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Jun 15, 2021
"Grandma, the outside is not scary at all."
Josee, the Tiger and the Fish may have had a slightly bumpy start, but it knows its own strengths and uses it to build its momentum. At its apex, this film shines in all its beauty and fills you up with all sorts of emotions. What you will witness from this anime is the clear result of a passionate team that knows how to delicately craft a story that is able to stand out among the crowd of modern anime.
Josee's story contains several tropes, including cliche ones, but it is able to execute them when time is appropriate
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and the result is of praise. The main characters, Josee and Tsuneo, got to meet each other through a coincidence, which is nothing special but certainly not bad. Their relationship went off to a rocky beginning, however, when both of them realized their similar interest for the ocean, it kicked off the steady climb in terms of their understanding of each other. That is great and all, but it was not yet what I was looking for. Josee always had a love for drawing of the ocean and fishes. She even dreams of her swimming as a mermaid in an underwater world with fishes. The part of the story that heavily stuck out to me was the scene where Josee reads a storybook to the children. Every page of the storybook was painted by Josee; every page of the storybook encapsulates Josee's love for the ocean. The story? An analogy of her dearest memories with Tsuneo. It really pulled my heartstrings. I teared up.
Alongside the story, Josee featured spectacular technical qualities. From the art to the voice acting, there is nothing I can really complain about at all. The soft lineart along with a colorful palette really suited what this film is about. They were consistent with it, and it allowed for dynamic facial expressions as well. If I were to nitpick something real quick, it would be the 3DCG standing out at times during certain parts of the film. Although that's not too much of a concern since most of the movie uses animated drawings, I figured to still point it out as a room for improvement. Other than that, I was particularly impressed with its lighting. It's something a lot of studios tend to cut corners on, but in all honesty good lighting can give your film an entire layer of color.
The OSTs for Josee were good, though I would not go out of my way to say it is breathtaking. Even so, Eve's 'Ao no Waltz' was quite powerful and incredible, what else can I really comment on. The voice acting, however, was really something else. Kaya Kiyohara really outperformed herself with the Kansai accent and the passionate immersion in her role; but that might just be me with my soft spot for Kansai accents.
In a romance film, what really matters is the character dynamic. How was it? I do not think their dynamics are original in any way, but it was executed in a manner that did not feel excessively tropey and overused. Pretty much what you might see in other romance series or movies, two main characters and two supporting characters, with the two girls soon falling in love with the same guy. This dynamic faintly reminds me of shows like Toradora, but with a lot less pointless drama. The latter factor allowed me to enjoy this film much more, and I am glad for that. I found the interactions between Josee and Tsuneo to be really cute though. I am weak for blushing, but they just kept blushing in romantically adorable ways. I give them an additional 10 points for tugging my heartstring.
On the whole, Josee, the Tiger and the Fish does use tropes, it does have character dynamics that have appeared in other shows before. At the same time, it features a promisingly solid story with its own times to truly shine alongside a magnificent production quality. Personally, I am biased to a cute romance couple so I enjoyed it a lot. Would I recommend it? Sure, it is a great film to just watch with a friend or even alone.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Dec 3, 2020
I could not believe my eyes.
Kyoto Animation, you god. Violet Evergarden has always tried to entail one single story, Violet tries to find the meaning of love. In this movie, it reiterates this concept and pushes it to a whole new level. Humans have emotions, and so does Violet. Despite us being granted the power of feeling emotions, Violet does not. This beautifully crafted story of a somewhat coming-of-age romance film will go down as a classic in the future.
To start, Violet Evergarden Movie took the risk of running 3 stories in one movie—Violet’s story, Yurith’s story, and the really minor one that started the
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whole movie off and starts the whole plot off. But it blew all my expectations away when it skilfully blends everything naturally, like it just intertwines smoothly. Every minute of the movie tugs my heartstrings, and the critical moments of the movie just yanks on it. What can I say, it’s emotional, enchanting, and painful at the same time. Ironic right? Well, I guess that’s just how it is.
As always, KyoAni never fails to continuously impress me with their extravagantly elegant art style and animation. With a perfect 3DCG and 2D blend too, the whole movie just pops out and stands out even among other high budget anime films. When it comes to making big projects such as films, cutting corners will really suck ass. But KyoAni took advantage of every frame and turned it into a glorious piece of art. You seriously cannot tell me there is nothing more unique than what Violet Evergarden brings in terms of art production. There is just no competition.
Oh, the sounds of the orchestras and TRUE’s beautiful voice just comes back whenever I remind myself of Violet Evergarden’s incredible soundtracks. With the assist of amazing direction and careful placement, these soundtracks shined when it’s their turn to shine. May I just give extra credit to all the voice actors too, Ishikawa Yui does an amazing job in voice acting Violet and I would like to praise her for that.
I especially loved the character development that went on in the 2 hours 20-minute runtime of the movie. We finally get to see both sides of the story, and both sides of the struggle between Violet and whoever the other man could be. There is so much I would like to say but I’m trying to keep it as spoiler-free as possible. To make it simple, we’ve had a really powerful character arc in terms of development and interaction.
Overall, I loved the Violet Evergarden Movie. I love it even more than the original TV series. I love it so much that I’m about to go lower the scores of some of my highest rated anime just because 10/10 is not an accurate representation of the score I want to give this movie. It’s 11/10. You’ve heard my voice, now it’s your decision to catch this modern masterpiece that will not disappoint in execution. God, I’m still feeling empty inside…
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Nov 14, 2020
"The meaning of the phrase 'Yukishiro' is about the image of love."
I love Senryuu Shoujo. Out of all the manga I've currently ever read, Senryuu Shoujo comes out on top with a solid 10/10. This is what I want, a rom-com with little to no forced drama, an extremely cute couple, and a fantastic art style. The story may seem to be a long burn to others, but to me, it feels like their endurance of love.
The story itself comes to be as straight-forward and simple as it gets. Nanako, a girl who has trouble communicating normally and uses Senryuu, a form of Haiku, to
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talk to people. And Eiji, an ex-delinquent who is looking for people to simply talk to. Everyone fears him except Nanako, who kindly approaches him and there begins their long-winded journey of love. The journey is an extremely long one, stretching over 140 chapters before the actual romance plots actually come into play. Not that it didn’t before, just not as focused. Every chapter just feels like a ball of fluff and cuteness, tugging on your heartstrings and making you want more of it, which they deliver a solid 185 chapters of it. Trust me, it’s worth the wait.
As for art goes, Igarashi-sensei has come a long way with his art to be frankly honest. The first few chapters of Senryuu Shoujo has good art, but nothing compared to the final few chapters. The progression and improvement of his art style just led me to appreciate the manga even more, and also shows that Igarashi really enjoyed drawing for the manga. The cover arts are something I could literally hang up on my wall and be proud to show to all my weebs. You can argue and say artists such as Murata or Araki can do better, but come on here, for a rom-com this is one of the best we can get.
Eiji x Nanako has to be the cutest couple ever, like no jokes. The series could have ended in let’s say 50 chapters but it’s because it’s this long is what caused such bonds to happen. Their day-to-day conversations with each other are literally the definition of melting, and the development that grows within these characters is great and worth applauding. Other characters such as Amane, Kino, Tao, and even Koto chip in into the interactions just to make them that much more interesting. There’s this sense of naturalism placed into the series when it’s not just about both of them, but many things are happening to each of the characters. And Igarashi manages to develop all of them to a point where we can appreciate and understand what the characters are doing. They are given a personality, not a script. That’s what I felt really stood Senryuu Shoujo out from many other rom-com, personality, and liveliness.
On the whole, Senryuu Shoujo to me is a masterpiece. Calling this the epitome of rom-com would just be my own personal opinion since I’m sure others can disagree with me. But, what I can say is, it’s cute, the romance is simply endearing, and it’s got itself a 10/10 from me. If you’re looking for this kind of thing, believe me, you have come to the right place as Senryuu Shoujo will fill up your needs as you please.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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May 7, 2020
Alright alright. When I first took a glance at BNA, I felt that it was going to be something pretty cool and awesome. Well, was I wrong, or was I right? I’d say neither. BNA is a show that shows the darker side of the world if beastmen really existed.
Firstly, I was pretty shocked to find out that BNA was 12 episodes instead of 24. The setting and everything made it feel like it would have lasted a lot longer than what it actually is. The world-building and everything made you have an easy understanding of what is going on with their world and
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I honestly appreciate that they used several episodes for that. The story is extremely simple and straightforward, with some things still left unexplained, such as how does Michiru has all these incredibly supernatural powers, even in a supernatural world. I personally enjoyed this show a lot, how you could have never dreamed of such a city being existent in our world. And that the balance between the comedy and the seriousness was of good standards. That dark feeling along with Slice of Life being the jam on top of it created that urban fantasy type of feeling.
Even though the story was shown in a straight-forward and simple way as it chooses not to be sophisticated, however, those final few episodes in my honest opinion wasn’t able to push out a darker feeling than I expected it to release. Like I said, Slice of Life is the jam, don’t forget what you’re eating is still the bread. I feel that a darker final few episodes, even if the resolution is still the same, would have impacted many more audiences, myself included.
Another thing that got me started on BNA was the pretty unique art style. Nowadays most modern anime (especially isekais) tend to adapt with that pretty generic art style which I don’t mean to be an elitist or anything, I don’t appreciate much. So having this unique curvy, joyful, and dynamic art style is definitely a plus in the art department. As for animation, I don’t have much to say, it’s Trigger. They've always been gorgeous when it comes to their style of animation. If they fail in animation, it’s the same as saying KyoAni produces shitty art—which in contrast, produces the most eye-candy art you'll ever imagine.
As for sound goes, I was pretty satisfied. Actually, I was more than satisfied, I was pretty impressed. The OSTs, OP & ED, all had that urban modern society taste imbued into them, along with a bit of a futuristic kind of feeling as well. This led me to really enjoy them and rock to the beat, although that is more of a subjective thing. One OST that impacted me was that song Michiru and Nazuna sang together, it reminded me of how special friends were, and yeah. That’s literally all.
The character development for the characters I would say wasn’t the most substantial, but it’s decent for a 12 episode series. Especially Oogami, his character development, backstory, and everything was really well-done and Trigger deserves a thumbs up for that. Michiru like what Nazuna always tells her hasn’t changed much. Well, I suppose that is pretty realistic, humans don’t change much over such a short period of time do they, especially for somebody as stubborn as Michiru. But the characters overall were really enjoyable and I had a really fun time watching them. (Especially my little precious bear Jackie)
Overall, I had loads of fun watching BNA, although story-wise it was not even close to what I had wanted, but I got something else that I didn’t ask for: Fun character interaction. Honestly, I’m satisfied with just that. So, you interested in BNA? Sure, go ahead, but don’t expect some crazy complicated storyline that even the great Hououin Kyouma can’t figure out. ;)
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Apr 4, 2020
Boku no Hero Academia 4 was one of the most underwhelming of the series I’ve seen yet but also the most exciting season I’ve seen yet. The transition between Season 3 and Season 4 was mainly the cause of the first arc being underwhelming and awkward to even begin with. Despite this, the series was still able to barely push out of the boulder it trapped itself in and put momentum into it.
Despite the first arc being called dragged out by many people, I would beg to differ. The first arc may not have been as straightforward as how a shounen anime should have been,
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I believe it was the right choice to have done it this way. The grief Midoriya and the others felt, the stress and effort they were put under when strategizing for this invasion were all build-up to the climax of the arc. They poured all their effort into strategizing for the invasion and it portrays how both sides were going to deal with the opposing parties. The determination and grit Lemillion and Deku held wouldn’t have been portrayed well enough without the so-called “unnecessary drag”. Eri wasn’t the only one suffering, everybody was. It was the right move to have portrayed that.
Putting the considerably unstable and controversial first arc aside, we reached the second arc—the School Festival Arc. Well, basically my favorite arc every anime that ever had it. However, I really liked how Boku no Hero Academia moved with this arc. Believe me or not, I’m not a big fan of battle shounen. That also goes to show that I’m not the biggest fan of Boku no Hero Academia either. However, one thing that caught my attention the most is the festival arcs. They do exceptionally well in that factor, and this School Festival arc allowed me to reassure myself with that claim.
In the Sports Festival, they were able to portray and develop the students of Class 1A. One of the notable ones would be Todoroki, his backstory heavily portrayed who he is now, and his battle with Midoriya changed him. There are a lot more I could talk about it but this is not the right review, so I’ll hold back my words and use it for a more appropriate occasion. Now back to the School Festival, I loved how this time they portrayed and developed the more underrated characters, one of them especially is Jirou—best girl. She felt unappreciated and this was the perfect time for her to shine. But most importantly, this arc’s main focus wasn’t just about having fun, it was also to make a certain girl smile again. To get her out of the self-deprecation she is in and the stress she’s put herself under, just to see Eri’s precious smile again was something that just made me go, “TAKE MY MONEY“. I’ve been there before, emotionally scarred and ended up being a self-deprecating freak. People may find her smiling again being trivial and some may not even be concerned about it, but to me, I treasure it a lot. Being able to stand up again and face humanity is a great feat.
We also had a small follow up with Todoroki and the rest about their licensing exam, which also gave us a quick outlook on what’s happening to the world. My favorite one being quirks getting more and more complex. Reason? It’s realistic, just like how humans constantly evolve, get smarter and make more complex things; Quirks constantly evolve and start to give itself more and more variety, with the result being those children. This can potentially be an arc in the future and I’m curious to see how they deal with it.
Overall, Boku no Hero Academia Season 4 has its share of flaws, one thing I think they’ll still have to work on is transitioning. However besides that, the OP and EDs are as great as ever, the characters are still as fun as ever. And most importantly, you’ll have a blast watching it!
On a side note, stay healthy, stay at home and keep watching anime!
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Feb 14, 2020
For Index/Railgun fans who have been following since the debut of Toaru Majutsu no Index, anime or not, aren't you all excited for the new season of Railgun after literally a decade? Personally, I am not one of those people who have been following the Index series since that long time ago, however, a fan is still a fan no matter how old or new are you to the series isn't it?
With that being said, J.C. Staff honestly flopped season 3 of Toaru Majutsu no Index that was released just 2 years back during 2018. And then last year came Toaru Kagaku no Accelerator, was
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it amazing? I wouldn't say it was amazing, but it passes for an anime (barely). However, just by looking at this new season of Toaru Kagaku no Railgun really makes me wonder if the staff working at J.C. Staff are trolling with us or not since they literally proved that they can make an anime look good, sound good and most importantly, have a storyline that doesn’t feel like some thrown-away script found in the dumpster.
We start off with the events that following the storyline of Index 2 which might have confused the people who haven’t actually watched the Index series which FYI is the parent story of Railgun and that Railgun is just a side-story. But thankfully the series quickly diverges away from Index and into its own set of storylines. The Daihasei Festival is about to begin, and that the committee managing it tries to find Level 5 espers for their opening ceremony speech. After getting rejected by several Level 5s, they manage to find 2 espers willing to take the job. Through this event we can roughly guess the personalities of the Level 5 espers in Academy City, a selfish and overinflated ego-like personality due to being one of only 7 Level 5 espers that lie within the city.
Meanwhile, we have the usual Misaka gang—Uiharu, Kuroko, Saten & Misaka herself—doing the things they do best basically. Uiharu trying her best by doing her judgement work; Kuroko fantasizing about her being with Misaka; Saten doing her usual conspiracy theory thing-y; Misaka doing her usual walk around the park to beat up some level 0 thugs.
Despite the story starting off pretty chill and relaxing, we are only 6 episodes in and shit has just gone down, like down down. And it really made me realize that this is what I love about Railgun, the fact that they spend the first 2-3 episodes doing a quick memory jog and world-building, give you a good amount of time to breathe and understand the city before getting into the chase. This is really what railgun really does best and allows it to stand out among the hundred other shows that are airing alongside it this season. Despite being a sequel & a side-story, they still spend a considerable number of episodes doing world-building instead of getting into the action straight away, I would like to highly appreciate that.
Personally, if I were to compare this to Railgun or Railgun S, I would prefer T over both of them. Not because of the debut of Misaki, although many Toaru fans have always treated Misaki like a queen, I would just have to prefer Misaka over her. Wait, hold your horses for a minute, just a minute tks. I am not ready to get flooded by comments talking about Misaki in somewhere else besides this current railgun arc, so chill out. Okay back to the topic, if I were to be frank, I really loved the openings and endings for this current season, they just feel a slight better from the previous ones although I still love every song that fripside has ever produced so it might just be because it’s a fresh song and who doesn’t love new songs?
The sakuga for this series has not degraded, actually it felt like it has just gotten a notch better. Kudos to J.C. Staff for holding down their fort when it came to making the new season of Railgun since their recent productions honestly make them seem like they have just went all the way downhill. I especially loved the flying scene at the start of the opening theme, it reminds of a certain event in Railgun S where Misaka shot a railgun when she was all the way in the sky. And also that frame when Kuroko looked up, which follows up with Misaka looking down and flying down to the Earth was a nice transition that I really appreciated a lot. As a person that really appreciates openings, a bad opening equals to a bad start to an anime episode even if the episode ends up being good, a weird aftertaste will be left when I try to give the anime a score.
Overall, Railgun T at this point of time doesn’t seem to be an anime that would join its other fellow Toaru friends in the trash and instead actually stand out among the other anime that are airing this season. Calling this show bad would be more than an overstatement, cause it's amazingly blinding.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Oct 28, 2019
"I just wanted to see her smile again."
Well, well. What have I got to say... That was some pretty good words coming from a guy who has spent so much time trying to get her to wake up again. This Sci-Fi romance film was something I wouldn't have expected to be extraordinary, I kind of kept my hopes down for the entire film. But after watching the movie, it felt... decent? good? I was confused at that point. However, what I CAN say is that the romance was implied pretty strongly on the main character. Spending 10 years to save a girl you literally
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just started dating with? That's some sheer determination there my good old friend. Enough sputtering filler phrases, let me start my review on Hello World.
To begin with, the story felt... confusing? Especially at the end, it might make you go, "what just happened?" Well yeah, that was me as well. But if you got confused at any part during the movie other than the last, I suggest you go watch Steins;Gate again to turn yourself into a true mad scientist! (Not sponsored by Dr. Pepper) However, you got to catch the information quickly especially at the first when it was the most crucial about his future self explaining about ALLTALE Quantum technology. If you missed that, good luck trying to understand the whole movie. If you didn't miss that however, good for you then! You have just gotten the whole gist of the movie. Now onto the romance, as a romance-freak, I don't know I should be happy or not. But all Naomi did was just follow his future self's instruction and got her in the basement. Why can't that happen to me as well? I want my future self to get me a girlfriend too! Sadly, this is indeed a Sci-Fi movie so I cannot complain and whine about it, but still!
Now onto the art & animation, which the art felt lackluster in emotions for a Romance film. However, do keep in mind that this a full CGI film, so get ready to see some wack animation. I only noticed one however, but it downgraded the whole thing since that animation was literally one of the simplest ones that is given a lot of time, I can probably do it as well. Back to the art, although lackluster, there were a few scenes that were incredibly cute thanks to the visuals. So it depends on whether you care about the Romance or the Sci-Fi, and then you see it yourself from a specific viewpoint then on. What I have to seriously criticize on however is the amount of color they used in the movie. Oh my lord there was so much rainbow beams shining everywhere my eyes actually hurt from watching. That is one thing I want everyone to take note of : A LOT OF RAINBOW
Not to mention, the music was pretty dope. It's honestly personal preference though since we all have different tastes in music. But for me, I loved it. As for the voice actors, they've honestly done a pretty good job at... doing their job? There were some moments however that should've been implied harder than what was screened. So... director's issue? I don't understand the industry that much so I assume I have no say in something trivial like this. But still, good job.
Okay, Ruri and Naomi were so cute together it just felt amazing. (and then the story went downhill from there but let's not talk about the sad times) | Naomi in the future felt like a how a mentor should feel like, although there were *some* "disagreements", he has done his part well at tutoring himself in the past. Naomi in the past wasn't a wimp either, you can see the his development throughout the story through sheer willpower to save Ruri. He isn't that wimpy kid that doesn't even dare to enter the library anymore, he is a reliable and independent teen that people can rely on. As for Ruri, the only true character development she got was only when she is with Naomi. But without her, this whole story wouldn't have existed so she is still crucial for the story.
Haha, I know everyone is waiting for this. If you hated this movie, you will want me to type here : I hated this shit 0/10 no watch pls. Vice versa, if you loved this movie, you will want me to type here : I loved this movie omg 10/10 pls watch. I'll be honest here, I have mixed feelings for the movie. For me, I love sci-fi theories and I read a lot about them. So naturally I understood and enjoyed the movie. But at the same time, I love to look at things on an unbiased scale. What about the people who just came here with no knowledge of sci-fi whatsoever? Will they know what's the butterfly effect? A parallel world? A paradox? Naturally, they will get confused and not enjoy the movie as much as I did. Personally, the romance contributed a great factor for those who did not understand the sci-fi stuff IMO. As I said above, I am a romance-freak, so I savored every moment of romance the movie contained. Now for the big revelation, I will get my enjoyment an 8/10.
Overall, if you have epilepsy, I will not recommend this movie due to the amount of colors and the motion. If you do not however, I can recommend it if you like Sci-Fi or romance. Or else, if you just like anything you watch then why are you here? Go ahead. However, if you are a critic that hates CGI, romance and time traveling. Then please, do not watch this. I already warned you beforehand. Well then, signing off. El Psy Congroo
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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