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Mar 21, 2021
Disclosure: This is not a full review, these are just my heated thoughts (edited it a bit) after managing to finish this trainwreck of an anime:
This is a disgrace.
Inuyasha was one of my favorite anime series when I was a kid and I remember all the characters very dearly.
This show just stomps on all the original characters to introduce a new uninspired cast that could have perfectly came straight out of an OVA or side story. The way they disregard the old characters is disgusting and sad.
The plot is also a bore to watch and lacks any cohesion. The director had no
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idea what he was doing when he plotted this story. There are loose ends all around and none of them can be remediated with simple flashbacks as they did with Inuyasha and Kagome's (which was terribly executed).
This is one of few anime that I remember having to fast-forward some scenes to be able to get through it. I would have dropped but I was already more than halfway through and wanted to get it done with it. I won't be watching the second season though, no with these characters taking the stage.
It doesn't get a lower score because, artsyle-wise, it remains loyal to the original and the soundtrack was nostalgic, but that's about it. Also, I've seen a lot worst than this. It's just that how they destroyed one of my favorite anime just kills me inside.
They should just have let this one end as it ended with an original, glorious arc. Now, for certain, for me, Inuyasha is dead. But they have killed it.
I won't be writing a full review because I'm afraid more venom will be spilled and honestly, this anime should be forgotten, it was a mistake, and hopefully they don't try to milk it anymore.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Aug 4, 2010
The Shin Megami Tensei brand has been taking away hours and hours of my life after having played my first Persona game and Digital Devil game 2 years ago. But, and what I enjoyed most, was the transition after I finished Persona 3 and started Persona 4. So, after coming back to the Persona world (encouraged by the Persona 3 Portable game latest release) I thought about watching this series that I had stored on my hard drive since about one year ago. After I finished watching it I was very dissapointed. I definitely expected a lot more from Persona –trinity soul-, an anime adaptation
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of one of the best JRPGs ever made.
So, welcome to Ayanagi City, a futuristic metropolis where Persona users seem to be more and more frequent. Here is where the young Kanzato brothers, Shin and Jun, are returning to reunite with their elder brother, Ryou, after the disastrous incidents that ended with their parents and their younger sister lives 10 years ago. Ryou happens to be the chief of the Ayanagi police Department. He has been on the track of a Persona criminal group known as Moribito, who he beliefs are the cause of the incidents 10 years ago. This group was apparently inactive, but when Shin and Jun arrive at Ayanagi City the group suddenly starts to take action. This and other events trigger the awakening of Shin’s persona.
Most Persona fans must be familiar with the “Apathy Syndrome” and “Persona” terms so I’m not going to explain those. Also, and to clarify, I’ll be making lots of comparisons with the Persona videogames (3 and 4) just because I consider it to be pertinent. This being said, the viewer must know that this is a spin-off story from Persona 3 that holds almost no relation to it.
As for the story development goes, the producers failed miserably. The incoherence and slow pace is a constant element that makes the whole story pretty much boring. Most episodes of Persona trinity soul- don’t start “right off” when the previous one ended; this makes it a little confusing for the audience and tends to be tedious, since one will have to wait to the near end of the actual episode to be able to realize what’s really going on. Sometimes there is not any explanation of what happened previously whatsoever.
At the end, the story has it good moments and some awfully and constant monotone passages. The battles are short and a disgrace to those who played the Persona videogames because of the lack of complexity featured. The plot focuses more on the characters as a whole and on their problems. Some episodes might be (to some extent) entertaining to watch, but each episode definitely doesn’t shine on its own amongst the others. The storyline is nothing near engaging or memorable.
On the other hand, the animation is very well done. Somehow the quality and style makes me remember Persona 4, since the characters and locations are drawn pretty much alike. Also the high school male uniform it’s similar to the one used on Persona 4 by the main leads. This makes sense, considering that the Persona 4 game was released in Japan one month after this anime started airing on June of 2008.
Ayanagi City also looks familiar. One can associate the city town district with Gekkoukan City (Persona 3) and the rural area, where the Kanzato residence is ubicated, with Inaba City (Persona 4). Ayanagi City might be, in fact, a hybrid resulted of the combination of both cities.
My only concern with the animation design does come to surface when the personas are ‘summoned’. Fans hoping to watch little Jack Frost freezing an opponent or gorgeous Angel casting a healing spell will be greatly disappointed. The persona’s design on Persona -trinity soul- seems to be taken out from a mecha genre anime and practically all of them look almost the same with some slight differences in contextures and colors. Plus, the personas don’t have an identity or name, they’re just "personas"; this really blurs the whole perspective for the viewer who could wonder: “are these ‘personas’ THAT important to the plot?” At least visually the personas are just a nuisance and might anger more than one.
If I were to point at the best attribute (and probably the only one) that Persona -trinity soul- has, I would say without a doubt: that’s gotta be the soundtrack. While the show follows the usual fast and strong Opening single and slow and tranquil Ending theme sequence that shounens usually tend to use, the tracks are far above average. Especially the second Opening single, “Word of voice” performed by FLOW, needs a special recognition for its quality. The original BGMs are very good and definitely add more sentiment when the moment requires it. There are some remixed versions of some Persona 3 BGMs that can be heard on most of the episodes. Also an old character from the same game makes his appearance half trough the series.
Sanada Akihiko, probably the most popular character from Persona 3 amongst the ladies, appears from nowhere exactly when the anime reaches its second season. Surely a fanservice alternative from the producers to please the audience has to be the case, taking into consideration that Akihiko doesn’t really take any part in the “action”. Even so, he might be one of the few characters that are actually “alive” in the plot.
All the main characters and the majority of the secondary characters are lifeless or, simply put, lame. There isn’t a single moment to break into laugher or a single sad moment because the characters don’t really ask for the viewer’s sympathy. Junpei, Aegis, Yukiko, Fuuka, Yosuke… Persona gamers can find all the previous stereotype characters in this anime roster. Of course, none of the characters share the original’s charisma or seem to be developed to the videogame’s possible extend. The characters could disappear one after another and the viewer probably wouldn’t care or even notice the “change”.
Persona -trinity soul- wasn’t enjoyable, of course being I a Persona gamer. I seriously don’t have the slightest idea if a non-Persona gamer would fully understand the anime scenario. But, I can say this for myself: a Persona gamer will feel angered, disappointed or just will not feel anything at all. I wouldn’t recommend it to Persona gamers, knowing that this is simply a mediocre rip-off of a great theme and I wouldn’t recommend it to non-Persona gamers, since I don’t want them to have a bad impression of the saga. There is a slight chance that the last mentioned group might enjoy it though.
I’m sure the producers tried to make this anime somehow different to the usual content that the fans are used to. As they say: “different is not always bad”, the contrary could as well be applied: “the usual is not always bad”. A shame that the staff couldn’t realize that: “when things go well, why change them?”
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Dec 20, 2009
Every season has it's own corresponding harem and ecchi anime. This was 2009 fall season's harem, and definitely an improvement to the usual. Nyan Koi! it's not an upgrade to the harem formula and doesn't add anything new to the lot but, at the end, managed to deliver lots of fun and, as a result of that, quality.
Almost everything in this show it's a bit chiché, take for example the fascination that japanese people have for animals like foxes or dogs. Now it's the cats turn; meet Kousaka Junpei, a typical 2nd year high school student alergic to cats that has been cursed. In order
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to prevent his body from becoming cat-like he has to make 100 wishes come true, wishes that come from cats. Aside from being slowly transformed into a cat, the curse brings other consecuences to Jumpei: he can understand and comunicate with cats. This makes the show entertaining to a certain point. The overall plot develops based on this wishes that Jumpei grants, accompanied with lots of comedy and incredible situations along the way.
The animation it's decent. It doesn't stand out a lot and it doesn't look bad either. It's just right. It haves minor ecchi elements that go on par with the harem theme and some models, like the cats, are very funny to look at due to their diversity.
The music it's matched perfectly to the ambience in the anime. Nyanderful! has the perfect title and rhythm to make out an impression about the whole show at once. The BGMs are pretty lively as well and nice timed. Other than that the seiyus do a great job reflecting each of the characters personality. One of the biggest achivements this anime has acomplished; the sound and music are above average to what mostly one listens to.
Typical coming from a harem anime we've got the classic steoreotypical characters that usually are created for this genre: the tsundere girl, the clueless girl, the yakuza-manly girl, the stalker girl and the real loved girl. The characters are funny and you get to see enough content of each one, so no specific character is missed. Added to that the cats have their own personality and problems as well, this makes the show feel somehow refreshing and unique.
Nyan Koi! it's a blast to watch, you can laugh a lot or just check it out for the harem-partly ecchi experience. This anime can be extremely entertaining if the viewer can stand the clichés that surround it.
So the typical harem formula is applied: the same use of characters, situations (somebody said a pool episode?) and somehow linear chain of events. Besides that some of this events are really funny and some of the characters stand out. Lastly the voice acting is awesome and the music is applied nicely. After combining all this characteristics the final product comes out as a 'very good' one.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Aug 20, 2009
When I was looking for a short anime Myself ; Yourself came up immediatly as my first choice. I don't regret it, it was entertaining and well done, this drama/romance/school series even surpased my expectatives by far.
The story is almost completely based on memories and how they can change a person's personality. A 6-7 year old boy once lived happily in a city when he had lots of friends. For some reason he has to leave town w and goes to another city, leaving his friends behind. 10 years later he comes back to the city he once happily lived and encounters his friends. Some
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of them remain the same, some of them have drastically changed. The, now adolescent, guy tries to figure the reason behind these drastic changes, specifically Nanaka's (one of his friends and the girl he likes) personality have changed for the worst. He tries to find out why, but on the way he realizes that he himself have changed the most.
Althought the story seems all happy and lively it won't be always like that. These memories unfold sad and chaotic events that will begin to unfold on the second half of the anime. Also the last couple of episodes feel a bit rushed, this is because almost all the important story development is left to the last episodes. The anime would have been beter as a 24-26 episode series, but still the story is good, not spectacular, just plain good.
The characters look pretty nice. The art focuses on everything, from females to males. The locations and spaces in which the plot interactuates are really good to watch at. You can see erey single thing pretty well detailed and feel that a considerable amount of effort was putted forth to deliver a good material.
Definitley the strongest aspect the anime has to offer, ther music is jut remarkable. From the Opening, through the in-scene BMGs and on to the Ending the anime manages to create a unbelivable listening experience. Also note that the DVD version includes an special music video clip, featuring the Opening song, "Tear Infection" by Kaoru. This bonus material has a lot of extras and is really a must watch if you liked the anime.
Memories and personalities, this are the defining atributes for most of the characters. Some characters like Aoi are defined by atributes (large breasts) but she's almost the only one. Mostly the characters are well drawn and animated but are not that beautiful so the personality aspect bacomes crucial. The personality is very realated to the memories that each characters is keeping, so these are the main things to look at when watching this anime and focusing on the characters.
I really had a good time watching this anime. The episodes were light and easy to diggest. I felt a bit of a rush at the end when trying to conclude the series, but even so Myself ; Yourself is great fun + great content which is definitely worth the time.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jul 22, 2009
D.Gray-man is a shounen/action/adventure anime. It aplies the typical formula: long episode range with 19-20 minute animation, practically endless storyline and a main lead that predominates over all. It plays a lot with religion, this is what actually makes it really interesting.
Like in almost all shounen animes the first episodes seem to be interesting. This is because you don't know anything about the world in which the events are going to take place or about the protagonists of this story. So meet Allen Walker, a 15 year old boy who has the power to see Akumas (means demons, mechanical killing machines is the term aplied
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in this anime ) and haves an anti-Akuma weapon to free the souls that hold them. This weapon works powered by "Innocence", a misterious susbstance that haves a cubic form, it was supposedly created by God. Only those compatible with it can use it, can become "Exorcists" and join the Black Order to fight the Millenary Count, who is destined to destroy the world.
The plot develops in a 19th century, mostly, european demography. Of course you get to see some regions of Asia as well, but the settings are usually european. Past the first 10-15 episodes probably most people who aren't used to watch shounen-type animes will easily get bored. D.Gray-man haves a "Inuyasha-10000+Pearl fragments" feeling, but it does not develop that slowly. There are 140+ Innocence pieces to be found... well actually no. Some of them are already in posession of the Black Order and the events focuss troughout the first 40-45 episodes on only this objective, but then it drastically changes.
From episode 50 the ambience changes will be totally obvious: the objetives will change, the battles will get more ferocious and the story will truly advance. D.Gray-man is as average anime up to espisode 50, then it touches the realm of a masterpiece.
Artistically speaking I would define D.Gray-man as varied. You'll see lots of characters: enemies and companions. If I take the Akumas as an example the artistic design is poor on episodes 1-20, these are level 1 Akumas. Then the Akumas evolve into levels, now here you can see what I'm talking about: variety and creativity. As the anime develops you'll witness more crazy and unthinkable tranformations and evolutions. The protagonists are very well designed, the weapons of each one of them somehow reflects their own and unique personality. The fighting scenaries are beautiful and the "bosses" are more than fearsome, in a funny way.
UVERworld, Abingdon Boys School and Sowelu are just some of the artists you'll come across on the opening and ending scenes. This translates into a amazing sound experience that will glue you to the anime fron the opening to ending sequences. The BGM's are well executed in the anime an add more suspense, spice up the action and ultimately transform good fights into epic confrontations. Definitely one of the strongest points D.Gray-man achieves.
The characters are typical shounen-based. You have the strong-willed never-surrender-even-if-I'm-almost-dead Allen Walker (main lead). His female companion and most probable romantic parther Lenalee. The "rival" character: Kanda Yui. And other companions that will be added to the "party" as the storyline progresses. One thing I didn't like was the lack of airtime that some of the most interesting characters have (generals). You get glances of them at some point in the anime but they do not appear as part of the plot until later on and for such a short amount of time that it really feels like a waste once you get to finally see them on action. Also you don't get almost any character development troughout the first half of the anime; here episode 50+ becomes again a turning point in which characters develop at a very good speed in a 40-50 episode range.
To be honest I was about to drop the anime at episode 20. My friend told me "to keep on going, you won't regret it once you get to episode 50". Surely I didn't. The twists in the story started here, continued until the end and made D.Gray-man really worth my time. Anyone should watch this, it isn't your average shounen anime, you'll understand why once you dig into it.
The end is actually inconclusive so I guess the studio might be making another anime (second season?) to continuate this one, due to the great popularity this and the manga have. I really hope so because there are still many things that need to be explained and I just can't wait for that moment.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Apr 22, 2009
If you think School Rumble is over you’re wrong. After two seasons of laughter and craziness this “love story” reaches it’s the awaited conclusion. This is a 30 minutes – 2 episode OVA that is very different compared to all the previous anime content. These OVAs contain only the necessary amount of comedy to be a School Rumble sequel. This is just an attempt to try to finish the anime in a similar way the manga did. Originally these two OVAs are the two last episodes of never released 3rd season.
The story starts as a recap, a very fast recap that compresses all the stuff
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that supposedly happened at this incomplete 3rd season. Actually this is quite sad because a lot of things happened on the third term, so the recap is not enough to reflect all this and when its over and the OVAs starts up with the actual content one feels lost and confused; after a bit you get used to it but still feels weird (yeah more weird than the actual series plotline.) As I said before the comedy amount gets extremely reduced and makes one wonder if this is really School Rumble. This concludes all: Tenma’s confession, Karasuma’s feelings and Harima’s situation. Although you’ll be disappointed by the fast pace these events take place.
The animation is not very different from the previous seasons. It gets a bit of an improvement but nothing to be impressed about. If you haven't watched School Rumble the design is crazy and sudden (best words to describe it): you get these beautiful characters that can transform into anything and be in any kind of random situation; it's a shame you don't get too much of this in the OVAs.
The opening song is the same as the first season. Personally I think that the 2nd season opening is the best between the two of them but both are good tracks that keep you glued to the anime from the beginning. The BMG’s inside the anime are just fun to listen to (again same as first and second season), nothing special.
The characters never cease to amaze me. They change personality quickly and do a perfect comedy scheme. Of course there are LOTS of characters in the whole anime, all of them are very interesting and it’s really a shame that these don’t have enough airtime to develop completely. In the OVAs you just see the main characters development (Tenma, Karasuma and Harima) so the other characters are just putted aside. Overall the anime leaves all this “secondary” and “supporting” roles outside the main plot but all the School Rumble characters are so good that you’ll be willing to watch an arc based on each one.
In the end School Rumble can’t go wrong. The first two seasons were oviously better than these OVAs. The fast pace leave one wanting more School Rumble and the recap in the first OVA is really lame and incoherent. But is just a fast way to end a great comedy/love anime that probbably would have gone on and on for two or three more seasons.
My advice is: if you liked the first two seasons and want more, watch this; if you think you’d had enough don’t watch these OVAs, it’s not mandatory. These OVAs will feel like the awaited clousure you’ve been waiting but in the end they're too short to have a "balance", a contrast, with the previous 26+26 episodes. Either way you’ll want more so enjoyment is not assured for everyone.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Apr 13, 2009
Tower of Druaga is a two-season anime (Aegis of Uruk - 1st season; Sword of Uruk - 2nd season) that isn’t anything spectacular, but manages to deliver great fun and enjoyment. Each season haves 12 episodes but season one has an extra episode, it’s an alternative version of the first episode. This is only funny stuff but explains some things so I recommend watching it.
Mainly I’m going to review Sword of Uruk but there are going to be some comparations and references to Aegis of Uruk so this could be considered the full anime review. Firstly I must say that I don’t usually watch
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this type of anime. This is the typical “save everyone” character (incredibly stupid at that) that has to save the world by defeating a great evil at the top of a tower. Pretty common story huh? Well don’t be fooled because the anime gets really interesting at the end of the first season and literally forces you quickly jump into the second one because you desperately want to know what happens next.
The story is set on a medieval/fantasy world that seems somehow modern. The events revolve around Jill, the main character, and his struggle to get to the top of the Tower Of Druaga. Those who climb the tower are called “climbers”, there are lots of climbers although the series focuses on some especifics groups of them. In Aegis of Uruk the characters will usually find themselves in really absurd and funny situations. In fact the 1st season doesn’t get serious ‘till the last 3 episodes. Sword of Uruk gets serious at the beginning and unfolds a story that is a lot more dramatic than Aegis of Uruk. It's a story full of hate and betrayal.
In Aegis of Uruk Jill is a rookie climbing for the first time. He thinks he is climbing to defeat the evil god Druaga but his brother (Neeba) has other plans. First Jill gets dismissed from his party and joins another one with very funny and important characters in it, Kaaya being the most important. At the end, when they reach the top another conflict unfolds and Neeba leaves alone joined by Kaaya. Sword of Uruk plotline unfolds six months after the events in Aegis of Uruk (3 years inside the tower due to some flow of time issues) the story is less funny and more serious, it concludes the anime for real. The battles are more fierce and the drama more intense. The objetive is basically the same: climb the tower again to reach another one (Mythical Tower) and defeat another evil being.
One thing to note is the pace in which the story develops. In Aegis of Uruk the story feels fast while the party climbs the shirines and gardens. In one episode they are on level two shirine and in the next one the party magically appears on level five. In Sword of Uruk the story is more paused and seems to be slower. It goes on in a more drama-oriented, detailed way. The story has it twists, almost all of them happening at the end of the first season and in the second season.
I was fooled when I first saw the Aegis of Uruk opening on the second episode. The opening has some amazing sequences that are really well done, but have nothing to do with the real anime, only some character behaviors are loyal to the anime plot. Sword of Uruk has some “nothing-to-do –with-the-anime” sequences as well. The two openings are just fun to watch and the design of every little thing is beautiful. Theese work like fanservice but at the same time indicate that the anime is far from serious, being it mostly a comedy.
Overall the anime looks good. The spaces are diverse and go from lively and beautiful to dark and scary. The main leads are very well detailed and very distinctive from each other. From Kaaya to Fatima the girls look gorgeous and really do make a diference from other animes girls. But some things like Jill’s armor and weapons are poorly detailed. On the first episode you see Jill with this huge shield, but after he leaves his first party he get’s to wield a really lame tiny shield. Another thing is the sword that he get’s from Kaaya: you only see it on the first season and them in the second season only in the last 3 episodes, and it isn’t anything special. I was hoping for a more powerful and mythical looking weapon (with some sort of power?) The only weapon I liked was the flame staff-gun that Fatima wields; it’s really awesome and original. The monsters are varied as well: they can be lame and simple looking or really ferocious and complex. I was as well dissapointed with Druaga’s looks.
As I said before the openings of boths seasons are just creative and beautiful. The singles that acompain the openings are really good as well. The music is completetly different from the one that is inputed during the anime. These are J-Pop songs that, after listening two or three times, become incredibly adictive. On the other hand the endings are slow and tranquil. So the basic formula: an agitated and fast opening to start up the action and to end up a light and somehow sad single to leave the animation on a nice mood.
The BMGs are really dramatic and have that medieval/legendary feeling. These give more drama to battles and more enjoyment to the, pretty random, humor moments. The sound quality is awesome and the BMG’s sound like taken out from a movie. The seiyuu cast is awesome as well and do irradiate each personality with their voices.
Everything is varied and fantastic in the world of The Tower of Druaga, the characters are no exception. In Aegis of Uruk there are a lot of interesting characters and in the Sword of Uruk you get to see all theese characters again and some new additions. Again the girls look awesome and sexy, Fatima being my favourite. Definitely I love Kaaya’s personality, she’s just weird and likes things that nobody else likes, she doesn’t get bothered by nothing and works really hard. On the other hand Fatima is an aggressive girl that gets bothered by practically anything but works hard as well. These two characters suffer a transformation after Aegis of Uruk ends. In Sword of Uruk Fatima starts up being a lay down and really quiet girl. Kaaya doesn’t show up too much until the last episodes but she seems sad and quiet as well.
But characters like Jill, suffers minimal changes. He starts up the second season sad and gloomy, but when he gets to know how to get where Kaaya and Neeba are he regains that irritating “save everyone” actitude. The problem is that he is indecisive and isn’t aware of anything at times. In my opinion a bad main character.
The main thing about secondary and other less important main leads is that they do have an important development and are not left alone. They do have important roles in the story development and one’s never kept wandering where a certain character is: they all participate and develop amanzingly well in the story.
At the end The Tower of Druaga is an enjoyable anime. It doesn’t have a strong story or great animation either but everything else make up for it. The anime has a big enjoyment factor: when you finish the first season you’ll quickly jump to the second one. And when you finish the second season you will end up loving the anime, mostly because of the relationships between the characters. I really enjoyed Tower of Druaga and I recommend everyone to watch this, you’ll get to laugh a bit, to experince sad moments and to, most impotantly, appreciate everything this world has to offer.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Feb 23, 2009
After watching all the FMP seasons I have to say that, without a doubt, Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu is the best one. FMP F are just spin-offs, side stories that take place right after the first Full Metal Panic! and before Second Raid season. If you are looking for a good laugh this is definitely one of the best options around.
Does this anime really have a story? Almost every episode is divided into two sub-episodes parts, which equals two stories per episode. Mostly one has nothing to do with the other episodes. Now if Fumoffu doesn't have a story why is so good? Easy: In
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the first season the anime focuses, almost all the time, in the belic conflicts that "Mythril" has with different terrorist organizations. But the thing is that they've created amazing-over the top characters, characters they have to show off in another way, in a theme that accentuates more the masterwork they've done: a comedy theme, and not in the serious-storyline theme that characterized the first season. This is called fan service my friends.
Now which place is the most popular for an anime to take place and to develop? The answer is simple: school. This ambiance is used now in almost all animes simply because is part of the formula, a formula that is successful. This season is made mainly because of the lack of that "school development" that the first season has. If you watch Fumoffu carefully, you'll notice that almost every single thing is school-related. In the end, no story at all, only fan service, very well done fan service.
The art and design are not that different from the original Full Metal Panic! The characters keep looking good and smooth. The only thing that changes is the locations that, this time, are more detailed. In Fumoffu the school location is a lot more detailed: new sub-locations inside the school are shown (club rooms, school council room, principal's room, etc.) and new characters are introduced to complement the roles inside the school. Note that in this anime you ain't seeing Mechas (well if you can count Bonta-kun as one xD!).
Regarding opening-ending and BGM's, I have to say that FMP is superior to Fumoffu. However, Fumoffu does take voice acting to new horizons. The voices of Chidori and Sagara are a lot more relaxed and funny. Also, love the Fumo!!! Fumoffu! sound that Bonta-kun does, it may seem childish but in the end, it's really one of the most hilarious stuff this anime has to offer. Nice sound but as a "sequel" it doesn't outstand its predecessor.
Full Metal Panic! has always characterized by having one of the best casts of characters around. Well, Fumoffu does really make these characters look better, if possible than the original FMP. The way Sagara and Chidori go to school every day, Sagara's paranoia and Chidori's violent personality do help Fumoffu reach the pinnacle in comedy anime. I mean is obvious if you watched the first FMP that the characters are just unique in many ways.
I definitely enjoyed this anime from the first minute to the last one. FMP F offers 100% guaranteed entertainment, even if you know nothing about FMP this anime is a must-watch. Fumoffu is almost at a masterpiece level, the only problem with this show is that it can be VERY random but, then again, that is what makes it funny, isn't it?
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Feb 12, 2009
This is the first complete OVA anime I've seen and, without a doubt, one of the best animes out there. Just a first glance at this anime's early sequences and it's clear that this one is just not for anyone. Mnemosyne contains the whole package: nudity, profanity, strong language, strong sexual themes and intense violence. So discretion is advised, this anime is exclusively for mature audiences.
Well that being said let's start with the story. Normally a anime this long would have been separated in 12 or 13 episodes, so why is this anime cut into 6 - 45 minute OVAS? The answer is simple:
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is easier and less confusing to manipulate and separate time in 6 parts that it is on 12 or 13. Almost every OVA occurs in a different time lapse, the space however remains normally the same happening the main events in Shinjuku, Nagoya and Kyoto. Sometimes the location is changed by the flow of the story but mainly everything starts up within this cities. The OVAs divide in 5 different time epochs:
1st OVA - 1990
2nd OVA - 1991
3rd OVA - 2011
4th OVA - 2025
5th and 6th OVA - 2055
OVAs 1,2,3 and 4 consist in different arcs regarding story. The 5th and 6th set the conclusion and finish the anime. Each OVA alone is so impressive that you'll make haste to watch the next one. The story is manly about the life of a immortal being, Asogi Rin and her assistant Mimi. At first in seens that Rin is just a common private detective, but as the storyline develops and the main events unfold you will discover who she really is and why she is immortal.
-THE NEXT THREE PARAGRAPHS CONTAIN SPOILERS REGARDING THE MAIN STORYLINE (+OVA 3)-
Basically the story revolves around the nordic legend of the "Yggdrasil", tree of life. This legend says that this tree's roots mantain united the two worlds, the world of the mortals and the world of the immortals. And if a woman, only a woman takes one of the tree's fruit it will become immortal, while a man will become a monster and die in eternal agony. This legend is a bit changed here: the men become "angels" (monsters with red wings) and are forced to fornicate with the females which are, at the same time, inexplicably sexualy atracted to the males. After the male has satisfied his sexual desire he must kill the female in order to be able to continue his sorrowful existence by eating the Yggdrasil fruit inside the female.
Asogi Rin does not remember when did she consume the Yggdrasil fruit, in fact every certain lapse of time she forget's her memories due to Eipos (the main antagonist) influence. Sometimes when you begin watching a OVA you will not understand what's going on but the event sequence is so well put that in no time you will be enjoying the continuation of the OVA even if you don't know what's going on. And in the end the connection between the confusing and the certainty will arrive sooner or later, but it does appear in such a natural way that you won't even notice it.
One thing to point out is that you will be seeing these fruits falling from the sky all the time during the anime as well as the Yggdrasil far away on the edge of the city. I think it's kind of cool because it get's you more attached to Rin knowing that you can see what she sees. So in the end the story is amazingly well put. The changes in the legend, the different time spaces and some flashback (inputted smartly in some of the OVAs) just make one of the best storylines come alive and deliver a ultimate experience.
The characters, spaces and locations are terrific. All the anime occurs mainly in some specific cities and some time it diverts to some other locations in order to fulfill certain objectives in the story. It sounds anoying to be always located in the same city, but this is when the time dividing aspect does it's job. In the first two OVAs you won't notice anything different, having only passed one year between them, but in the third OVA you will witness the changes in the demographical, technological and style aspects. These changes are so well driven that you will be impressed on how things changed from just one OVA to another and wonder what else is going to change afterwards. Note that the last two OVAs (5th and 6th) do share the same timeline of events as well. This is undertandable, being this two final OVAs the ones that contain the main storyline and define the conclusion.
Mnemosyne art is also focused on the horror, gore, bloody and sexual aspects. The dark theme in this anime is mantained on all the episodes development and does make feel one really anxious about what is going to happen next. Gore and blood are evident in this anime. From the scandalous turns and events in the anime (wich include from body dismembering to genital-piercing tortures) to the ending song theme (Cause Dissaray), this anime will result a feast for those who love violence. In the sexual aspect this show contains just enough content to almost fall into the Hentai genre. Nudity, mid-detailed sex scenes and, from time to time, pedofile sex escenes will be a often ocurrence here.
Altasia and Cause Disarray are just the best opening-ending combination I've listened to. Normally all animes Open with a really good and powerful song but then the ending just becomes a slow and weak song that has a cool-down role. Differently from other animes, Mnemosyne both, opening and ending, are strong an powerful songs (of course my criteria funtions by my musical preferences: metal, rock, etc.). These two songs manage to create a feeling of a never ending struggle, a neverending story, this matches perfectly the immortal theme.
Passing now to the battle soundtracks I really can't get enough of the main battle theme. I mean is just so original and really does go in when it has to. The rest of the BMGs are overall good and do a well job adding more spice to the OVAs. Another thing is the japaneese voice acting, I mean Rin's voice sounds sexy and clear no wonder why, she's interpreted by Noto Mamiko (Ichinose Kotomi in Clannad, Yuka in Elfen Lied, Hecate in Shakugan no Shana, Shihou Matsuri in sola and the popular Emma Ai in Jigoku Shoujo). So it all comes down to if the music plays good in conjuction with the anime, well it actually it does, and it does rock hard without the anime as well: perfection.
There is a lot of characters in this anime. I'm in love with Rin, she's just so sexy. She's drawn to attract the male audience: exotic hair colour, big eyes, beautiful face, huge breasts and perfect all around body. The other characters are given least importance but are well drawn as well. Mimi is gorgeous too. She target's the other part of the male audience which likes a more clasic teen look: a not too llamative hair colour, moderate breast size, small body, and a all around teen look. Now the personalities are exotic and different. Mimi has the naughty-teen personality and tends to practice lesbianisn sex in one or two episodes. Rin is a special case: her main personality is quiet, confident and seductive when the situation requires it. But at some specific moments her personalitie suffers changes due to memory loss. So you will see her one episode as a loving girlfriend, then (almost all the time) as a detective or as a sexual goddess.
A mix between a unforgetable story, over the top artistic quality, impressive soundtrack and wonderful and appealing characters gives Mnemosyne a HUGE onjoyment factor that transforms it into a ''must see" OVA-Anime. This anime will challenge your senses, unleash your hidden desires and replenish your most gory and bloody necessities. Now the only question you must ask yourself now is: are you ready to start watching Mnemosyne-Mnemosyne no Musume-tachi?
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Feb 12, 2009
Busou Renkin is an anime for those who are looking forward to see lots of action, great battles and a great variety of weapons and characters. So if you are a Naruto/Bleach fan you should watch this one, it will be for sure of your liking and probably (in some aspects) may be considered better than the previously named animes.
The story in this anime is pretty much straight forward, those of you who are familiar with Bleach plot will find the storyline very tentative and it will be very likely of your interest, being similar to Bleach's. A boy wakes up from a nighmare, in
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this nightmare he protected a girl from a monster, but he was murdered in the process. Later on he realizes that he really died and that, what keeps him alive, is a alchemic artifact known as "Kakugane". Tokiko-san (the girl who saved him) explains that this artifact materializes it's warrior's battle instict into the form of a weapon, an arm, Arms Alchemy: Busou Renkin. The enemies here are called "Humunculus" (is this similar to Full Metal Alchemist by any chance?) and do have "another type" of alchemy power. This monsters have a strong appetite for humans because of the unconscious desire they have to recover the humanity they've losed. Then there are other more powerful enemies like Human-Humunculus (Humunculus with Busou Renkin powers), Alchemic warriors made into something similar to humunculus, you get the point. Similar indeed to Bleach's concept of Vizards, Hollows and Arrancars.
Also the story has a very common sequence, used in most action-shounen animes: you first got a treat to eliminate, you eliminate the enemies in episode one then another more powerful enemy comes in episode 2 and another and then another, the usual. But this sequence asures that the anime has a very wide range of characters which makes the story more interesting and worthwhile. It got it's twists, almost all being around the main character (Kazuki). This twists are what really will make you keep watching the anime to the end, because you will feel very attached to Kazuki, but not to any other character really.
The artistic design is in a very high level. The locations look very good, even when thay get destroyed, and believe me, this happens a lot. But on the other hand the character's design is a bit... gay. Characters like Papillon and Moonface really look like taken out from fairytales. If you have watched animes like Speed Grapher you will find the appereance of the characters (enemies specifically) very similar and probably like it, if not and you are planning on watching this then get used to it, but don't worry you will learn that this characters really are scary (excluding Poke-Moonface Mooooooooon! Definitely one of the most stupid character's I've seen.)
Continuing on let's talk about the sound. I have to say that this anime's soundtrack rocks. The opening is superb and almost all sountracks are just the perfect match for the Busou Renkin concept. Without the appropiate music the battles really would have been boring but, actually, the strength of this anime lies here: the battle soundtracks are stunning, they do give the battles more drama and spice and definitely makes them feel really sort of heroic, far from being boring. The ambience themes are also perfectly inputted and give the peaceful / critical feeling depending the situation.
Characters are as various as episodes are in the anime. We've got personalities from idiotic and childish to sorrowful and really evil. Most of the characaters, as mentioned before, have a staraflarious look that doesn't escape from being stupid. But even so the personalities are not reflected by the looks. Take Papillon for instance: he may look like a butterfly, and some times act really gay but when he get's serious he really does look scary as hell. Every character has a different power (at least those who posses a Kakuganes). These powers are really original and different, are mainly represented as weapons. But actually each weapon have a different property, this properties go from high speed regeneration to gravity control, so really a wide difference between weapons.
Regarding the personalities itself I have to say it's impossible not to take notice Kazuki's stubborn and "I wat to save everyone" behavior. At some times the way he acts is really annoying but you will get used to it and, at the end, really love this character. Also these guy get's trashed really bad and, supposedly, killed many times (I counted 4). But somehow he manages to stand up and win the fights, so we've got a hero that always wins and never gives up, even if he is supposed to be dead. A pretty often used model of character in modern Shounen animes to create sympathy around the main lead. The character development, again, only centres around Kazuki. He goes from having no powers to become the most powerful warrior in the Alchemic Society, and that progress does take time but still it gives a good amount of anxiety to go on watching it. Also note he always learns new techniques and, at some point, he unleases his real powers.
This is a pretty good example for an anime that is good, not perfect, has factors similar to other animes, and can still manage to deliver great fun and satisfaction. I really enjoyed watching Busou Renkin. It ended good and there was not need for more content after it's conclusion. I recommend it to anyone, it doesn't matter if you don't watch this kind of animes, because really it's just the same formula that other animes, like Bleach, use. But Bleach is popular isn't it? So that means the formula works, it worked for me at least.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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