Reviews

Jul 11, 2012
So I've seen many horrible reviews for this anime and despite all the warnings to avoid it and/or at least read the manga I thought I would jump in and then give my opinion on it. Now keep this in mind, I have not read the manga yet (but I plan on it), and I have only glanced at it for the visual comparisons.

Story: 6/10
At the beginning of the series I was first enthralled by the prospects of Toshima and how the protagonist was going to go there after being falsely accused of murder. However after watching it all the way through I found it to be rather vague. Akira was sent to a battleground called Toshima after being falsely accused of murdering his opponent from earlier that day. His mission was to defeat Il Re, but after his friend Keisuke arrives things become a little more complicated. Along the way he learns about Line, a drug with horrible side effects, and the failed project known as ENED. He meets friends along the way, fights the biggest "bad ass" Shiki many times and then goes home. I don't want to say much more because there is some resemblance of a plot, but what I described is the gist of this 12 episode series. Honestly, if they made this into 24 episodes I feel that they probably could have explained the story better. They tried to jam pack civil wars and experimental projects in the last few episodes and I honestly felt a little cheated. There was just too many things introduced and not explained and so many questions unanswered, combined with the crappiest ending I have seen in a while it just made me feel go "meh".

Art: 6/10
What I enjoyed visually was how the characters all looked different and I could easily tell them apart (even though they tried concealing the identity of one of the characters in an episode, didn't fall for it Togainu no Chi!), however the manga was first debuted in 2006, and the art in the anime reflected the 2006 feel, which made this anime fall short compared to other anime's of this time. The coloring was nice enough and was appropriate for the ambiance of the anime, even in scenes of sunsets and grand mansions the tone remained bleak and grey. Compared to the manga though, the anime seemed to be simplified and prettier. The manga seemed to be nittier and grittier visually, and I was disappointed that this kind of technique didn't appear in the anime; because it might have just completed the dark feel if it had. The animation is a different story though; if it had it's own category I would have given it a 5 our of 10. Some might disagree with me, but the fight scenes were flat, stiff, and uninteresting which by far was one of the most disappointing aspects, considering there are much smoother fight scenes in other anime. And if you want 3 characters in the same frame you better forget about the quality. The ending was piss poor animation wise, with scenes of backgrounds rather than fighting almost made me turn it off. The character consistency was fair, with only a few frames where the characters weren't up to par. Overall, the art was okay.

Sound: 8/10
By far the best part of the anime. The soundtrack makes up for what the Art and Story lack. It doesn't completely blend into the background and get lost, but neither does it overkill and become overbearing. It amplifies any scene in the series, and has actually given me chills before. It was because of the soundtrack that I actually felt anything at certain times. The opening was okay; I judge the opening and closing theme by how often I want to watch it or at least listen to it. I tended to skip over the opening most of the time, but that doesn't mean I didn't occasionally listen to it. The ending theme was different for all 12 episodes which was a much appreciated welcome, because I almost never bother with the ending theme after the first time. If I wasn't so frugal I would buy the soundtrack. The voice acting was fair, the voices fit the characters well and they conveyed the right emotions. However, nothing really stood out or make any type of emotion come out. It was just fair.

Character: 7/10
I've heard people say that in the manga there was a wide variety of characters, but in the anime it appeared as though there were 2 personality types. The first is the lone wolf/silent type. You would see this in Akira, Shiki, and N. These typical bad boys have all had rough pasts and they like to show it by keeping their distance and pretending that nothing fazes them. Akira went through a little change though, he realized that being a dick makes people sad. Other than that they are your run of the mill "troubled" characters. Another type is the comic relief/tension easing characters, which could be seen in Rin and Keisuke. Even though these young boys have rough pasts too they like to make people happy and not think about themselves! Unfortunately these morale boosting boys get classified as annoying and burdensome. These happy-go-lucky characters always seem to show up at the wrong place at the wrong time, and that was the epitome of Keisuke's character. He wanted to make sure his good buddy Akira was okay so he went to Toshima to participate in this killing game. What's worse is that he can't fight worth shit and he becomes the damsel in distress on occasion. However, and I will admit, Keisuke's character captured my heart. All he wanted was to prove himself to his friend and he did everything that he could to do it. His goal was selfless, and although a little pathetic, I couldn't help but rooting for the little guy. Rin wasn't as annoying but I found myself not really caring if he died or not. None of their background stories were fully touched on so it made these characters rather flat. In the second to last episode it focused on Shiki and I litterally thought "What's the point?", considering it just made me more confused. This series had shonen-ai tendencies, but they were so minuscule that Arbitro, the head haunch-o, seem so off putting that again I almost turned off the series. He seemed to be the only sexually depraved man in the entire series despite having a little boy toy and partaking in frivolous orgies. There were other instances of shonen-ai, but it wasn't as upfront as it was with Arbitro. Overall the characters fit in your typical shonen anime mold, with no particularly outstanding quirks to make them different than the rest.

Enjoyment: 7/10
Now despite what I've said, I didn't hate the series, it's just that nothing stood out. Honestly, everything in this anime has been done better. However if you want something to kill time when you're in a waiting room or wherever, then watch this. I'll give credit where credit is due though, it made me want to read the manga.

Now time for the Happy Panda and Sad Panda award; this is my little quirk where I point out the best and worst part in the anime and give them an "award".

Happy Panda goes to: The music! It was the best part in the anime, and it just made the whole experience better.

Sad Panda goes to : The animation! It was just sub par for the time period. A real let down.

Overall:
34/50
6.8/10=7/10

Off to read Togainu no Chi!
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
What did you think of this review?
Nice Nice0
Love it Love it0
Funny Funny0
Show all
It’s time to ditch the text file.
Keep track of your anime easily by creating your own list.
Sign Up Login