Back to 6fortius's Profile 6fortius's Profile

VA, Music, Art, Characters, Story

Hindsight is 20/20. At first, I was left disappointed at the ending. The first half of this anime brought my hopes up, you see. I thought this would turn out to be a serious story, not unlike the likes of its predecessor "Idolish7" or even "A3". Instead of diving deep into a single Idol group's story, then tying that up with a neat bow and moving on to the next, we ended up jumping from group to group, in a rushed attempt to develop all characters at the expense of the continuity of our original group's story. "Wasted potential."... was the ... only way I could sum it up.

But something didn't feel quite right to me, even after the season. The songs were too good, to be some hastily patched up song written to fill airtime. That said, I couldn't find a game this could be based on, either. The art, too, seemed too good (even the cgi seemed more fluid than others, complimented by insane cinematography especially for the last episode) for the normal funding of an Idol anime. And why are so many of the voice actors new faces, yet have such insanely good singing voices? Special training???

Turns out, this anime was based on the youtube account, "UniteUp!". According to their account description, '“UniteUp!” is the character-based music channel that unite talents and introduces a wide variety of vocalists and singer-songwriters pursuing their dreams, including those more obscure ones.' In other words, this is an anime pulled together using actual hit songs from a youtube channel (not unlike Kagerou Days or Honeyworks), using totally green VA's that are mostly obscure Youtubers, and the few VA that are more experienced to guide them.

Now, I shall begin judging each of the individual components of this anime:

Sound (Voice-acting): All that background above really puts into perspective everything I heard here. There were new voices, unique and never heard before in my 15 years of watching anime. He (who I shall not name. You will know once you hear him) is refreshing, both speaking and singing. The bubbles of joy in his voice really tickle my sides. Even the guitarists here have beautiful voices when hitting high notes. Everyone here did such an unbelievably good job, I wouldn’t have imagined any of them to be so new at this.

Sound (Music): Excellent, in short. Beats out most of its predecessors most times, even, spanning many musical genres. Try listening to Legit’s “Fire”, Anela’s “Break Border”, Kikunoyo’s “iino”, Daiki Takao’s “Call”, or Haruka’s “Super Star” on Youtube, if music is a win-all, break-all in anime for you.

Art: Smooth and beautifully animated, easily amongst the best within the Idol (male) genre. Their lives were not just music to my ears, they were a treat for the eyes too.

Characters: Passable, without context. Exciting, with context.
With the design of the 4 groups and the 12-episode screentime, it was unavoidable that we end up with an uneven development across the board to begin with. The pair from Anela who retired as top idols and went on to become our producers naturally had a deep past that breathed realism and charm into them with their story. Our main trio from Protostar learnt and grew, both as individuals and as a team, through the ups and downs and with the unwavering support of the agency as a whole. The progression of Legit’s centre, however, felt a bit too stilted with that deux ex machina in the end (though some may argue how else were they supposed to resolve it without running into overtime?), and Jaxx-Jaxx was practically designed so the non-vocals will fall into the background whenever the limelight is not on them. All had the limelight on them at some point of time so even those new to this fandom will be mildly endeared to them in the end. Still, towards the end, it felt like the agency was more a collective beehive than their own individuals, everyone sharing exactly the same opinion in order to push the plot along. There was Akira’s Naruto-no-jutsu, too. It required a lot of suspension of disbelief from me, as someone from outside the fandom coming in expecting a serious drama.

As a present fan of their Youtube account though, had I gone into this as a fan, I do think I would have been super-hyped just to be able to see the characters behind the songs I so love, take in their previously unknown backstory, and savoured every group and their dynamics so much more. Hence my current need to write this review for possible fans-to-be like me. (I am soo rewatching this anime to properly savour it after this.) A lot would have been more forgivable had I went in with the expectation of “cute anime featuring cute boys (only)”.

Story: In short, go in without expectation of a drama. This isn’t Idolish7, A3, or even Ensemble Stars. The purpose of this anime is not really to show a lengthy, serious story. It is to lay the guidepost for the Youtube Channel to direct future fans to, so as to “show rather than tell” their ‘singers’ backstories, and hopefully endearing their ‘singers’ to them along the way. For the most part, with everything now in perspective, I think they did a brilliant job not segregating episodes into completely jolting “arcs” by groups like their predecessors (ie. TsukiPro) did. There was a nice flow to everything and an actual story coming along, despite how we hopped group to group, before they pulled in the “Scandal”. Had they been given a longer runtime, the producers certainly could have done a better job of presenting said scandal – but this anime is not meant to be Idolish7, or to be a rhetoric of the Idol industry.



TLDR: Overall, this anime was created just so we have a place to chill, relax, and enjoy the growth of cute boys. Listen to the songs of their Youtube songs before jumping in, to get a feel for the characters first. Don’t expect a serious story. You’ll definitely be rewarded for this.

Anime Season 1 left off at about C68-70. I continued reading from there.

The good points have already been shared, so as a warning to those who dislike the following troupes, I'll just leave behind the most succinct review I can on the most glaring problems that becomes sheer exhausting by C250:

1) The power system is broken. Tokyo Revengers operates on the belief that one's innate power cannot be changed. Nobody in this manga does anything to 'become stronger'. Our protagonist, a known weakling, never trains. To put simply, none of the characters here level up, and the fights usually fall back on a simple stat ... match. Then, there is our protag, who relies on guts to tough it out.

2) Repetitive use of 180 twists right when our protag wraps up with an arc. It's fine the first 2 times around. But audiences get used to that level of stimulation, and the author will have to up the ante, which is fine for the next 2 turns. Then, you realize there's still another 100+ chapters to go. Won't say much more. These repetitive 'Surprises' overstay their welcome. By C200, I'm just praying for someone to put an end to Tokyo Revengers. Was this in shounen jump, and did shounen jump do another 'bleach' or 'death note' on us?

3) The plot armour here is beyond thick. Honestly, at least give the protag a super power to explain his durability. He's taken a hundred punches from 'monsters' aka. super humans without being knocked out by now. Even a nickname from his younger days, like 'Iron Man, infallible and tough' will do.

Hope this helps anyone who want to avoid these troupes.

"I watch from above and laugh like "Gyahahaha!"" - Sugita Tomokazu, Gintoki's VA, on how to enjoy Diabolik Lovers.

Comedy.

This is pure comedy gold.

You won't be able to understand it unless you go in in a particular mood to laugh at everything.

Like, somewhere mid-episode 1, the girls around our MC suddenly begun to get vaporized into floating lights, and this dude - our MC - is just standing there blushing at the "cool" cosplayers that showed up and sang a song. Like, what? X'D Run already! Then, he swoons and faints into another guy's hands later. Ahahaha

This show clearly doesn't mean to take itself seriously, ... and that's fine. Visual Kei's meant to be light-hearted fun, and it conveys well.

The story's not good, art's mediocre, characters are flimsy as heck, but damn if I don't enjoy every song or strange development that has me bending over, slapping my table, laughing in tears.

I'm writing this review after ep 6, where our main group pulls a mic out of their hands like that thunder god in Genshin Impact does from her boobs, then that mic turns into a sword. And they sing just like that, into the hilt of their mic-sword while swinging the sharp end of their sword around like it's not going to dice their knees or their friends' heads if it hits.

It's hilarious X'D

Sincerely,
I am in tears.

This is the review of a viewer who casually stumbled into Idaten.

"Just like how humans don't care about the composition of a forest so long as there are trees, we the Idaten don't care about humans until there comes a threat which may wipe all of them out." - Ysley, a modern Idaten / God.

Story: 9

I find this take on the highly overused troupe of Gods and Demons to be highly entertaining. The gods here, or Idaten as they are known, don't sympathize with the humans' plight at all. Apathetic to the prayers of the humans, they remain aloof and stand by the sidelines ... until there is a threat to all humans. Born as a concept, with the intelligence of humans but none of their mortality, the Idaten are strangely detached, simple-minded beings.

One would expect them to be complacent after centuries of peace. In fact, that is what the synopsis and the first few episodes set us up to believe. But instead, as the story unfolds, we see that this new generation of Idaten have not become complacent, but instead progressed in a new direction that is entirely terrifying, yet very well representative of how we would expect Gods of our modern generation to be like.

Their oddness is truly shown during each brush against the new generation of demons. A cold realization that surfaces quickly is how, in face with the Idaten's immortality, the new generation of demons with their newly acquired human intellect are somehow more humane and relatable compared to the lofty Idaten. One can't help but root for the demons. I know I certainly would have, had one of the Idaten's past not been delved into and made so relatable for me. In the end, I don't particularly mind if either side wins.

One thing of note here is the amount of rape, sex, and violent themes. Honestly, I don't know what many of the early reviewers here had been expecting.

Ishuzoku Reviewers, the other well-known anime written by the same author, was a series that made use of sex to tell a tale. Sexual themes is, in fact, a tool which was similarly used in Heion Idaten too. Meaningless rape? Meaningless violence? Over proliferation of sex? Those are frankly used to display the clear rampantness of the violence in this show. They show the distortedness of these characters -- How the common men glorifying war are twisted for their own dirty desires; how the demons do not share in the same values of the humans (incest, pedophilia, rape amongst other things); even how the Idaten don't care much for the petty moral values of humans, given how casually one used neurosurgery to brainwash others.

It's shocking for sure. But I do think these themes served well in showing how there is not a single decent character amongst the cast. And honestly? I think that's fine. They are demons and gods. They aren't meant to be relatable. We are meant to be disgusted by certain scenes and characters. And that's how it's meant to be.

On another note, for story, I discounted a point for how one character ended up carrying majority of the plot with just his mere deductions. True, each of his revelations make things so much more exciting, it's hard to care about the overuse of this one character. Still, I can't help but wish there was more build-up leading to each revelation, instead of him spoonfeeding us the details. Still, it's fun, I suppose.


Art: 10/10

First things first, just because it's MAPPA doesn't mean one should underplay or discount the quality of art that's in this show. I am not entirely up to date with the ongoings behind the scenes. Still, I will say this anime is beautifully done. The vibrant colours appealed to me at every point. It makes me glad that this anime is my first experience of Heion Idaten.


Sound: 8/10

Sigh. I wonder how much of their budget went to the VA and how much to the animators?

Most of our VA cast this time are in the 40-50's age range. First, we have FMAB's Edward's VA playing as the dunce ML. Then, we have Danganronpa's Komaeda's VA playing as the mystery-revealing know-it-all Isley. Persona 3's Minato's VA as magical fantasy boy Prontea. One Piece's Nami's VA as Rin.

Why am I listing these famed works? I could pinpoint most of their past roles just from hearing some of these characters' voices. It's a bit of a disappointment, I will say. I just recently learnt some of these VA get paid 300+ dollars for a single episode, and those aren't even the A-tier list ones (which these ones are most likely closer to being in, given their decades of experience) - Not to discount these VA's hard work, of course. I understand, too, that VA are slaves to the occasional demands of the directors. Putting aside the corruption of MAPPA, in consideration of how much the VA's are getting paid and the rare occasion of the cast ensembled, I simply wish they had gone out of their comfort zones and created new voices, rather than recycling the same old ones I heard from other games / anime. I wouldn't have minded new, inexperienced VA with fresh voices. That might have resulted in better art with the budget reallocation, in fact.

Overall, OP is good, ED hurts my ears (sorry, rap's a no go for me). VA's get the job done. But if I close my eyes... I just can't help but see Edward Elric standing in Danganronpa's Court Room and Minato, or rather, Katsura as he's also known in Gintama, playing with a toy rifle. It's... a weird direction this anime took.


Character: 8/10

Can't say much at this point. As mentioned, the Idaten are weirdly cool yet impossible to comprehend. The demons are also somewhat relatable yet most repulse me morally.

I'm disgustingly pleased by how this weird mesh of characters are coming together to give me an enjoyable plotline. If that makes sense.


Enjoyment: 9/10

I didn't expect to be in for such a ride when I clicked into a 7.5 rating anime on mal. If anything, I was looking for a cool-down after Bakuten. I didn't find one, but it was a pleasure through and through regardless. ...ahem. In more ways than one, I'd say.

Others may or may not agree. But in essence, if you are looking to be disgusted yet hopelessly intrigued by a story idea laid out so graphically, you can do nothing but stare transfixed, this might be the one for you.

This is the review from the POV of someone who has watched all game videos to Part IV. It will be split up into two sections: for Gamers, and for Casuals.

Summary: This season is even better than Season 2 of the anime.

For the gamers:

There has been a bunch of Easter Eggs incorporated throughout, but especially in the OP. (No. 1-7, No. 6, lines, +Sakura Message) As far as I am concerned, much value has been added, and it is no longer the simple "character says line A, character says line B, insert chibi here"-adaptation Season 2 vaguely reminded me of. Instead, one can ... really feel the staff resonating with the characters' struggles, and doing their best to portray the various charms of the 12 MC's with use of effects previously unimaginable in the games. (Body language etc.) It no longer feels like a game adaptation, but more an original work.

Yuki, in particular, became easier for me to warm up to, where his previous depiction in season 2 seemed a far cry from his purported Mt Everest game-self.

The Moving Out Arc and Past Arc far exceeded my expectations with regards to ost, animation, and voice acting. Rest assured you will be smiling even through the sad times.

For the casuals:

Get ready to plunge into deep conversations about life philosophies portrayed in such a relatable manner, you'll find yourself stopping every few lines and reflecting how, "indeed, that's kind of true." Then, laugh not 30 seconds later.

Part III of I7 Games, which this season is adapting, has always been a mixed bag in my books. While I deeply enjoyed the introduction of the new character / psychopath, Tsukumo Prez, and Re:Vale's fleshed out past made me fall in love with Re:Vale even more, the sheer amount of lines in the game was an ordeal to get through, even with the characters reading it out (I can't even make light of it). Yamato's Past became dry because of that. Even the light-hearted moments seemed weak coming right after those dark moments.

But thankfully, the animation managed to get rid of those weaknesses.

Long conversations are now well punctuated by well-drawn art, body language, and cuts where it matters. While you might wonder at the "animation" (?) in the first three episodes, or the slight lack thereof, truth is, the staff had been working on a beautifully animated OP which makes the gamers cry. (Don't worry. You'll be joining us later.) Episodes after the third, also arguably the most heartwrenching arcs, have clearly been made a priority, and understandably so. Each character's charm is now elevated with use of previously unseen effects in season 2. Overall, art for this season seems to have been elevated to near phenomenal levels, albeit at the cost of the now blurry backgrounds. (But heyy, at least we've got bishies, right?)

[Edit: Upon reviewing Season 2, I realized the backgrounds have been blurry since way back then. However, this time round, we actually have fully fleshed out backgrounds blurred out, instead of random blobs that are supposed to be the furniture from the game etc. I don't doubt these backgrounds would have been on the level of Kyoto Animation actually, if this wasn't seasonal anime, but a movie instead. Colour me impressed.]

Sound though. Wow, sound. Yamato, Momo, and Yuki's VA were phenomenal in Yamato's Past arc. Shirai really managed to convey Yamato's vulnerability in a single line. (You'll know which.) The songs are terrific. I7 staff seems to have finally gotten the hint that we fans want sentimental songs like ReVale's ED, 'Future Note', in Season 2, not CGI idol songs. The lyrics in the OP and ED are moving with respect to what each character represents and will/have already face. In consideration of Yonaga's (Mitsuki's VA) ailment, I must also applaud him, because he's clearly made adjustments since Season 2 despite the undeniable pain he's in. The staff had also kindly tailored the songs so it will not be a strain on his throat, which is only right, but still praise-worthy.

Amongst all things, I adore the use of English ost and sound effects the most. The new addition makes I7 Season 3 seem more cool, cute, fun, and laidback all at once.

All in all, it feels like I7 Season 3 is trying new things, unlike Season 2 which simply followed in the steps of Season 1 and fell a little short of my expectations. I like it.

It is harem. It is romance. Once again, MAL, you've done me in with your wrong tagging. I hope someone will have corrected the tags by the time this review is up.

There are a handful of things I've logged in to say here:

Just to state the obvious, this anime is targeted at Chinese audiences. It is based off a novel by the same name (of which you may find more detailed information on Novelupdates). The directors obviously didn't intend to include the English audiences as part of their target audience, so to watch it, you have to have a certain degree of knowledge on the ... Xianxia troupe -- which is basically people cultivating their Qi to various levels so as to achieve immortality.

Do not expect to go in without that background knowledge and come away with any new knowledge. You'll just be miserably lost.

(And as usual, if you have to read an entire novel just to understand the plot of an anime, is that even worth watching? I mean, the whole goal of an anime is to draw new audiences in. I can't even--)

Even if you have knowledge of the xianxia troupe, there is still a chance you might strike this anime off your list, and for good reasons at that.

Just for background knowledge, the source material had 1250+ chapters and got axed in the end. The beginning is naturally slow-paced, as the author spent much time developing the world around the MC's sect, comrades etcetera. I myself had watched this anime at 2x speed, and even then, it is only because of the rather dry season this time that I even stayed throughout the mundane opening. The middle section, however, was what kept me going.

I didn't expect much from this show. You see, the Chinese anime industry has had a record of lazy directing for a long time now. For all of bilibili's bold proclamations at the start of the year that the Chinese anime industry would overtake Japan's, their shows clearly displayed a fundamentally lacking concept - that just taking popular novels with existing fanbases and adapting them would be enough. None of them have even tried to make an appeal to attract new fanbases. Tbh, even MDZS suffered tremendously from that problem in its S2.

But surprisingly, where the first half of the this anime lured me in into this false sense of security that everything is just another 'slice of life' troupe, it sure grabbed me by my non-existent balls and kept me at the edge of my seat near the beginning of the second half. All of a sudden, we were just dropped into this dangerous situation where the protagonist's OP halo may not work for once, and episode after episode, grueling minute after minute, we were just forced to bear witness to the suffocating struggle for survival by the protagonist and his seniors in a hopeless situation. It was long and tiresome, but really, it was because my heart kept racing throughout, feeling the exhaustion, desperation, and hopelessness my guys were feeling.

I even shed a few tears here and there.

Then. Well. After the memorial episode where the MC was honoured for his sacrifices, we're just dumped a scene of the MC spending time at a pavilion with his senior, flirting, KISSING. I just- I zoned out there. MAL, you dropped the ball in tagging. Honestly, how could you even, with the tags already on NU all spelled out for you? But what disappointed me most was the show. It completely dropped the ball with that sudden romance scene that came out of nowhere. Not only did it trample upon all the respect we as readers had developed for one of the characters, it completely trashed both the MC and love interest's characterizations, making them seem no more than flimsy, typical anime troupes who are even somewhat scrummy.

I thought that was the worst until I carried on to the next episode. Lo and behold, a budding romance with the junior disciple sister (not by blood, but having knelt before the same Master) who goes around call the MC 'Big Brother' and the MC who started flirting with her despite his lingering interest for the first female lead.

Yeah. I'm done.

I'm done with this show, and I'll drop it here, because I fear watching anymore would simply ruin what good memories I had of those precious few episodes in the middle.

If I had known it was harem, I wouldn't even have given it a chance to begin with, so good job, MAL???

For what it's worth, I'd have given it an 9 just to give this show the attention it deserved, until the whole harem thing happened. The characters were cute, even if the thievery and flagrant manipulation by the MC were mildly annoying, and that middle arc was simply phenomenal in its execution.

Harem can be good when done well, but with that preview of how badly harem is going to sabotage this entire anime, all I can say about this show is really... 'What a pity.'

Art: 9/10: It's cool and gothic, honestly the only reason why anyone will stay to read this

Story: 1/10: Can't rant more about this. It started off with a pretty cool premise. Different mysteries and our main character trapped in a toilet, yeah?

The only problem is that our second main character has everything worked out for her. It's pretty much all your typical manga issues: everything being concluded with a simple swing of the knife, a single talk to from our second main character resolves the whole isssue that has been bothering our villains for a Long time, or coaxing enemies into submission; events conveniently happening ... whenever it suits the author, like if mc1 says not to let side character touch mc2, you know for sure mc2's gonna get touched for sure.

It's all very predictable with the Friend turned into enemy troupe, and enemies turned to friends, most ostensibly by the Mary Sue. Except, in this particular work, the coolest villains whose background story get explored immediately after their defeat will thereafter be flung into the abyss and be forgotten till the author decides to conveniently pop them up again.

Need I also tell you that (spoiler) mc2 gets turned into a fish whenever she touches water? The author conveniently skips all parts about how she bathes, and how she hides that from her parents. I know this whole story is supposed to focus heavily on the school setting, but it's almost as if this world is a vacuum where the only characters are our three mcs. Honestly, there's not an ounce of realism in this world at all.

Character: 1/10 I would give a 0 if that is possible.

Mc2 aka. The girl: can be summarized as lovesick fool, plus radish. Literally, when she goes into a hell where students are tormented by their innermost fear, hers shows up in the form of people calling her a radish. Seriously, does she not have other problems? The author brings the joke too far in terms of constantly reminding us she has oddly shaped feet, making every single character point that out upon meeting. Fun fact: she was only bullied for it in one panel, by that one minor character that showed up only on one page.

This character is unrealistic, stupidly naive, and you'll find everyone falling in love with her for no reason. She has your special Naturo speak no jutsu, except in most cases, you won't find her doing a single thing besides flailing, floundering, worrying needlessly till someone takes pity and treats her nicely. She is the whole flaw in this manga, because you'll find the author pulling every reason out of their ass to make the two other main characters fall in love with her. Absolutely horrendous.

Mc3: the student boy minamoto: believable. It's entirely refreshing how much he stands up for himself and others when the story decides to focus on him. That's a tell on how abused we are as readers, because we're constantly forced to view things from the pov of our pitiful useless mc2. His growth is the one thing that keeps me reading on.

Mc1 the ghost: the highlight of the show. Little titbits about his past keeps getting revealed along the way. Teasing and fun in a way that is not always harmless but completely intriguing, he is the saving grace up until you realise the author has decided to dedicate an entire arc to him playing martyr and playing the role of the villain just to save our useless ignorant mc2 again.

Honestly, let's just stop it with the whole mc2 thing already. I get how useless she is that she needs everyone to protect her, but honestly? This whole story is turning into a self-fulfilment fic where the mc2 self insert is trying to collect a harem of knights to protect her. Frankly, I'd enjoy it much more if the author starts being real and treats this story that way. That's clearly their drift.

Also, I'm not exactly sure on the genre of this manga. Is this romance? Is there supposed to be a love triangle between all the mc? Because with the way mc3's heart goes flying out whenever mc2 does something and mc1 plays the whole role of the darling knight for mc2, I find it dubious that this is even your friendship troupe. I dread the more I read, because this is clearly not the content I signed up for.

Also: misaki: honestly, what can I say? He's that one cockroach that refuses to die and the more he returns, the more he ruins the perfect character you wish the author had left dead in the beginning. Also, he's soft on mc2. Need I say more?

Overall, enjoyment: (0) 1/10. I read this because the anime will be coming in 2020, but I'm left wondering why I wasted my time.

Art was dreadful. Series would be ended within one chapter by this era's current standards.

Characters were unrealistic. Where in the world would you find such 15/16 yo who understand and express themselves clearly? Tohru can be summarized in one word: Perfect. She's so blessedly perfect her flaws are also made into pitiable things that make her 'endearing'. You can just skip over every interaction she has with the 12 zodiacs. They can be summarized in one sentence: Tohru charms them over to her side. Also, the villain is impossible to sympathize with. Childhood trauma does not justify the things they did, and the author certainly ... did well chucking everything up to that last minute, after making us hate them intensely. Major plot twist? DUN DUN DUN. I don't care about it at that point. Just end it already.

In the end, the only salvageable beings are Yuki, whose diligence justifies his self-awareness, and Tohru's electromagnetic waves friend. However, even them are trampled over in the author's chase for 'Everyone finds their significant other. Let's give them all a happy ending!' which resulted in frankly creepy relationships.

The rooster pressed chest to chest with Tohru to apologize for not meeting up with his crush (ie. her best friend)? How romantic! An interning teacher 20+ yo touching the hair of a 14 yo student and kissing her on the forehead upon first meeting? It must be love at first sight! A woman having sex freely with one of her companions and then getting together with her crush thereafter without having a proper adult conversation about this?

Urgh.

The question to ask is: What did Fruits Basket do correct in its treatment of its characters? Why bulldoze everyone's character in order to tailor to the taste of the audience (who are evidently middle school girls swooning at every kiss and hug even though it'd only be sexual harassment in reality)? Where did Fruits Basket go wrong with such potential at the beginning?

In the end, all I can say is this:

This was unmistakably the biggest waste of my time, and the most uncomfortable manga I have ever picked up. Go read a novel on human nature instead. It might be more fruitful for you.