was very huge in comparison to the two mentioned above. If you look at the cover itself and the cover of the other two, the other two made it look more like it was a innocent girl material, while this one looked like it can be a pseudo-fighting/yuri loving manga, and let me tell you that I am not wrong with those assumptions. Overall, it wasn’t the best, but it was pretty good. It blends with how the story is supposed to be told and how the characters different emotions are portrayed, other than that, it was just a bit surprising if you consider differentiating the art style in this manga from the entire series.
Well, if there is another thing where the Madoka series shines, I’m going to have to say that it’s in the characters and how they portray their role. I won’t say character development here because, for such a short manga, there is barely any room for character development (I’d be surprised if they managed to fit even that in such a short span of two volumes). The three new characters in this story did appeared to be in quite a troubling state of affairs by getting themselves involved with the series of cameo appearances of the old characters from the original series. The focus of the story should have been about our main character Oriko, but in reality, the focus is more on the old characters and their quest to unravel Oriko’s motives. By the way, the manga portrays the main character as the primary antagonist of the story, from that point we can already see the ‘what the hell, man’ reactions from everyone as they put the main character in the retrospective shoes of the evil doer, but do not fret, she has her motives of doing what she does, I just cannot say it here because it’s too big of a spoiler, but in my opinion, it’s either it was very shallow of a reason or it was too deep for me to handle, and I’m still leaning on the first. The second character worth mentioning is the main character’s love interest(???). Childish by nature and a huge love interest with the main character, yet a Yandere war-freak to the people that are against Oriko (there is not a lot to say about their love anyway, it would make no difference describing a SFW Yuri relationship). And with that, I guess that’s all worth mentioning. I mean, let’s face it, the third character, the loli, was pretty much there for the box art only. She wasn’t much of a big significance as the story progressed to its ending. She did portray a lot of the suffering that Madoka fans loved from the characters, but other than that, she’s pretty much fan-bait.
If you were wondering if this manga was enjoyable, then I wouldn’t want to disappoint everybody, but this manga targets the fans of the series, not the general readers. I mean, it’s still a good read in my opinion, but the factors that make it a good read is too much for a single alternative version. You would have had to, literally, watched or read Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica in order to even appreciate taking this as a viable reading material and even then, it’s up for you to decide whether or not it was worth your time. I know that the fans wouldn’t complain about it, especially the die hards, but even a fan with a brain will understand that this is different and sub-par in comparison. But if you have to ask if I did enjoyed reading it, from the scale of ‘comparable to toilet paper’ to ‘the best thing I have ever read since the dawn of literature’, I would give it a ‘situational okay’.
And that wraps-up the review, I had to admit, so much suffering for only two books. I need a beer.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jul 3, 2013
I don’t even know where to begin with this one. This review is painful even for me to write, because I would have to think about the show whenever I have to type. This show is probably one of the most famous and most talked about shows in anime history; probably because of the character design and the relationships of the different characters in the show (I don’t even want talk about that one, as much as possible, seriously now.) But it’s mostly because, no matter where you go, BLack ButLer (or Kuroshitsuji, for the people that know it better like that) is present in
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everything and everywhere, both during the past and in the present .In the TV, in the web, in the magazines, BLack ButLer is always there, especially during the day it was being aired for the first time, although I have to admit that the hype died down during the past few years after it was first aired, but it sure as hell didn’t left the spotlight without making a scar big enough to be seen by the different aspiring mangaka and anime makers that showcase the genre that started it all, BL (although it’s not as rough as the other BL shows out there, and you can’t really specifically call BLack ButLer BL because it’s more of pseudo BL, it still feels appropriate if we did associate it with BL, for obvious reasons of course [at least they were sane enough to make it look subtle, yet provocative]). I am at least impressed that they serialized this show ‘passionately’, with evil smiles, and with an even more evil glare on the money, knowing that fans will bite it to the bone. (fan-girls to be specific. I’ll be damned if I find a single fan-boy in this show, if there was, you have every right to throw me in hell for this statement. Just don’t let Sebastian eat my soul. HAH! [I think I’m going to be sick just making that joke...])
But enough of that for now, let us move towards the actual review. BLack ButLer, BB for short, “is story about a boy that had lost everything he once held dear to him because of a conspiracy that grudges his family name. In his dying breath, he swore an oath to a demon. It will save his life and grant the boy’s wish of vengeance to the conspirators, but in return, the boy’s soul will be devoured by the demon when the wish is fulfilled.” From the moment the quotation mark ended, you probably think that ‘you know where this is going’. I am here to make it double sure that it will end like how you think it will (and it is not going to be a happy ending, although I won’t spoil what will happen). With that said, that pretty much summarizes the main plot itself, of course the small flash backs into the main character’s past is always a good motivation to anyone that will watch this show for the plot, but it will probably be not good enough to drive most of the viewers, unless you have the will power of Ghandi, you’re after the bishounen characters and the pseudo BL relationships to begin with, or you went for the bishounen characters and the pseudo BL relationships half-way of the show because the fillers just over-burdened you (I hope Ghandi lends his support to you, or else, you’re f***ed). Speaking of fillers, be prepared to enjoy bishounen, pseudo BL fillers with this one, because, at least, 70% of the whole show (season 2 not included) is filler-hell. (THERE I SAID IT. IF YOU DON’T LIKE FILLERS THEN STOP READING THIS REVIEW AND NEVER WATCH THIS SHOW, EVER! LEAVE WHILE YOU STILL CAN! [At least that’s settled...] You’re still here? *sigh*). Other than that, there’s pretty much nothing to say here, other than his, sort of peaceful, everyday life being a rich noble English kid, with his demon butler that can do anything, his quirky servant trio (can’t really call the old man a servant, he’s not doing any house work), and his occasional visitors that pesters him in his daily work-life to do various activities that will mostly annoy him to death and have no relevant meaning to the plot whatsoever, although some of the small stuff does have a connection with the plot, it’s not going to be anything major that you will remember it happening after finishing the whole show (considering that you did actually finished it).
I will not talk about character design for this show because talking about it here would spoil the surprise installed for you when you watch the show, giving potential spoilers to people that are after the bishounen characters and pseudo BL relationships (also, character design in this one is too painful to describe in my point of view, given that I too have my fare share of bias, forgive the incompetence). Even though I said that, I will at least talk about character development. The funny thing about character development in this show is that there is barely any development. Little boy blue (balls) Ciel Phantomhive’s personality never did change since the start of the show, and his BLack ButLer, Sebastian Michaelis, never did reveal a whole lot of personal stuff about himself, other than his constant bragging of how much of a godly-ass butler he is. The only solid development that happened in the story was with the people that got into Ciel’s way. They all started out to be normal persons with different motives and interests, then all of a sudden, they became lunatics bent on killing Ciel due to personal issues. The main antagonist (which was not revealed until half of the entire show) did the most character development in the period of the show, showing him/herself that he/she’s the type that believes that ‘everything can be saved from hatred’ and that ‘ends must justifies it’s means’ then went power-hungry and started killing people for personal gain. The reason why I did say there was no character development for Ciel was because, when the story started, he had a back-story that revealed what he have been through. I can’t really say that it was legit character development because that said event happened before the show started, and only appears as flash-backs, so it technically doesn’t count as a development. Ciel, to be frank, started out to be a fully developed character already, which is not bad, but it still gave the impression that character development was flat with the main character.
Back to BL, I mean BB. Personally, there are at least two things that I liked about the anime in general, the setting, and the opening and ending themes. I like how the story was put into the 1800’s British Empire theme, with their snazzy buildings, inhumane interior house-hold designs, fashion sense (I’m a bit reluctant to blurt that out, but it’s still true anyway), and sleazy accents. But the opening and the ending theme (the second ending, to be exact) is hands-down, one of the best things I have heard in forever, since I started watching anime. I give credit to the two bands that did the OP and the ED of that show (even though I don’t know their band names), they are awesome. If you don’t know what I mean, then stop skipping the OP and the ED all the time, and start listening to it.
And that concludes another review. If you ask me if I enjoyed watching the show, instinctively, I’ll tell you I did not because, I’ll be honest with everyone, I detest anything and everything that has a direct correlation with bishounen, BL, yaoi types, pseudo or not. Mainly due to a trauma I had to suffer after watching that one show that everybody keeps trapping in the internet that goes by the acronym BnP. Even now that show gives chill down the spine, enough to paralyze anyone in fear. And without further ado, I will now conclude the BL, I mean BB, review. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m now going to be busy writing those other stuff I’m going to finish. For you see, I am simply one hell of a writer, heh. (Tightens noose)
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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May 29, 2013
It’s only once in a blue moon when you write a review about an anime that felt so mediocre with how have been standards charting so high in present times, but I have to at least give credit that the show is almost 17 years old already, and it was ridiculously low budgeted during those times. There is a single aspect about the show that I’ll have to tackle before I start the review, the fact that I have absolutely no idea how to put it in good terms with the type of standards that we have for current generation shows.
But just in case,
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people should know that people shouldn’t compare a show to other shows (unless it’s just begging to be compared due to the utter shocking display of similarity in themes, sequencing and/or character design), the problem at hand is that standards change over time. If you dare say that you use the standards of today to criticize Neon Genies Evangelion (NGE for short from now on), it would end up a mediocre ‘meh’ to the tickle bone, which would be wrong to describe the show over-all, but if you criticize it in standards that go back to the 90’s, it would be like a relaxing hand-rub to the privates where masturbating hasn’t been invented yet, which is also wrong if you want to describe NGE in its over-all aspect.
So generally speaking, reviewing NGE is going to be different in its aspect because you cannot review it in the conventional sense without it feeling lacking. So I have decided to review it using standardization from both the present time and during the 90’s. It will get confusing from this point onwards, but I would like you to bear with it for the sake of properly understanding that it’s glamorous and at the same time, it’s bland.
To start off, NGE’s overall story is basically a generic foretelling of any other anime that has existed as time tells, but what separates NGE from the other mecha shows out there is the how the characters in in the anime was individually portrayed. The show basically revolves around the protagonist who dislikes becoming a pilot of a giant robot, but was forced by everyone for the sake of the survival of the human race, even if he’s against the idea piloting and/or surviving. The theme depicts also of that of a generic mecha anime as well (being that the protagonist fight giant aliens inside a similarly sized robot), but what makes it stand out from the rest is its other theme (which is basically the psychological part of the story).
With that said, the main problem concerning NGE is its extremely slow paced start when the show begins. It starts off so boring and the boredom doesn’t disappear completely until you reach the part where almost all of the characters are properly introduced, which takes more than half of the whole show sadly. The progression during the first half of the entire show is just so slow, that it’s just not even comparable of that of a sloth, turtle, or a snail, it is Internet Explorer slow. But even so, it at least did try to give us a small portion of character development and some, slightly off, battle scenes that are not as satisfying for the usual mecha standardization chart (but then again, it’s not the usual mecha anime that everybody thinks it should be).
With that said, it at least gave a big impression in the lesser half of the overall show span because the good parts are starting to piece out, pop out, and is starting to shine bright like in that similar song where a precious gleaming gem was commonly pronounced in an annoying tone (what was that, diamonds? I have no idea what you’re talking about). It’s the point of the show where almost all the significant characters were given the most interesting background check and character build-up (in a gaming sense, buffs), but I’m still going to point out that the all the exciting tidbits in the story only showed up during after the half of the whole show which, in my opinion, is still sad to begin with. If you’re probably the type of person that drops shows if it doesn’t get interesting very quickly, you’ll probably drop this faster than a certain comical shady trio speeding in the speed of light and go for a quick surrender without even giving a fight, Meowth that’s right!
But if you did manage to get to the good part of the whole anime, it still depends on your opinion on whether it was really all worth it or not because it’s still questionable to your taste if it was or wasn't delicious. Just to share some things, being in the field of psychology myself, I find the psychological parts of the show just utterly shallow. It’s mostly about teenagers having extreme amount of anxiety, parental issues, identity crisis, and just general insecurity over themselves. Basically, what every teenager face in their so called ‘emo stage’ but only a lot worse than the normal. All of those things could have been easily prevented if they went into some sort of self-help program, which is weird because (POTENTAIL SPOILER WARNING!) the last two episodes was like being in a psychological help center for troubled teenagers (END OF POTENTIAL SPOILER), which was a big facepalm for me because I felt that all these retarded issues could have been managed beforehand during the early-mid of the show but they only did it when the show was about to end (but then again, who am I to dictate how the devs want the anime to go).
There was also the issue where the show went too fast paced in the near end of the whole anime. The devs tried to patched up so much holes near the end that they ended up either missing some holes, or the holes that they tried to patch-up was too big for a brief explanation, leaving people needing a rewatch or two just to fully understand the story (given that the fact that the likelihood of wanting to replay the whole thing is equal or lower than 20% unless you’re a fan-boy of the series, the fan-service and/or moe, or the mecha/psychological genre). But with that been said, I’m continuing to the fact that the good parts of the show was too fast paced. It went so fast that I barely had time to absorb anything that’s happening during the near end without having to pause the damn thing every time they talk, and even with the pausing, it’s still a vague explanation of events overall (that or maybe I just don’t understand sci-fi science, or so help me).
I’m just gonna go through the overall art style quickly because there was nothing special in the art style used in NGE. It was your typical 90’s anime style, with shaky outlines, and dusty feeling of oldness that you can only see when you watch other shows made in the 90’s, like that one show where this guy got an X in his face. But I have to admit that they went through some intense work designing the mechas and the, minimalistic yet well polished, antagonists. Character design in NGE was the usual 90’s character design yet very daring as well. I mean, I have no issue with the male and female character design because it was the typical people design that was being used during the 90’s, but having 14 year olds with proportions of 17 year olds and the protagonist’s senpai being bodacious wasn’t a bad touch, but it gets very unsubtle when they started to show off a lot of skin (fan-service as they say). It even gets harder to explain in front of family members when they start showing off naked girls with missing private parts (I’m no longer going to dictate which episode that was, go find it yourselves).
But what really spiked the show above the charts that made it the standards of its time of being a psychological genre anime of it's time was the character development and presentation of every individual, yet significant characters in the story. I like how the devs managed to make a big impression in the lesser half of the show by showing the viewers how deep and twisted the characters mind is in such a short span, although it was as vague as it was short because they crammed it all in the end and made it look too fast paced. But of all the characters the devs had a car crash with the most, it was probably the protagonist because he had little to no character development in the entirety of the story and the way he was presented (being a wimp and always complaining about being a wimp) was just unpleasant and unsatisfying. His moment to shine was presented during the last two episodes of the show, and even that was too brief to be called an actual wholesome development of the protagonist. But with that been said, the character presentation of all the significant characters in the story, with the big exception of the protagonist, was well presented during the course of the whole show (the reason why the other main characters of the story was more favorable and iconic than the protagonist himself [although I have to admit, it was usually because of the moe, the fan-service, and because the protagonist was not likable in any way that they are more likable]).
I’m going to separate this from the rest because this is the one that pressed my buttons the most, the serious lack of BGM was just screaming at my ear to make me almost drop this show during those boring first halves. You might think that ‘meh, what those BGM make significance over show? Hunga bunga?’ Well my friend, BGM is one of the very things that sets the overall emotion of the scene that you’re in on right now (the other one is how well the character can act the scene). If it wasn’t for BGM, major shows that bring you the hardest feels would just give you a reaction of ‘man, what the heck am I watching?’. It made a major impact at NGE that is just utterly soul crushing because the scenes that compose of mostly drama and feels, felt like an illogical argument of how much the protagonist didn’t want to pilot is cuddly robot.
And that concludes the review. Love it or hate it (or you just didn’t understand), just put on a pretty face and carry on (and on, and on, etc.). Nobody will blame you if you didn’t like it. Nobody will be enthusiastic if you like it. After all, you exist to portray your opinion in your own little world, your world where you exist as the center of it all. Oh, and any reference that was given during the course of the review was all coincidental and accidental at the same time. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to stop this review and start looking for some fan art (whether it’s safe for work or not is still debatable).
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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May 14, 2013
For me, Claymore has been an anime that has given so much mixed emotion over the past days that I have watched it. Emotions both surprisingly positive and unsurprisingly negative, to a point that I just had to write a review about it, both because of sheer enjoyment of how I experienced the show but mostly because of how much I was disappointed in its presentation.
To start off in the notion of why I enjoyed it, it was because not of its theme (humans< monsters< half-human half-monster< protagonist) but because somewhere down the line when I was watching the show, it gets interestingly good.
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Not to spoil the content for the readers but, there are certain times where the show hooks you pretty well because the series of events in the show actually was getting good.
But with that been said, let us go to the bad side of the case. I was mostly disappointed that it, most of the time, leaves the viewers wanting for more than what we came for. The story progression in Claymore is like a roller coaster to begin with, slows start, progressing high during the middle but when you reach the top of the roller coaster to see the climax of the story, so that you can enjoy the ending, it just stops. And that’s the problem I have with the show. It’s like a fisherman catching the interest of the little fish viewers, patiently waiting for us to bite the bait so he can reel us in for the epic kill, but disappointingly pulls up the fishing line before we even got a chance to take a bite.
And to top it all off, it happens in every arc, up until the ending.
But enough of that for now, let’s talk about the character design and development. I’m going to make a point that the character design in Claymore had a similar feel to it with being in a comic book or a particular show where every hero wears a motorcycle helmet for a mask. The good guys have same bland costume and body structure, but different voices and hair style (with the great exception of the protagonist and some supporting characters), while the bad guys, well, they were a bit too similar to begin with, but the design gets progressively good as the story goes on, but they do have this issue that they never seem to run out of, as the saying goes, ‘this is not my final form’, only to get hacked to chunky bits in the end because the story wants the good guys to always win. The personality of the different characters of the story was at least a giver of ways for the same looking characters to shine, so I’m no longer going to point out the fact that there were at least certain elements of moe (personality speaking to be the very least).
Character development in Claymore has been a 50-50 battle of whether or not it’s good or bad because it did well to develop the main characters and the main supporting characters in the story (If you’re wondering, yes, there is such a thing as main supporting character in this story), but it’s a double-edged sword for the other characters because they tried to make every character that way, but ended up failing in that aspect, so the minor support characters ended up looking half-baked. And to top it all off, there was one point in the story, somewhere in the middle, where one of the main protagonist (Claire’s pet human boy), who was supposedly a main character, suddenly became a main supporting character down the line. It was like, Claire, who was once just a main supporting character in the story, became progressively the main character in the end, and her pet human boy, who was once the main character of the story, became a cameo in the middle and made an unsatisfying appearance in the end. The fact that he was there just to drive the protagonist forward and no longer appeal to the viewers, was just irritating when he made his grand appearance in the end. I’m no longer going to mention the other main support characters in the story because, it’s either they were good enough to understand in such a short span of only one arc or that they were too minor to begin with, but the story seemed to revolve around them for some time anyway, so it would be wrong to call them just a supporting character [SPOILER WARNING] (given that most of the supporting characters in the story all end up dead anyway) [END OF SPOILER].
Also, just to let out a bit of frustration out of watching the show, [SPOILER WARNING] CLIFF-HANGGERS EVERYWHERE!!![END OF SPOILER] I mean it’s redonculous to a point that there’s so much more things left unanswered. I mean not to spoil the show in any way but, there is still so much questions that is still hanging. I am no longer going to mention all of it for the fear I might spoil the show to the readers, but you’ll know what I’m talking about when you’re done with the show.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to fly back to another planet before I change into my final fantasy form and fight the most bad ass boss that’ll probably have his own final form as well. KAI!!!
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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