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May 22, 2015
A few years ago Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, one of the finest manga ever made, was finally given the anime treatment it deserved. The cheesy dialogue, ultra-violence, manly men, and fabulous posing manifested into a hand that grabbed me by the balls, dragged me through a whole season of some of the best action of recent years, and left me begging for more.
Stardust Crusaders, to me, is a little more reserved in how manly it is. It still has the posing, ridiculously proportioned men, and ove-the-top shounen dialogue but it doesn’t have the impact the action of the first season had. If you’ve read my
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discussions on Jojo before then you know what I’m talking about. What really drags Stardust Crusaders down is the introduction of Stands. Well, that and the fact it doesn’t do too much to innovate or make itself any more than a show about fighting for fighting’s sake.
It’s the late 1980’s and Jotaro Kujo, grandson of Joseph Joestar, is a high school student. When he manifests a spiritual familiar he locks himself up in a prison cell until Joseph and an Egyptian fortune teller named Avdol show up and explains to him what is happening. Dio has returned, attaching his decapitated head to Jonathan Joestar’s body, and now every Joestar has manifested a so called “Stand”. Jotaro’s mother develops a Stand she is too weak to control and it begins to kill her. Now, with assassins being sent at them left and right, the Jojo’s, Avdol, and a few allies fight their way to Egypt to save her by killing Dio.
And that’s the extent of the story. For the entire series. Each episode is a Stand user appearing and trying to kill the good guys and that’s it. There’s not a lot of drama, nor is there as much a reason to stick around as there was for the first season. In that regard, I understand the complaints and I totally don’t mind when people say that Stardust sucks.
But the episode-to-episode action isn’t my problem. It’s Stands themselves and how lame they are. Something I never got over when reading the manga was how the series established Ripple as the main technique of battle, but then changes it to something that is basically a violent version of Pokemon. Each Stand has unique powers and weaknesses so that you have to really think when fighting a new one. The Stands add a new layer of weird to an already wacky show, but they don’t provide for the same level of action. It doesn’t feel as hard hitting or violent when the guys aren’t using their own fists to beat each other up. There’s something about remotely fighting an enemy that isn’t as manly as using your own fists.
I will admit there are some cool Stands and good ideas coming from them. The fog stand is neat, Kakyoin’s Hierophant Green is interesting, J. Geil’s Stand was really good. But then there are some that are ridiculously stupid. The boat and wish granting ones come to mind. So it’s a mixed bag where some episodes are a lot stupider than others. And sure, this series is supposed to be over-the-top, but there are some points where it crosses a line and gets a bit too much for my taste.
And that will be the segue-way to my discussion of the characters. Especially Polnareff. Despite the fact Jotaro should be the main character, a lot more time is given to Polnareff than anyone else for some reason. He’s the lady’s man and giant idiot who provides a lot of humor to the show, though is sometimes one of the worst parts. I guess because he’s the idiot he makes a good punching bag, but there’s something about him I don’t like. Perhaps he’s just not manly enough. He’s not bad by any means, but he doesn’t fit in with the rest.
Avdol and Kakyoin are pretty decent characters and so is Joseph, but Jotaro is kind of bland. He’s quiet, treats people like shit, but he is a genuinely nice guy deep down. Comparing him to Jonathan and Joseph, he’s the weakest lead of the series so far. There’s nothing likeable about him, nor any humor. It’s pretty sad that the guy who should be the lead is being outshined by an idiot who is forced to lick a toilet.
As for the bad guys, good luck finding a decent one. They’re just obstacles. Some have character, others are just bad guys because they are. There are a couple like Hol Horse and Enyaba who get enough time to take on personalities, but even then they’re not memorable. Dio gets some time onscreen but is more of a menacing off-screen presence than anything else. The first season made me hate the guy, really showing him to be the epitome of evil. This season he’s just the final boss.
The animation is nostalgic and hearkens to the source material. It’s not expensive at all, but it gets the job done and takes me back to a time when shounen were about men, not boys.
The music is just as good as the first season. A very catchy opening, great music during the show, and Walk Like an Egyptian as the finale. The voice actors are all over-the-top (especially Joseph) making it just that much more fun to watch.
Stardust Crusaders is good but not great by any means. It has its moments, but, for me, it dragged on a bit too long and Stands took away from what was otherwise a great fighting system. Yet I can’t help but look forward to watching the Egyptian Arc. There’s something about Jojo that is hard to hate, even when it does slip into negative territory.
I’d give Stardust Crusader’s a hesitant suggestion. It has enough problems to warrant quitting, but it has enough crazy entertainment to keep you glued to your seat.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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May 22, 2015
There is a lot to like about the ambitious cyberpunk anime Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex. Based on the movie Ghost In The Shell, this series fleshes out some of the characters seen in the film, and adds a lot more. It has tons of stand alone episodes, but there is an overarching story about a mysterious hacker known only as the Laughing Man, the mystery of which is solved over the course of the 26 episodes.
Story
While a lot of anime take a simple, and sometimes cliched approach to the story, this anime takes a very complex approach to each individual story told.
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Some aren’t quite as hard to understand as others, but it’s amazing look into a future not to far off is so full of techno-jargon and science that for some, it might be a little much. The individual story episodes can sometimes be rather bland, a few aren’t too compelling compared to others leaving inconsistencies. I particularly disliked the fact that the overarching story wasn’t all that long, and you were handed a ton of episodes that had nothing to do with anything. When I watch anime I enjoy the whole thing to be overarching or at least most of it. I don’t even think Ghost In The Shell hits fifty-fifty. You can skip half the episodes of the series and get the main, most compelling story down.But it otherwise is a fantastic story, something that you would expect from a hardcore cyberpunk piece.I personally enjoyed almost every episode with the exception of a few containing the Tachikomas.
Animation
The series has amazing animation. The characters all look good, as well as the background, machines, and movements. Everything is fluid and lifelike. There are a few points where the animation degrades, especially when characters are further away. It’s an otherwise very beautiful anime.
Sound
There is a great opening song as well as ending. All the voice actors do a good job with their roles and all sound very believable. The sound effects are superb.
Characters
I enjoyed almost every character. Each had little quirks, though none really showed any development over the course of the series. The only characters I dislike are the Tachikomas, annoying little tanks with the voices of prepubescent girls that constantly talk and talk and talk. While their story of becoming sentient is interesting, there could have been a better, much more likeable approach than making them as annoying as they are.
Overall
While there are fallacies with characters and plot, everything else is superb. The series will maintain it’s place as one of the greatest science fiction anime of all time, as well as one of the greatest examples of the cyberpunk genre. The thing about this anime is that it doesn’t present itself as an anime quite as often as all other anime. The Tachikomas seem the only part of the whole show that is traditional anime (cute weapons of destruction).
This is an anime only for those into hardcore science fiction. If it’s your first foray into anime or sci-fi anime or you are looking for something immensely violent, then I would suggest looking elsewhere. While it does have some action, it doesn’t contain the exciting action of a Shonen anime.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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May 22, 2015
Elfen Lied is an anime that opens up with a sequence of a naked girl cutting people into pieces, seemingly with her mind, for about eight minutes. This sequence then leads to an episode replete with comedy and moments that make you smile. As the anime progresses though you lose that smile on your face as you are suddenly quite sad because everything’s so bloody screwed up. Every characters past comes to light and you suddenly can’t tell what side to take, you don’t know who you want to survive or die. It’s an anime that builds itself to be depressingly sad, and it’s the
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thing that holds it together.
Story
The story of Lucy and the Diclonius is actually somewhat compelling if it were given any better an explanation or was the main part of the story. Instead the main part of the story has to do with Lucy’s past and what has gone on between the main characters. In order to get more into the Diclonius plot, you have to read the (not as good as the anime) manga and go past the plot of the anime. The anime only reaches about chapter 60 of the manga and takes a few liberties. The plot does holds itself together pretty well and you really do get to care about the characters more than you should. Maybe it’s all the tragedy they have been through or maybe it’s just their likeability, either way the plot is sad. My problem with this though, the major problem, is that I don’t know what it’s trying to be. It’s replete with boobs, panties, jokes about boobs, jokes about panties, and just general hentai/ecchi kind of things. These are dispersed through the anime but with the serious and sad feel of the anime, you can’t tell whether this was built to be a hentai or a drama. There is so much fan service, it’s ridiculous (it’s even worse in the manga though) but I think it’s there for the guys to feel bad for the cute anime girls. Hell, I fell for it, and maybe that was the plan of the creator:
“The more boobies and panties, the more men care about characters. No man wants to really like an anime character and see her go through hell, so let’s do just that, make them cry, and then make them like the series.”
-Creator
And, as stated, I fell for it. I absolutely loved the plot despite all its problems. One of the biggest parts that annoys me though is the part where a professor takes Nyu/Lucy, claiming that she was his brother’s daughter.
“She’s my brother’s daughter. Let me take her or I’ll call the police.”
“OK.” Kouta states.
“NYU!”
“I’m sorry Nyu, but the fact that many people are after you and this guy I barely know says your the daughter of his brother is a good enough reason to let you go.”
The anime, as stated, doesn’t go through the whole manga so there are a lot of things left unanswered and the main bad guy who you think will be the final fight in the series is just there. He shows up every once in a while, but he is left alive at the end of the series and doesn’t even make an appearance.
Animation
While the animation is a rather basic anime look, it looks good on this anime. All the characters look good, the action scenes are fluid, and I can’t find too many faults with it.
Sound
The sound is good. I watched the Japanese version and I enjoyed the voice actors performances, as well as the sound effects. The opening song is bloody fantastic, so haunting and something that sticks with you.
Characters
There are faults in all of the characters and they are all archetypical of the genre in their own ways, but they are all likeable for whatever reason. Characters like Kouta, who would generally annoy me, I actually liked. I loved Lucy, and I find her to be a fantastic character for those of us who are bipolar (like myself). It’s a perfect representation of someone like me: stupid and nice Nyu one moment, dirtbag and Kill Em’ All attitude Lucy the next. The worst character is the main bad guy who heads the facility for the Diclonius who barely has enough screen time for you to even care, let alone has anything to do with the plot. He could have been left from the anime and there wouldn’t be any complaints about loose ends at the series conclusion and where he fits into anything.
Overall
This anime is definitely not perfect, but it can grab a hold of you and pull you in. Its characters are rather basic, but they somehow become extremely likeable to the point that you cry for them (and that’s not an exaggeration). This is the kind of anime I should hate as a fan of very complex, very adult anime. This anime just holds a place in my heart though for whatever reason and it has become one of my favorites. Despite all the complaints listed above, it still maintains a certain charm and likeability. It’s not for everyone at all, but there is just something about this series that tugs at your heart strings and keeps you coming back.
I’m going to give it a 6/10 because I really enjoyed it. I ran through the series faster than any other anime. But the problem is, this is a love it/hate it anime, maybe even the epitome of love it/hate it anime. I am not going to complain about bad reviews, because I can see the faults. I can see how someone can not enjoy this.
Am I telling you not to take my review with a grain of salt? No, I hope you do consider watching at least an episode if you haven’t. But if you dislike it and come back and tell me, I won’t fight with you. There is just some sort of charm it holds over me that it holds over a few, but doesn’t over others.
I’m assuming the charm is the cute anime girls getting violently beaten and going through hardships, which as an angsty teenage guy, makes me severely sad because I’ve been through a lot of the same things to a lot less extreme extent. Maybe it’s the fact I felt Lucy was an embodiment of someone like me, an outcast whose being an outcast has made him/her into a social pariah and someone who has a relatively dark outlook on life and hates people.
So there you go, whether you love it or hate it, whether you’ll watch it or won’t, I won’t blame you.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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May 22, 2015
Ergo Proxy is an anime that does a number of things right. First of all, it is an adult anime that treats its’ viewer as adults. There are no boob jokes or typical anime fair, it’s a lot of philosophical and biblical things that make up a good portion of the show. The show does a good job of being intelligent, though sometimes this comes off as totally insane. The ending is a typical anime ending that leaves you scratching your head, but the ending comes too abruptly and right out of left field, leaving you scratching your head even longer than usual. Think Big
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O quality of “what the hell” at the end.
Story
I like to say that the story is told in three acts because the acts are all completely different. The first act is the one that many people will think to associate with the whole series, a cyberpunk-y kind of crime show. Then the second act rolls around and we get a lot of exploration and get to know the world even better. The third act is when the show—well, it doesn’t degrade, I like anime that does crazy things at the end and I was sort of expecting it—but it just doesn’t fit in with the rest of the series. I don’t know how to react to the ending because it was just too different from the rest of the show. It just wasn’t set up enough that we would be tromping through biblical/religious/philosophical ground for a whole three nonsensical episodes. The episodes before that are all internal conflicts and a lot of it makes no sense as well, but you think the end will be a very psychologically stressing one for the characters; it turns out to be just psychological stress on the person watching,
Animation
Ergo Proxy has good animation. Its’ landscapes look amazing. The characters are another story though. They look decent from up close but far away they look pretty crappy. Overall though the animation is pretty good. Characters do look a lot more gritty and realistic than other anime, but that’s not enough to save the fact it just looks choppy at some points.
Sound
The Japanese voice actors do a good job and the music, well, there’s barely enough to really complain about. It doesn’t exactly need music though because there is enough dialogue to suffice. The opening theme is alright, though I’ve heard better before. The end theme just plain sucks. Otherwise, everything sounds good.
Characters
I liked all the characters for whatever reason, but most were shallow. Lil Mayar who should have been the outstanding character of the series is just kind of bitchy and dull, Vincent isn’t all that compelling, and Pino can come off as a decent character at points but at other points just doesn’t come off as any good either. Raul, who actually was shaping up to be an awesome character, just turns out to be bland and Daedalus is probably the worst character of the series, I still have no idea what the hell he had to do with much of anything.
Overall
This anime is not something that you can go into as a fan of cyberpunk, because it’s not cyberpunk. It’s a weird mix of cyberpunk, steampunk, apocalyptic, and religious that works to a degree, but ends on a weaker note because of its attempt at blowing our minds toward the end with its religious turn. While its last episode is enjoyable for those who do like to mull over the meaning and everything, it may be way too much for the average fan of anime. Hell, the whole series may be a bit too much. It caters to a certain sci-fi niche essentially and for whatever reason, I wish the world that was created (an exceptional world) could have been utilized much better than with this overly-complicated and scatterbrained plot thats only job seems to be to hurt the brain.
Not that I didn’t enjoy it. It was a good anime, an anime for adults and thinking types. While some of its philosophy came off as corny a lot of it was pretty good and there are a lot of things you can decipher from this anime if you really want to think into it. And that’s probably part of the reason I don’t understand bits of the plot, I don’t feel like thinking.
Can I suggest this to everyone? Definitely not. But Ergo Proxy comes off with an 8 for me. Not one of my favorites, but can be an enjoyable ride for those with the right mindset to take it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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May 22, 2015
FLCL is the single strangest piece of animation I’ve ever seen, period. What makes it so strange is not just the plot, but the characters, the setting, the animation, the sound: everything about this anime makes about as much sense as…well, nothing. It’s not totally incoherent and you can follow the plot, but new plot threads are introduced every episode and whatever the plot actually is, it just doesn’t matter because by the end, your mind is blown.
Story
I can’t even rate the story of this show because I’m too confused by it. I don’t want to give the story a good or bad rating though
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because I don’t want you to either be turned off or turned on to this anime without good reason. If you haven’t seen this yet it’s a toughie to suggest it just based on the plot. If you are looking for coherence, don’t look at this. But if you are looking for a story written by a group of people presumably snorting coke or smoking weed, then you need to watch this.
Animation
The animation is surprisingly stylized and neat. Environments aren’t the most detailed but are still enjoyable. Character design is pretty good. One of the big things about this anime is that parts of it are in manga form, there’s a part done a la South Park. These two parts are well done and hilarious.
Sound
FLCL has one of the best ending themes ever. The music is great, a lot of Japanese rock that fits in great with everything. The American voice actors all do a good job. Not much to complain about in this section.
Characters
The characters of the show are somewhat generic except for Haruko who steals the show, as she should. Takune, as the main character, is just too boring and stoic and while all the random stuff happening to him is funny, the genericism of his character never provides laughs from his end. Haruko, in other words, pretty much holds the show together and drags it along. Which is sad, the only other character who provides enough laughs and enough likability to even be given a second thought is a guy with large eyebrows that everyone makes fun of.Takune’s father is pretty funny too, but he isn’t around enough. I wish he were onscreen a lot more often.
Overall
This is the kind of show that makes you wonder what the heck Gainax was thinking when they decided to make it. Not that that’s a bad thing, the six episodes of this show are all more memorable than anime fifty times as long. Its characters aren’t all great, but Haruko will definitely stay with you long after the shows finish and the insanity of it all will stay with you too. There are very few anime that are like this, and this may be the only anime of its kind. For much more refined comedy that makes fun of Gainax, anime, and Japanese society overall, watch FLCL. While Gainax newest attempt at comedy, Panty and Stocking, is another anime like this that you may have watched, FLCL just has a much different feel.
Watch FLCL. I promise it’s good.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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May 22, 2015
Trinity Blood fails in almost every respect. It doesn’t start like this though, it actually starts pretty good. The world is neat, the plot looks like it will go to cool places, and the two main characters, Esther Blanchett (a nun whose church has been destroyed by vampires) and Abel (a priest who works for the Vatican and fights vampires) are totally likeable. We’ll get to flaws in their characters as the show progresses later on, but all I can say here in the intro is that it starts off promising, so promising, but ends in failure.
Story
The story, as stated, starts with promise. The war
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between the Vatican and vampires seems pretty cool and the world the fights take place in is pretty damn awesome. But then about the point where little fairy children called Tinkerbells show up, the series degrades into stupidity, terrible pacing and plotting, and things pop up out of nowhere. For example, toward the end (this isn’t really a spoiler) Abel’s sister explains that their brother is still alive (news to me). This suddenly leads Abel to go after his brother who shows up for the next four or five episodes of the series, despite never being mentioned or showing up at any other time. Nothing is even insinuated before a major plot point happens, it just happens and is shoved in your face. While this may be trying to be surprising, it fails horribly because it is so groan worthy and the characters act so unrealistically toward the plot point.Just watch the last episode where the series tries hard to explain the terrible story arc, but falls apart due to terrible unrealistic actions of characters and no back story or anything to tell us what is going to happen or what has happened. We don’t even understand why Abel and his brother are fighting.
One of the stupidest parts of the plot is that Abel can’t kill anyone (despite killing someone in the first episode). It means really awesome fight scenes degrade into crying and idiocy. Not that there are very many fight scenes in the series, and none are memorable. Even the final fight is totally worthless.
And more plot holes appear throughout concerning Abel. He mentions he can’t swim in one episode after he fell off a cliff and swam to safety in a previous. It’s small things like this that make you wish for something more. It starts promising—so damn promising—but sucks so badly. It gets really bad when a little vampire noble is introduced. Suddenly a romance blossoms between Esther and him, and there is even a point where the story is interrupted by a music video-esque scene of the two looking out a window. It’s so out of place and stupid.
Animation
The animation is not bad by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s not good. Characters don’t look too great, while environments typically look fantastic.
Sound
The main theme is pretty good until the end when it sounds like two or three people are singing it out of synch. The end theme is okay. The music for the show itself is bad, not even likeable. It sounds like the music out of a bad JRPG, like when you are in a town in Final Fantasy or something. The voice actors are competent, though none are outstanding in the least.
Characters
Father Abel is Vash from Trigun. One moment a blubbering idiot who can’t stop eating, the next a total badass. Even the plot is like Trigun with brothers from space fighting each other on a post apocalyptic Earth. Not that Abel is a bad character, he could actually be likeable if it weren’t for the fact he’s a total wuss and won’t kill people. While Vash was like this and promoted the whole “Love and Peace!” thing Abel cries about violence and even in super awesome badass mode he becomes a huge crying wuss.
Sister Esther is likeable at first, but slowly over the course of the series you grow to dislike her more and more as the plot puts her more in focus as a typical anime girl who is trying to hard to help but always fails.
The vampire noble boy I mentioned before is the most annoying character in the series. He likes Esther when he must be five years younger than her. His voice is terrible and raspy. The series focus’s on him toward the end and that’s when the show degrades.
All the other characters are just there and are never anything more than two dimensional. One of the priests at one point before the final fight pulls a locket with his daughter’s face on it out and says something about protecting her, which is news to me. I guess they were trying to add depth to the character, but it doesn’t work and comes off as cheap and stupid.
Overall
Don’t waste your time with this series. I wish it were better because it had a lot of potential, but it degrades crazily over the course of it’s 24 episodes. Once the plot moves into the vampire people’s kingdom and their nobles and things like that, it becomes so boring and it’s a chore just to watch. This is when the characters become groan worthy and everything becomes totally unlikeable.
And after a terrible ending, not an ending like Big O that makes you think or something like that, just a plain old terrible/stupid ending, you feel like there is so much missing. Nothing has really been explained, characters motives are not explained, the backstory is hinted at, and I wish there would have been more of it because it actually sounds interesting, and there are still bad guys alive. While it feels incomplete, for me, I breathed a sigh of relief it was over. I enjoyed the first half immensely, but the last half was so bad and so awful that I can’t even suggest the overall series.
Pass this one up.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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May 22, 2015
Gurren Lagann is arguably one of the greatest anime series of all time, and for good reason. I just started watching it yesterday. And I got through all 27 episodes in the course of the past thirty-six hours. It was that freaking good. There are so many things that have been said about this anime that I know when I say them they will sound repetitive, but you hear these things for good reason. This is a series that as a fan of anime, I can safely say has something for everyone.
Story
Gurren Lagann does not have the greatest story of any anime. The situations we
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see in the series are exciting and well thought out, but the story isn’t the strongest point. It starts with a post-apocalyptic sort of survival story, an uprising of humanity that is a common theme of science fiction stories, but it is done in such a spectacular way through the giant robot battles and ultra exciting war-like fights that are bigger than any fights in any anime. Part two takes us seven years in the future where we see a much more renaissance-like version of sci-fi that works fantastically with the previous arc. Without spoiling anything, something heads for Earth, we see a distinct change in humanities priorities and we encounter what is essentially God. This isn’t untold of in a Gainax anime, I knew from the start that something religious-like would happen. Not that it is in your face and quite as prevalent as that of Neon Genesis Evangelion, but it is still there if you look into it a bit.
The story shines in the politics of the second half and what happens there, but otherwise it is a lot more character driven than story. Though I must say that the background story is fleshed out well. But overall, I wasn’t sticking around for the story as much as the characters.
Animation
Some will hate the animation style, some will love it. I personally found its’ bright colors and smooth animation to be great. It’s supposed to invoke in you a nostalgic feeling of eighties mecha anime and it does that. But it also maintains a bit of that modern feel with how vivid the colors are. The Beastmen and robots look great.
Sound
The sound is fantastic. The voice actors are all great for one thing and convey emotions well. The music is great, the opening music being catchy and a good start, the ending music being good as well. The music during the show helps pump you up during fight scenes and convey the mood of the characters during sadder scenes. The explosions are fantastic sounding and I can’t find a single problem with the sound.
Characters
You keep watching this series quite simply for the vast array of well thought out and typically well fleshed out characters. Every character is distinct in their actions, voice, and mindset and as the series progresses each one is pushed to the limit and also show their true colors. Even the bad guys are fleshed out well. Each character reflects humanity in a different respect. It’s just hard to describe the characters without giving away a spoiler or going through each character and who they are. I did not dislike a single character. Of course, throughout they become bitchy or whiny, but they act like humans would act. If Gainax got one thing right with this series, it was characters. I’m going out on a limb, but I’m going to say it:
Gurren Lagann has the best cast of characters ever.
I went and did it. Take your teenage angst ridden robot riders elsewhere. While some of the characters do act like wusses at points, it’s because seriously terrible things have happened. People actually die in this series and it hurts the person watching, as well as severely affects the characters. This series gets characters right and everyone will find a favorite.
Overall
I’m going to say something about reviewing anime real quick. It’s tough to rate different anime on a 1-10 scale because there are all different kinds of anime. I rate this close to Ghost in the Shell but that’s not to say this will be better liked than Ghost in the Shell because these anime cater to two different crowds, have two different styles. It’s hard for me to convey in reviews how much somebody else may like an anime because everyone has different things they like. I love my adult techno-thriller and hardcore sci fi kind of anime. But this is not exactly for those kind of people.
You see what I’m saying? It’s hard to review Fruits Basket on the same scale as Gurren Lagann because they cater to two different audiences. It’s the loophole of being a critic. You rate on the scale that the complete opposite is reviewed on.
Anyway, regardless of what you like, there is something to like in this. There’s romance, mechs, action, some deeper psychological thinking, hard science fiction, fantasy elements. It mixes all of these with great characters, fantastic dialogue, amazing action scenes, a great animation style, and it wraps up in a satisfying (though sad) conclusion that doesn’t leave any plot threads open for you to have to think over.
Gurren Lagann is now one of my favorite anime. I can never pick a number one favorite anime because I like stuff catering to different audiences and it’s hard to choose one over the other because of how different they are. But this is most definitely one of the best anime I’ve ever seen.
Well met Gurren Lagann. I’m sure I’ll be coming back for a reacquaintance sometime soon.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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May 22, 2015
Madoka is something I personally can enjoy looking back at my childhood of Cardcaptor Sakura. It is deeply moving and is exploitative of the fact that these girls go out and do what they do, yet never actually think about the fact that they could die. It’s a heavy concept that Madoka deals out quite well, it comes together and is impactful to the viewer. The problem’s with Madoka lie in the ending that leaves me scratching my head. And while I know that I have commended anime for this before, that I enjoy anime with really odd endings, this one is odd in the
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fact everything comes together somewhat, but it’s such a mish-mash and so many things just happen and so many of the final scenes are so forced and unimpactful because of that force, that the anime ends with you half feeling good, half wondering what the hell just happened. Especially the after credits sequence that completely leaves me bamboozled and if anyone can explain that final forty-five seconds or so to me, please do.
Story
Madoka shines in the story department. It’s a well thought out system of magic and as the story progresses, it certainly maintains a sad tone that just gets sadder; but it also exudes an air of hope. It’s also an anime that seems like it will be predictable, but characters are totally different from what you’d think and you are constantly surprised. That’s not to say you are always surprised, the story does have some “duh” moments, but overall the story works well for me. It’s full of symbolism and I guess there is some inherent message it is trying to get across that I’m too lazy to mull over at the moment because it’s approaching one o’ clock and I’m sleepy, but it all works well up to the ending that seems to tie everything up at episode eleven. Then episode twelve comes and it’s necessary, especially the first half, but after that it becomes a confusing mess. I don’t want to spoil anything for those who haven’t seen it, but I will say that the forced parts where Madoka meets with her friends just don’t feel right and don’t have the same emotional impact as when Homura spills her guts and cries on Madoka’s shoulder at her house. That part was genuinely sad and made a tear come to my eye, but the rest of the “sad” scenes just didn’t work for me.
Animation
The animation for the show is a mix of traditional and LSD inspired insanity. The traditional side looks good, but isn’t anything to write home about. Characters look like loli girls and background all look good. Action is fluid. The LSD inspired action sequences when the girls battle the enemy witches are fantastic and I personally enjoyed the different styles. It was one of the best parts of the show to see what the next witch hunt would bring to the style.
Sound
Great voice actors compliment the show and bring emotion to the characters. The opening is good, though I thought it was too upbeat for something like this. At least Elfen Lied had that terribly gothic and kind of sad opening with the bells and the lady singing in a very creepy yet soothing voice. This one has a J-pop opener that seems to be trying to make things happy. I mean, the lyrics aren’t happy, but the song is too upbeat for an anime so seriously depressing. The ending is at least a bit more depressing.
Characters
Here is my biggest fault with this anime. The characters are…not the best. Not that they are bad, but most fall under traditional conventions and I couldn’t attach myself to any of them besides Homura who I found to be the most fleshed out character of them all and the most likeable. Madoka is a good character, but she is kind of cliched up until the end when you see a very strong figure. The supporting cast is decent but most are just conventional-type characters who are put in a terrible situation.
(SPOILER)As I said in the story section, the relationship between Homura and Madoka is the best in the show. Madoka has her friends and they have decent relationships, but I found Homura and Madoka’s friendship to be very, very touching and probably the series best point was when you find out Homura has been fighting to protect Madoka, unbeknownst to Madoka, for so long. And when Homura spills her guts to Madoka inside her house, it’s a very emotional scene that does bring a tear to the eye. This relationship is great, and works well with the ending of the series.
Overall
Madoka is a good anime. It is well done, and you will feel bad and depressed for these characters while, and even after, watching it. Despite the flaws in the cast (generic characters mostly) Homura still stands out as a great character and it does have one of the most powerful scenes I’ve ever seen in an anime. Despite this, the anime really loses points from its forced ending. It should have been sad, I should have really felt bad, but instead it’s just a bunch of randomness that never congeals into something I can understand clearly. I know what happened in the end (minus the after credits thing), but the ending is just so hard to clearly understand. You’ll get the gist of it, but you’ll feel like your missing something, a lot of things, both because of the forced nature of the sad moments in the last episode, and the random scenes that just don’t add to anything and confuse even more.
This is a good series. It is definitely something you should check out if you haven’t already, a fantastic new take on the “Magic Girl” genre that is sure to please even those who have never seen a “Magical Girl” anime before. But be warned that while the ending does complete the series, it is also where the series starts to lose its touch.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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May 22, 2015
Story
The story of Aria The Scarlet Ammo is very basic. Kinji Tohyama goes to a school for butei, or as we like to call them in America, detectives. He ends up being targeted by the Butei Killer who tries to take him down by attaching a bomb to his bicycle and sending killer segways with machine guns attached to them after him. As you can tell, this anime doesn’t take itself very seriously. He meets a pink haired girl named Aria and together they go on wonderful adventures in order to clear the name of Aria’s mother, who has been sentenced to jail for thousands
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of years because she has apparently been pinned with the murders of every person in the world. The mother part is never fully explained and makes no sense whatsoever. As the series progresses we meet Shirayuki, a girl in love with Kinji and jealous of Aria; Riko, an insane girl who dies a lot of sexual advances on Kinji; and Reki, a rather quiet sniper girl. The show is divided into three story arcs over the course of its twelve episodes, four episodes dedicated to each book.
The story, as you can tell, is not too good. It’s like a summer blockbuster film in that it has a very loose plot that is just there to provide for tons of action and adventure. And Aria does deliver in the action and adventure department. For those wishing to have something to think about or wishing for a more story driven adventure, this isn’t where you want to go. It’s like the Transformers of anime, only with less explosions, less giant robots, and less Shia Lebouf.
There’s this subplot about Kinji’s brother that we never hear much about, and something about an ex-girlfriend that is hinted at during episode eleven, and shown in episode twelve. The problem is, these things are not resolved and in order to get the resolution I’ll have to read the books which you can read a translated version of thanks to some fans, but it is not the tightest translation and the books read more like a script trying to be a novel.
Animation
The animation of the show is beautiful and you can tell that most of the production funds went into the animation (though the story was already in the book, so they didn’t need to fund writers as much I guess). The animation is perhaps one of the shows strongest suits. From the beautiful backgrounds to the well drawn characters and fluid action scenes, the animation is great.
Sound
The sound is good. The opening is a typical J-pop piece but it’s not at all bad. The ending song is also typical, nothing stands out there. The voice actors are good and add to the comedy and few emotions displayed throughout the series. The sound is another good point of the series, but there has been better music in anime before.
Characters
I’m going to get flak for this, but I enjoyed all the characters. They were not totally fleshed out, but they each had their own quirks and silly things about them that made them more likeable despite some of the genericism. Kinji is a very typical anime male surrounded by a bunch of girls; he’s bashful and denies everything concerning romance. His quirk is the fact that when he pops a boner, he goes into Hysteria Mode, when he is super suave and can fight like crazy. It’s a silly idea, but I thought it was quirky and funny. Aria is Kinji’s main love interest and she’s the great great grand-daughter of Sherlock Holmes. She is searching for a Watson and finds Kinji. She’s a slave driver and comes across as bitchy but she is scared of lightning and thunder and I guess she’s a typical teenage girl if you gave a bashful teenage girl two pistols.
Shirayuki is in love with Kinji and is a priestess who can do crazy stuff with her sword. She’s very bashful yet is always trying to bed Kinji. She’s always fighting Aria and when Shirayuki interacts with Aria, it’s always funny.
Riko is the great great grand-daughter of Arsene Lupin and she has this weird quirk where she can use her hair as a weapon. It’s stupid, sure, but it doesn’t not fit in with the rest of the series. She’s the only character that you can feel any sympathy for because of a childhood problem we learn later on, and she also is the only character that has any sort of development. It’s not a lot, but there is some.
Reki is a quiet sniper girl. She has very few lines and doesn’t do too much in the series, though I would have liked to see her more. She was the only truly badass character. The rest were kind of badass, but they also came across as funny and silly so it negated the badassery.
There are three bad guys in the series. One of them I’ve already described. The other two are not well developed at all, and are just bad guys. Nothing much to them, just something to shoot at.
Overall
Aria the Scarlet Ammo is, in movie terms, a popcorn movie. It’s got little substance, but a lot of flash. It looks good, it has great action, but its bad guys aren’t that exciting and the characters are all there to be complete opposites of each other and provide comedic relief and some tension during fight scenes. That’s not to say it’s not good. I loved it. I liked all the characters in some way or other, I liked the action sequences; everything but the story.
It’s frivolous fun. It contains a lot of juvenile humor concerning boobs and boners, it has that typical anime thing where we get lots of shots of thighs and cleavage for no reason but fan service, and it has fun action sequences. It’s fun. It’s not something for the guy looking for story, it’s not something for the girl looking for meaningful action and romance. If gone into with the right mindset, Aria can be a good way to blow a few hours. If you go in expecting something with tons of substance, then you’ll be disappointed.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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May 22, 2015
Story
The story revolves around Ryuuji and Taiga. Taiga wants to admit her love to Kitamura and accidentally puts a love letter in Ryuuji’s bag instead of Kitamura’s. Next thing he knows, Ryuuji is helping Taiga get together with the class president. And to put it simply, lots of complications get in the way, including the growing affections between Taiga and Ryuuji which leads to a fantastic, dramatic, and sad ending that is sure to stay with you for a long time.
The story isn’t amazingly amazing, but it’s good for a romance. It has a lot of good situations for the characters to grow and get
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closer. It’s a school romance that has a lot of typical situations of the genre, but they are fresh due to the strong characters. The ending is one of the best parts of the story with a lot of drama, and a lot of things coming together. The very, very end is not particularly great and leaves a lot to be desired, but if you can get a hold of an English translation of the novels this show is based on, the ending is a lot better there and you won’t feel like you are missing something and be wondering about the romance going further.
Animation
The animation of Toradora! is good, but it’s not amazing. It’s not bad in any way, shape, or form. The characters look good, the action scenes are fluid, the action in general is fluid, and character emotions are well shown through the eyes and mouth and other subtle things.
Sound
Toradora has two different openings and closings. The first opening song was great, the second OK. The ending songs were both good. The voice actors were great, conveying emotion perfectly. The music in the background was good, and the sound effects were all good. Nothing much to complain about here.
Characters
Here is where Toradora! really shines. Ryuuji, Taiga, Ami, and all the other characters we spend a lot of time with are all fun characters, but as the series continues, we grow to really love them all. The main characters are so well fleshed out through the dialogue and the romances and they develop so well. In the twenty-five episodes, so much development is given to the characters that they feel real. The romance feels realistic, the story feels realistic, and the way the characters act feels realistic. All the main characters are great. As much I want to talk about all the characters, I don’t want to spoil the story for you. Just believe me when I say that all the main characters, especially Ryuuji and Taiga, develop amazingly well.
The side characters are good, but they don’t have enough screen time to really complain. The ones we get to meet are mostly Ryuuji’s friends and are all typical guys. Characters are very strong and as I’ve said, thanks to the character interactions and monologues, they become amazingly realistic.
Overall
Toradora! is an excellent romance. The characters act realistically, the writing is amazing, the animation is good, the voice actors bring great emotion. It’s long, very long, but the whole story fleshes out over the twenty-five episodes and we really get to learn to know and love these characters and cheer them on as they fall in love. It’s a very complicated story that I’m sure is generic for romance stories, though I wouldn’t know because I never had occasion to read or watch anything specifically romantic. Despite that, I found this story to be exciting, compelling, and I can’t stop saying how good this series is. No matter your age or gender, there is something to like here.
This is another series I am glad to have watched and another series I’m putting on my top ten anime I’ve ever seen.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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