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Mar 26, 2020
“It's not my responsibility to be beautiful. I'm not alive for that purpose. My existence is not about how desirable you find me.” – Warsan Shire, and also nobody in Nekopara
Every few years, we get an anime that is truly a masterpiece: a work that excels in every area to create something that not only entertains greatly, but explores themes so deep that they leave a lasting impression on those who watched them and on the way that anime and the world moves forward in the future. These anime are indeed rare – we are lucky to get one in a year, but by some
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miracle, we managed to get two such anime in a single season. It’s hard to imagine a better way to begin the decade than with these two series. One of these is, of course, Interspecies Reviewers, and the other is the anime that we will be talking about today: Nekopara.
Many great stories focus on dystopias: from worlds that are blatantly dystopian such as Orwell’s 1984, to ones that are more morally grey, and could even be perceived by some as utopian, like Psycho-Pass. What’s so special about Nekopara is how it manages to be both of these simultaneously, giving it a lot to say about the implications of our own desires as well as the fact that we live in a society, and the direction that that society might be headed in.
The first deceptively genius thing about Nekopara is its name, a combination of “neko” (the Japanese word for “cat”), and “para”, the start of the word “paradise”. Or, at least, that’s what the name seems to be, but there’s more to this series than meets the eye. There are many other words that begin with “para”: “paranoia”, “parabola”, “paraphilia”, “paradox”, etc. Which one of these words “para” represents is hotly debated amongst scholars (my money’s on “paraphilia”), but it sure as hell ain’t “paradise”… at least not for everyone involved. Sure, it may be appear to be a paradise at first glance: who wouldn’t want to be surrounded by a bunch of really cute and attractive cat girls who cater to your every need? But this perspective doesn’t consider life for said cat girls.
Now, a more conventional dystopian horror would probably present the oppressed class as struggling and visibly tormented by their unjust position as slaves and sentient pets within this society, but instead we are shown something far, far more terrifying: they are totally complicit in and content with their oppression (apart from one character, who’s tail is truly the most haunting of all, but we’ll get to her later). The world of Nekopara has managed to successfully convince the cat girls that they don’t deserve basic human rights: that they are less than human, that they are better off living to serve their masters, that they must never go outside without their master unless they wear their bells. And they never once question these ideas. Nekopara isn’t just about how society oppresses us, but also how we allow it to continue to do so, and that is something truly bone-chilling.
But it’s more than merely our complacency in our own oppression that’s being challenged by Nekopara, but also the fact that we may actually be idolising this sort of oppression when put upon others for our own benefit. After all, the series masquerades as a paradise for the viewer to self-insert themselves into, enjoying owning a bunch of cat girl pet slave waifu things, whose sole existence is to serve and please them. This series makes the viewer think: “Would I have been in favour of the subjugation of women and people of colour if I was born a century or two earlier? Am I in favour of the ways in which minority groups remain oppressed today?”.
While cat girls serve as a useful metaphor for many oppressed minorities, such as people of colour, the LGBTQ+ community, or weeaboos, they are also of literal significance. If our society has the same view of cat girls that Nekopara does, then we may ourselves become such a society once Elon Musk has successfully created genetically engineered cat girls. In fact, how excited people are for the scientific research being conducted into the field of genetically engineered cat girls is quite concerning: what will be their fate?
Our society could easily become the dystopia presented to us in Nekopara. We may look back on this anime much like how we look back on Serial Experiments Lain today: more relevant many years into the future than when it came out. Indeed, Nekopara is a truly visionary work, and the scariest part is that we won’t even realise that we’re in a dystopia – most of the population will think that this is just the natural order of things, ignorant to anything other than the status quo.
“But what about the based, woke and red-pilled individuals who see the true horror of their society?” I hear you ask. “Surely they’ll be able to save everyone from this hellhole, right?”. I wish that were the case, but the most terrifying thing of all about Nekopara is the way in which it shoots this sentiment down multiple times throughout its story through the use of the character Cacao, the only character we see in the series who doesn’t see the oppression of cat girls as a good thing.
Perhaps the most important thing about Cacao is how difficult it is for her to speak: this represents how society denies those who go against it of a voice: you can’t spread your ideas or influence change; you will just be silenced. But it’s not just that she can’t communicate properly: she can’t escape either. At the start of the series, she is a stray cat, this being her attempt at self-actualisation: to become something other than a lesser being who lives solely to serve her master. But she is found by Chocola and taken in by this horrifying system. Each time she tries to escape, which the other characters interpret as her merely “getting lost” (because who could possibly want a life other than to fulfil their natural role within the hierarchy?), she is found once again. The message of the series is clear: there is no escape from society. No matter what we do, we live in a society. And what could possibly be more of a depressing realisation than that?
Story: 10 – The genius thing about the story of Nekopara is just how naturally it integrates these oppressive structures into its world-building. Layered with metaphor and meaning in every shot and every line of dialogue, this is truly one of the most masterfully crafted stories in the history of not just anime, not just television, but in all of storytelling throughout all of time.
Character: 10 – The characters of Nekopara are some of the most hauntingly realistic characters in anime. The way each of them has developed their own unique psychological coping mechanisms to delude them into being content with their unjust society is handled in a way that seems to have been brought about by the propaganda that the society has fed them. We see this process gradually happening to Cacao, one of the most tragic and sympathetic characters I’ve ever seen, as she loses her independence to become yet another slave to her “goshujin-sama”.
Art/Animation: 10 – Nekopara’s visuals expertly convey the fetishization of the cat girls, which is a significant part of what leads to their dehumanization. The way it presents them as being incredibly cute both serves to help us see what the humans of the society see of them, as well as giving us increased sympathy to their plights, even as they themselves remain unaware of them.
Sound: 10 – The voice acting complements the character designs of the cat girls in adding to their fetishization, while also being far enough from anything you would hear in real life that it feels like something’s… wrong here. This is an important part of leading the viewer to the conclusion that society isn’t supposed to be this way. The background music that plays mostly consists of the same track playing over and over again as it becomes increasingly grating, fitting the mood of the series perfectly. The track might seem nice at first, but it quickly becomes something that sounds far more sinister and unpleasant.
Enjoyment: 10 – I was hooked. Each week, I was so excited to watch the next episode and find out which elements of the world and character psychology would be explored next, and it’s been a long time since an anime has made me think this deeply or filled me with this much existential dread.
In conclusion, Nekopara is one of the greatest pieces of cautionary fiction that has ever been conceived. It may not be for everyone, as it may cause you to slump into a two-week-long depression, and it certainly isn’t an easy watch, but if you want to experience some of the greatest political and philosophical epiphanies of your life, then Nekopara is absolutely a must watch.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Jan 6, 2020
Adapting a manga or a light novel into animation is an understandably difficult task; it is hard to truly convey the author’s vision for what their story would look like in this medium. It is understandable then, that the author of Arifureta’s light novel series, Ryou Shirakome, was unsatisfied with the original version of this anime. However, in a disastrous attempt to re-do the adaptation, what we got instead was something way worse than anyone could ever have imagined.
The first issue with this adaptation is the baffling mess of a pilot episode. The first episode of Arifureta begins in media res, without any explanation of
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who our main character is or how he got here until a couple of minutes in, with what would have been the most impactful moment of the entire series already butchered, due to our lack of investment in Hajime (our main character) and our lack of understanding of the lighter tone of the series up to that point. Then, through a poorly-handled set of flashbacks in episode 1 and exposition in episode 2, we are told this information, but it is too little, too late as far as our ability to care about anything going on during the first episode goes.
This isn’t even the most glaring flaw in this adaptation, however: the big monsters that serve as the spectacle for major fight scenes are rendered in some of the most hideous CGI to ever curse your eyes. The monsters that should be presented as threatening instead just look really, really derpy. This actually works in the show’s favour, however, as this unintentional comedy is one of the few sources of entertainment that this anime has to offer.
This source of entertainment is actually really important, as without it, the fight scenes are pretty damn uninteresting, with the entirety of episode 4 (which is one long fight against an incredibly goofy-looking CGI hydra) being the most egregious example of this.
It’s not just the fight scenes though, the plot is just as boring. Episode 1’s butchering of what would’ve been the only shocking, impactful moment just leaves this story feeling like a bog-standard isekai – nothing you haven’t seen before (except that the CGI is worse than any other). Sure, while they are still in the labyrinth there are some fairly unique and interesting things going on, as Hajime (who, as you can tell by the title of the show, becomes very overpowered) hasn’t quite become unstoppable yet (though he is approaching it very rapidly), and his dynamic with Yue (the vampire he meets in episode two) is relatively endearing. Once this story arc concludes, however, the series becomes an utterly generic harem power-fantasy, losing the edge it had when Hajime was struggling, as well as losing most of his nice moments with Yue (as other harem members prevent them from getting any alone time, and the group chemistry is a lot worse than when it was just the two of them).
Hajime is a very edgy character. And I mean VERY edgy. You thought that Naofumi from The Rising of the Shield Hero was edgy? You ain’t seen nothin’ yet! This edginess, combined with his desire to return home, makes up basically the entirety of his character. Being edgy isn’t necessarily a bad thing in and of itself (hell, my favourite Pokemon is Darkrai), but it really rubs me the wrong way when it makes up almost the entirety of a character’s personality. It makes him really unlikeable, and further decreases my investment in the story. Despite this, he can be relatable at times; more specifically, he is relatable when he is annoyed with Shea and Tio (who I will talk about soon), though this comes across more as him putting up an edgy act then the genuine loathing for these characters that the viewer is likely to feel.
Yue, on the other hand, is perhaps the best part of the show (apart from the soundtrack). She doesn’t have a particularly complex or interesting character, but she is fairly likeable, and her solid chemistry with Hajime makes him more likeable as well. They also have realistic reasons for developing a romantic connection, as Hajime was the one to save Yue, and Yue acted as a companion he could trust in his lowest moments. All of this could have been great for setting up a power couple who develop into better people as a result of each other.
Then the series says “Screw that!” when they leave the labyrinth by introducing us to Shea: the bunny girl. When she is initially asking for Hajime and Yue’s help, they are reluctant to help her, because she is hella annoying, and they are absolutely right. But, when they finally give in, she ends up travelling with them. From that point on, her entire role in the story is to be jealous of Yue because she worships Hajime’s dick. There’s no compelling or realistic reason for her to like Hajime so suddenly, despite the show’s best efforts to convince you otherwise, and, well, I think you know the kind of anime this becomes from here, because it’s literally the same concept as almost every other isekai (except Shea is way more annoying than any character from the vast majority of these series); we get more and more harem members, and Hajime gets more and more overpowered.
The next harem member is Tio, the dragonborn. If you’ve seen KonoSuba, she may seem familiar to you, seeing as she is basically just Darkness, except a lot less funny. Oh, and she can turn into a CGI dragon with the power to make your eyes bleed. She still is incredibly tolerable compared to Shea, but, well… that isn’t really saying anything.
And then we have Myu, who essentially becomes their adopted daughter. There isn’t really much to say about her; if you can invest yourself in a character purely on the basis of them being cute, then you’ll like her, but I wouldn’t exactly call her well-written. I guess she doesn’t actively make the series worse like Tio and Shea do though.
Finally, we have Kaori, who doesn’t join the party until the end of this season, but is still relevant, as this series has somehow been confirmed to be getting a second season. She was one of his classmates, and has had feelings for him for a long time, so when she sees him again, she decides to join his party, with at least some intention of getting him and Yue to break up. The fact that he has completely changed doesn’t seem to phase her in the slightest, making one wonder what it is she likes about him in the first place, since his new edgelord state is absolutely nothing like the guy she originally liked.
Arifureta decided to eat its cake and have it too with its approach to romantic/sexual wish-fulfilment; I’m personally not a fan of the harem genre, so I obviously would have preferred the show to ditch its harem in favour of actually focusing on the romance with Yue, but if Shirakome wanted to write a harem, it would’ve been better to ditch the romance with Yue, at least until near the end of the series, as it turns the show from being about a group of girls each trying to win his heart into a group of girls who are constantly jealous of Yue and want to steal Hajime from her.
As mentioned earlier, the best part of this show is its soundtrack. During long, boring fight-scenes, the OST usually helps to keep me at least slightly entertained (in addition to the derpy CGI). It’s pretty darn good, and certainly a hell of a lot better than any other unintentional appeal of this show. The OP and ED are also decent songs, though the visuals of the OP are rather awful, and they only get worse in its second iteration (once they get out of the labyrinth, the one part of the OP that didn’t already look like complete ass gets replaced by some hideous CGI).
Overall, Arifureta does have a little bit of a so-bad-it’s-good appeal, but, for the most part, it is a boring slog to get through. With a confusing first episode, hideous animation, annoying characters (I’m looking at you, Shea) and a plot that you can find done slightly less awfully in pretty much any other isekai, Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest is one of the worst anime of the year, and I would only recommend it to people who are looking for the aforementioned so-bad-it’s-good appeal, or who will enjoy anything as long as it’s isekai.
Reviewer’s Rating: 1
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Jun 28, 2019
“I’ll take a potato chip… and eat it.” – Light Yagami
This is perhaps one of the most iconic quotes in all of anime, and yet so many people fail to realise its profound deeper meaning. It is not simply a quote about eating potato chips: it represents the life-or-death battle for supremacy between Light and L. It is a metaphor for Light’s ability to continue to murder criminals, which he can do with the ease of eating a potato chip.
Each individual potato chip that one eats is not considered too deeply. This is much like how Light sees the victims of the death note, who
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he doesn’t see as individual people but rather faceless objects who exist to fuel Kira’s murderous god complex. The fact that he will “eat” a potato chip shows his voracity. We can see that he is very, very crazy and that he can’t stop, can’t stop eating.
“Well, that’s great and all, but why does he have to get so excited about it?” I hear you ask. Because L is supervising him at the moment at which he is thinking this. It looks to L that he is simply a regular teenager who just so happens to eat potato chips really intensely with the bag in the precise spot that prevents the insides of the bag from being seen, but, in reality, he also happens to be Kira. It looks like he is merely eating potato chips literally, when he is actually eating them metaphorically as well. Indeed, this is undoubtedly the greatest moment in anime history, and Light has every reason to be excited about it. I know I sure as hell was. “You eat that potato chip, you conniving genius, you!” I said aloud as I watched in complete infatuation.
The homoerotic tension between Light and L carries this scene, and indeed the rest of the show, to new heights. Death Note is certainly one of the more subtle series out there, so I can see how viewers may have missed the subtle hints, but Light Yagami is absolutely, positively, 100% gay. We know this through a use of nomenclature that is nothing short of pure genius: “Yagami” backwards is “imagaY”, as in “I’m a gay”. This is why Light shows no interest in Misa, despite the fact that she’s the main female character in the show, going against the convention of every piece of fiction ever, as well as why he loves it when L rubs his feet and when L is hand-cuffed to him.
On top of the battle of wits between Light and L, there is an additional, more subtle showdown: their emotional manipulation of the other’s unbearable romantic and sexual feelings for each other. For example, when L friend-zones Light, he is really just trying to throw him off and see how he will react, or when he insists that they be hand-cuffed together, he does it because he knows that he’s got a good excuse that is intertwined with the battle over the fate of Kira, and that hence he can suggest it with nobody other than Misa (perhaps the most underappreciated of geniuses in all of anime) realising that he really just wants to spend time with Light.
Perhaps the one flaw of Death Note is that most people do not truly understand it, but to be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand Ryuk and Morty- sorry, I mean Death Note. The romance is extremely subtle, and without a solid grasp of fanfiction most of the heart-warming and profound moments will go over a typical viewer's head. Indeed, Death Note is a story about a lot of things, but few themes are more recurring than the romance between Light and L, which starts from episode 2 and continues to be the most prevalent theme throughout the rest of the series, up until the grand finale in episode 25.
In conclusion, Death Note is undoubtedly the greatest anime- no, the greatest work of fiction that God has been benevolent enough to grant us with. I hope that those of you who were previously unaware of this series’ greatness have now seen the Light. In re-watching the series after this review, your IQ will surely go up by at least 25 points (a minimum of one point per episode). Give it a few more watches and your IQ may even get high enough for you to understand the true meaning of Death Note, the true meaning of anime and the true meaning of life.
You’re welcome.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Jun 27, 2019
I would like to preface this review by saying that I have yet to read the Karakuri Circus manga, so I will be discussing the show on its own merits, rather than comparing it to the manga. That said, there are lots of elements to Karakuri Circus that make it clear that it cut out a lot of stuff from the manga. This anime serves as a case study as to what happens when you adapt a great manga (or, at least, I assume it’s great based on what I’ve seen of the anime) from 42 volumes into 36 episodes. As you might imagine, the
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result is a bit messy.
If I were to choose two adjectives to describe Karakuri Circus, I would go with “creative” but “rushed”. The plot is full of all sorts of brilliant and entertaining ideas, but it breezes through them so quickly that few of them really hit you with the impact they deserve. This also applies to the characters of the show. This show has an enormous cast, but few of them get enough screen time. To the show’s credit, there are still many great ideas, moments and characters, but if either there was a greater number of episodes, or the focus of the 36 episodes we do have was more narrowed, then these would’ve been more effective as a result of being more thoroughly developed.
The circus motif of the series is going to be hit or miss depending on your personal tastes, but I for one think it’s great. Karakuri Circus does a great job capitalizing on different elements of the circus, creating lots of unique and entertaining puppets to be fought throughout the series. The way they twist the joyful and comedic look of the circus into something much more abhorrent is very well done. If you are afraid of clowns, then these designs will definitely add to the atmosphere of the series.
These designs, as well as the varied abilities of the puppets make the fights pretty entertaining. These fights are usually quite simple, but usually have an emotionally resonant idea or important stakes in the plot that comes with them. There is also always a tangible sense of tension once it becomes clear that this series isn’t afraid to kill off its characters. In many cases, however, these things feel like they could’ve hit harder if the characters involved had received more development, and things start to feel formulaic after a while. The animation is also pretty underwhelming.
The character deaths feel particularly formulaic (with exceptions). This is perhaps where the incredibly fast-paced nature of the show hurts it the most. Because of this pace, character deaths happen so frequently that the deaths of minor characters don’t have the impact they ought to, and the more major deaths feel less shocking (though they still hit pretty hard).
In terms of presentation, Karakuri Circus is pretty solid. As I said earlier, it has underwhelming animation, but it is still pretty nice, visually speaking, as a result of the puppet designs and the classic ‘90s aesthetic. As for the audio side of things, the BGM is pretty darn great, as are the opening and ending themes, and the voice actors do a nice job at conveying their characters.
The most recurring theme throughout the series is that of smiling (and, by extension, laughter). While this may sound pretty cliché, it fits the series rather well, in large part due to the circus motif. After all, the point of the circus is to make people smile. This idea is twisted and perverted by the villains of the series, adding a lot more to this theme than you might expect. While it certainly also indulges in the cliché elements of this theme, the accompaniment of this dark parallel makes these moments feel richer. I can certainly say that this theme, and the show in general, succeeded in making me smile.
Most of Karakuri Circus’ problems seem to come from how rushed it is. It oozes creativity and heart, but so much of it feels as though it could’ve been executed a lot better had it been given more episodes. I have yet to read the manga, so I am hesitant to recommend it, but I will say this: if the manga is truly like the anime but with a much slower pace, then I am reasonably confident that it will be an excellent read.
So, should you watch Karakuri Circus? I would say that it depends on how interested you are in the series. If a battle shounen between mechanical puppets with a strong circus motif interests you enough that you are convinced it is worth your time, you should probably read the manga instead. However, if you are somewhat interested, but think that a 42-volume manga is too big of a commitment, then you should definitely check out the anime! Who knows? Perhaps you will like it enough that you will be convinced to read the manga? I certainly plan on reading it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Apr 13, 2019
I know why you’re here. You know why you’re here. You’re here because you’ve found the lowest rated anime on the whole website. The “worst anime of all time”. If you are actually considering watching this, then it is because you want to experience the worst anime of all time. Isn’t that right, you masochistic sonuvabitch?
Well, in that case, you have come to the right place. Tenkuu Danzai Skelter+Heaven is the perfect way to experience the worst anime ever. This is because it does not have a single unironically appealing quality to it, apart from one.
The one appealing quality of this anime is that it’s
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just one 20-minute episode. This means that you will not lose as much of your life by watching this as you would by watching, say, The Asterisk War (which at least has a couple of redeeming qualities, though they fail to make up for the fact that it goes on any longer than 20 minutes).
As for the story itself, it is rather hard to describe. This is because I have no clue what the fuck it was trying to say. It was just some events, the significance of which it was hard to grasp, and some incredibly weak attempts to get the viewer emotionally invested. Attempts so weak, that I’m not even sure if that’s what they were actually going for. Were they even going for anything?
I don’t remember too much of the plot, but it basically involves a giant monster that looks much like the globglogabgalab if He had decided to shapeshift (which He can do, by the way) into an enormous kite. I would use a more interesting word than kite, but that would be to imply that there was anything interesting about this creature (aside from its slight resemblance to the globglogabgalab). This creature remains completely still, but apparently it was posing some sort of threat...?
There are two reasons that I don’t remember the plot very well: the first is that it was utterly forgettable (even the parts that could properly be comprehended by the human brain), and the second is that I am absolutely unwilling to re-watch it for the sake of this review, because even I have some slight sense of self-preservation when it comes to my psychological well-being; watching this anime isn’t exactly what one would call a pleasant experience.
As for the characters, they are even more forgettable. One of them did something at some point, and then there was also the one who talked to the one who did something so that was cool and exciting I guess…? Okay, perhaps not. The characters are great, because they’re so forgettable, that I don’t have any mental scars left behind from them as I do for the plot. (At least, no mental scars that I’m aware of.)
The animation is really nice, because it makes you feel better about your inadequacies, knowing that, no matter how much you suck, at least you’re not Tenkuu Danzai Skelter+Heaven’s animation.
So far, this review might seem as though it has been rather negative, so you may be wondering as to why I gave this show a 10. You see, as I said earlier: I know why you’re here, you masochistic sonuvabitch.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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